{"id":477053,"date":"2026-06-01T06:28:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T06:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/477053\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T06:28:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T06:28:16","slug":"yves-sakilas-death-has-echoes-of-george-floyd-when-will-we-in-ireland-confront-our-own-racism-sean-gallen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/477053\/","title":{"rendered":"Yves Sakila\u2019s death has echoes of George Floyd. When will we in Ireland confront our own racism? | Se\u00e1n Gallen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Watching the harrowing footage of what would become Yves Sakila\u2019s final moments of consciousness, it is hard not to be reminded of the agonising death of George Floyd. Sakila was declared dead in a Dublin hospital<\/a> on 15 May, a short time after being pinned to the ground<\/a> by security guards outside Arnotts, a city centre department store.<\/p>\n

Congolese-born Sakila had allegedly been suspected of shoplifting in the store and fled. If we have any knowledge of what subsequently happened in the busy pedestrianised street outside, it is because video footage was captured by passersby. In these deeply distressing images, the 35-year-old is being restrained by a group of security guards for nearly five minutes. He tries to protest but his shouts are muffled in the concrete when one of the men appears to put his knee on the back of Sakila\u2019s neck. By the end of the video, Sakila has stopped moving.<\/p>\n

The cause of death has not yet been established \u2013 an initial post-mortem examination reportedly inconclusive<\/a>. Nor is it likely that the police investigation into claims of excessive force will establish exactly what was going through the minds of those involved. Yet, this is what I would like to understand. What would compel someone who can see that a person is being forcibly restrained by several men, to kneel on the individual\u2019s neck? Would it have been different if the man suspected of stealing had been white?<\/p>\n

Six years ago we gathered and protested in the streets under Black Lives Matter banners. We were finally addressing the racism in Ireland that was overlooked for so long. Was all that in vain? We had to ask similar questions after the death of George Nkencho, <\/a>a young black man who was shot and killed by garda\u00ed outside his home in Dublin just a few months later.<\/p>\n

As black people in Ireland<\/a>, it feels as though we are repeatedly asked to sweep such horrific \u201cincidents\u201d under the rug, as though they are isolated tragedies, unconnected to any patterns or larger systemic issues. But Sakila\u2019s death did not happen in a vacuum. The footage of the incident and what has happened since can help us understand this in a wider context of long-established racism.<\/p>\n

Growing up in Dublin in the 1990s, I was welcomed by some and reviled by others. I was spat at, and verbally and physically intimidated by neighbourhood racists because of the colour of my skin. Like most Irish people of colour, I have felt the watchful gaze of security guards when entering spaces like Arnotts.<\/p>\n

This was before social media offered a platform to the bigots. It predated the Dublin riots, the violent attacks<\/a> on migrants and the burning of shelters for asylum seekers<\/a>. Online radicalisation has made these voices louder than ever.<\/a> At 37, I continue to navigate Ireland in fight-or-flight mode.<\/p>\n

\"HundredsHundreds protest over Ireland\u2019s \u2018George Floyd moment\u2019 after death of Congolese-born man \u2013 video<\/p>\n

But even after an event that has drawn international attention<\/a>, most of the country appears to be in denial. The taoiseach, Miche\u00e1l Martin, offered his condolences, adding that \u201cthe situation will have to be thoroughly investigated\u201d and that \u201ca lot of people are clearly very concerned about what has transpired here\u201d.<\/p>\n

But showing no willingness to ask if racism may have played a part in Sakila\u2019s handling lets the danger grow. Martin should take more decisive action in calling out and combating ingrained racism: but how, when he openly tries to shift the blame<\/a> for homelessness and his government\u2019s shocking housing failures on to migrants?<\/p>\n

Just a couple of weeks before Sakila\u2019s death, the former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, a party colleague of Martin\u2019s, was recorded while canvassing for a byelection, sharing his concern<\/a> over migrants. \u201cThe ones I worry about are the Africans,\u201d he said on the doorstep, adding: \u201cWe can\u2019t be taking in people from the Congo and all these places. I think there\u2019s too many from those places.\u201d Ukrainian refugees were different, he stressed.<\/p>\n

Another factor to consider is that the events that preceded Sakila\u2019s death apparently involved private security personnel working on behalf of a leading Irish company. A spokesperson for Arnotts, which is owned by the Selfridges Group, expressed condolences. \u201cNo loss of life should ever be the outcome of a retail security incident,\u201d they said. \u201cWe recognise the deep hurt and concern this tragedy has caused within Dublin\u2019s Congolese community and among the wider public, and we take those concerns with the utmost seriousness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet we are left with the feeling that the private property of a multimillion-pound business \u2013 the alleged stolen bottle of perfume \u2013 was deemed more valuable than a human life. Tellingly, the store said it was conducting a review of its security services. Will the multinational take responsibility or, like our politicians, try to outsource that on to its hired help?<\/p>\n

Much of modern Ireland can be defined by the multinational corporate power that grips it. It is defined by income polarisation between the big tech and big pharma classes and everyone else. It is defined by a cost of living crisis that is becoming unbearable for regular people, while faceless multinationals enjoy generous corporate tax advantages.<\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s media has covered the death of Sakila, but in a strangely muted way: its language is often passive (Sakila \u201cbecame unresponsive<\/a>\u201d) as though this horror that unfolded in front of shoppers was a mysterious accident and not a cruel overpowering.<\/p>\n

There are justified concerns about not prejudicing the investigation. But in a climate where former prime ministers join in the scapegoating<\/a> of marginalised and often racialised communities for the shortcomings of decades of failed leadership, the lack of a profound debate about systemic racism risks enabling more violent behaviour in the future.<\/p>\n

Whatever the intention, comments such as Ahern\u2019s are xenophobic fuel for angry, disenfranchised people. People who are unemployed and unhoused, people desperate for someone to blame for their suffering.<\/p>\n

Ireland maintains a pristine public image abroad: friendly, convivial, welcoming to the outside world. When I meet people on my travels, they are shocked to hear that racism is a reality for many Irish citizens.<\/p>\n

How long before a case such as Yves Sakila\u2019s happens again? Black people and people of colour fearing for our safety are angry. We want answers, but we also want to know: are white Irish people asking themselves the same questions?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Watching the harrowing footage of what would become Yves Sakila\u2019s final moments of consciousness, it is hard not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-477053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}