THE label of Zimbabwe as an adversary to the United States is as untrue as it is unfortunate especially at a time the second republic, has since its coming in, sought to mend broken relations while strengthening existing ones.
On Saturday, the national security advisor to US President Donald Trump, Mr Robert O’Brien listed Zimbabwe along with China, Russia and Iran as “foreign adversaries” trying to take advantage of the ongoing anti-racist protests in America to interfere in that country’s affairs.
The protests, which started in the US and have spread to other parts of the world, were torched by the death of a black man George Floyd last Monday at the hands of a white police officer Mr Derek Chauvin.
Mr Chauvin was one of the police officers responding to a report that Floyd had made a transaction using a counterfeit US$20 bill.
According to a report cited by the New York Times, Mr Chauvin held his knee against Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes and an additional two minutes and 53 seconds after Floyd was unresponsive.
Floyd is said to have told with Mr Chauvin, that he was no longer able to breathe as he pleaded with the law enforcement agent not to kill him but all that fell to deaf ears.
The death of Floyd then torched massive demonstrations in a nation marred with a history of racial profiling and brutality by the police against people of colour that has led to many fatalities.
According to international reports, so intense have been the demonstrations that almost 40 cities in the US have imposed curfews that have been largely ignored by the protesters leading to clashes with the police.
Clashes between the police and protesters, reports said, have led to the firing of teargas and pepper bullets in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles to disperse crowds.
The BBC reported yesterday that last Friday, the US Secret Service took President Trump into an underground bunker at the White House for his safety after the protests
It also reported that the US reserve military force for domestic emergencies, the National Guard, activated 5 000 personnel in 15 states and Washington, DC, where crowds gathered near the White House.
The protesters, BBC further reported, set alight the historic St John’s Episcopal Church.
There was widespread condemnation of the treatment of Floyd with the African Union Commission chairperson Mr Moussa Faki Mahamat speaking against continued discrimination against blacks by police in the United States.
“The chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat strongly condemns the murder of George Floyd that occurred in the United States at the hands of law enforcement officers, and wishes to extend his deepest condolences to his family and loved ones,” read a statement by Mr Mahamat last week.
“The chairperson of the African Union Commission firmly reaffirms and reiterates the African Union’s rejection of the continuing discriminatory practices against black citizens of the United States.”
The UN Human Rights chief Ms Michelle Bachelet also weighed in on the matter condemning the incident in “a long line of killings of unarmed African-Americans by US police officers and members of the public.”
That there has been, over the years, systematic targeting of blacks by police in America, is a matter of public record. This abuse has been documented in many forms from music to film and documentaries while a lot of movements have been established as a reaction to the abuse.
For example, the late hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur, himself a son of a civil rights activist, in his “Changes” in the 1990s highlights the racial subjugation of blacks in “the land of the free”.
“I see no changes, all I see is racist faces, Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races… Cops give a damn about a negro
Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he’s a hero,” are part of the lyrics to the song.
Many before Tupac had highlighted the suffering of blacks in the United States with Sam Cooke in 1964 releasing the song “A change is gonna come” which became an anthem of the civil rights movement and with more than 500 renditions by some of the greatest black American musicians including Aretha Franklin, Bobby Womack, Otis Redding among others.
It came as a shock therefore, when Mr O’Brien, sought to drag Zimbabwe in an internal matter of the United States that has been a blemish for many years.
Yesterday the minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Dr Sibusiso Moyo summoned the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Brian Nichols and emphasised that the country respects the sovereignty of other nations.
“On behalf of Government, I have today informed the US Ambassador that Mr O’Brien’s allegations are false, without any factual foundation whatsoever and that they are deeply damaging to a relationship already complicated by years of prescriptive megaphone diplomacy and punitive economic sanctions,” said Dr Moyo in a statement after the meeting.
“Zimbabwe is not and never has been an adversary of the United States of America.”
Dr Moyo said even in the face of repeated interference in the country’s internal affairs, Zimbabwe has been unwavering in its support for Article 2 (4) of the United Nations Charter.
The Article urges all member states to respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of other states.
The US must effectively deal with the racism that has characterised that nation for many years and accord everyone equal rights regardless of colour and creed.