And, many of those Americans are eager to take a break from what has
become a very stressful time in the states. Between COVID-19 - whose
first wave still isn't even near ending in the US - and the George
Floyd protests, the US of A is like a pressure cooker right now.
And, of course, the long history of racial oppression, and police
violence against black Americans in that country keeps the pressure
going up. Gilges said he sees this as an opportunity for real change:
Keith R. Gilges- Charge d'Affaires, US Embassy to Belize
"When I see the image of the killing of George Floyd I am horrified by it.
I don't think anybody that saw that couldn't feel anything but pure horror
at what was going on, at this man being killed. I think what's different
now is that people like me are also stepping forward and saying we need to
acknowledge that this is not an issue for people of colour to try and argue
for change. This is an argument that everybody needs to see that there is a
need for change. We need to recognize that there are systemic problems that
we need to fix. At the embassy, you know, this is a time for introspection
for us. We need to be looking at our policies and procedures to make sure
there isn't conscious or unconscious bias in the decisions that we make.
So, you know, we have embarked on a program to make sure that everyone
takes that training. So, let's introspect in the embassy to make sure we
are behaving appropriately but also, how can we engage in a public
discourse. Now, there was somebody who asked the authorities to protest in
front of the US embassy a week ago. We welcome that sort of engagement. In
that instance, the police determined it wasn't legal under the statutory
instrument to be getting together at that moment. But we welcome, obviously
peaceful, but we welcome protest. And I'd be happy, once I'm out of
quarantine to engage with those folks. The last thing that I wanted was for
some folks to come to the embassy and protest out front and the police had
to disperse the crowd. That is, believe me, not the optic or the image. So,
how can I give people an opportunity to speak and show that we the embassy,
that I, as Chargé, am listening to their concerns. And we are looking to do
a roundtable in a couple of weeks, bringing together some key individuals.
We are going to do it at the embassy with the help of the Government of
Belize Press Office, to do a Facebook live chat. And listen, some of the
folks that we are bringing in have proven to be very critical of our
policies and I welcome that. I want to be sitting at the same table as they
are when they say these things, and I want the same thing. I expect honest,
civil, respectful, but honest, critical responses from the public if that
is what they feel that I need to hear."
We'll have part two of our interview with the Charge tomorrow.
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