The racial violence in Charlotte is both the same and different from the outrages in Ferguson, St Bernadino and Dallas. The fact that emergency has been clamped on this town of North Carolina — in the face of demonstrators shrilling for justice — underscores the enormity of the racial hatred that has been sweeping different parts of the United States of America. This time, the tragedy is still more poignant as the victim, Keith Lamont Scott, was a disabled black. He was killed by a white police officer, rather shockingly in a case of mistaken identity; reports suggest that the cops were on the lookout for another person while trying to execute an arrest warrant. The protests are reminiscent of the upsurge at Ferguson, Missouri, more than two years ago. In the twilight of his presidency, Barack Obama will have to countenance the reality that significant police reform — including what they call “de-escalation training” — still remains a non-starter. The cruel irony is that vehement demands of the blacks for social justice — indeed an integral feature of American history — have been greeted with killings of unarmed black people in cities across the country.

In Charlotte, confusion has been worse confounded with conflicting accounts of the circumstances of the killing. Police “dashcam” and body-camera footage is yet to be released as a “precaution” of sorts against intensified fury of the blacks. In the context of the race riots, it is hard not to question the credibility of the police version. Not least because a new state law, signed in July, will go into effect on 1 October; police footage will no longer be considered as public record.  The wave of protests in Charlotte have erupted amid tension between the police and the blacks, who claim to be “disporportionately affected” by law enforcement. Blacks represent only 35 per cent of the city&’s population, yet they account for 74 per cent of cases involving the use of force, according to data compiled by the Southern Coalition for Social Justice. Last Wednesday&’s shooting was the latest in the series of deaths of black people — at the hands of the police — that have stoked outrage across the US. It has happened only a few days after a white police officer in Oklahoma fatally shot an unarmed black, who was seen on video raising his hands above his head. Clearly, at the core of the conflict are the twin issues of law enforcement by a predominantly white force and social justice at another remove. Both have eluded an agreeable formula. This is the stark lesson of American history.