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To those who are not mere bystanders
Angella Nampewo
What you need to know:
- The nine-minute video that she later posted on Facebook, shocked the world and led to protests in America and abroad. All this while the world was battling a pandemic, but people came out of their houses to congregate against injustice.
This week, an American police officer accused of the murder of George Floyd was found guilty of second degree murder. The extent of the crime may never have been revealed without the video shot by then 17-year-old Darnell’s Frazier, who happened to be passing by, with her one-year-old cousin, on their way to the store.
The nine-minute video that she later posted on Facebook, shocked the world and led to protests in America and abroad. All this while the world was battling a pandemic, but people came out of their houses to congregate against injustice. Jokes have been circulating on the Internet, about what the Minneapolis police report might have looked like without the video evidence.
However, the horrible pictures that circulated around the world made it impossible to do a cover up.
Frazier’s is not the only bravery worth recognition in recent times. There are many examples in recent history.
In May 2018, Malian immigrant Mamoudou Gassama scaled a building in Paris to save a baby who was dangling off a balcony. The climbing feat, which was akin to the superheroes of legend, was also caught on camera and with that spontaneous act of service, the young ‘spiderman’ earned himself, among other things, an audience with the French president and citizenship in a country where his bravery and skillsets were now appreciated.
We have our own heroes here at home. The police has been in the limelight recently, for among other things, committing acts that suppress the freedom of the media such as beating journalists. As I reflected on Darnella Frazier’s presence of mind, which led her to document a heinous crime against a fellow American, I remembered our own local heroes whose legs, backs and cameras have been broken at the frontline of news gathering, as they attempted to capture events as they were in order to deliver the whole truth.
Our own documenters of the truth have little to show for their efforts, except for a string of broken cameras, broken ribs, tales of surviving a cat and mouse chase with the security officials and for the unlucky ones, hospitalisation and scars of battle.
With the advent of the smartphone, a new era of citizen journalism was ushered in. Anyone who owns a phone, and who finds themselves in a tight spot or as a witness to a crime, can simply hit the record button and tell the story.
However, even more honourable than recording events, is jumping into the fray to save a child, a drowning woman or stop criminals in their tracks. This is the sense of community that ought to be applauded and rewarded. These people who do not merely stand by or ignore and walk past others in need, are the everyday heroes we ought to reward.
The people who would put themselves in harm’s way even when they have an option to take cover and worry about their safety first, those are our heroes. When the criminals and oppressors start to realise that they could easily be exposed, they may pause to reflect on their actions.
Courage doesn’t require one to have a lot of muscle or heavy weapons. Courage presents itself as it is. The courageous use whatever tools they have in the moment. Take the story of David and Goliath, the young David took only a sling and stone to the battle.
Mamoudou Gassama, who scaled the walls to reach the dangling baby, did not say to the crowd, “Let me first go home and fetch my climbing boots,” he did what he could in the moment.
Ms Nampewo is a writer, editor and communications consultant
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