Dear Madam Ambassador: A Letter About Remembrance and Reparations

Organizer of Peace Rally for International Black Unity Day Releases Letter Sent to U.S. Ambassador to Thailand
 
April 24, 2011 - PRLog -- Bangkok, Thailand

Lola Rainey, the organizer of a peace rally for remembrance and reparations held in support of  International Black Unity Day set for April 23rd , 2011, released a letter sent to the Honorable Kristie Kenney, the U.S. Ambassador to Thailand asking the American government to take immediate steps to implement the International Convention for the Elimination of all Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and to support the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent's recommendation the United Nations establish a formal mechanism to reopen discussions about reparations from those nations involved in the transatlantic slave trade. The United Nations has designated 2011 as the Year of People of African Descent.


April 22, 2011

The Honorable Kristie Kenney
American Ambassador
United States Embassy
95 Wireless Road
Bangkok 10330, Thailand

Re: April 23rd Remembrance and Reparations Peace Rally

Dear Madam Ambassador,
Today, April 23, 2011, is the International Day of Black Unity. A day of personal reflection, community activism and global unity organized by a coalition of grassroots groups to strengthen the cultural bonds shared by millions of people of African descent living in nations all over the world.  The United Nations (UN) declared 2011 the Year of People of African Descent to raise awareness of and respect for the unique heritage of those people whose ancestors were part of the African Diaspora; and, also to strengthen political commitment to eradicating the widespread “afrophobia” or anti-black discrimination and structural racism that are the root cause of the persistent social, political, economic, educational and health disparities affecting black people globally.

The United States, viewed by some as a champion of racial equality in spite of its history as a profiteer in the transatlantic slave trade, has failed to fully implement the provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and related human rights obligations. The convention calls for new mechanisms and approaches to be developed to combat the structural “afrophobia” that has remained largely intact and unchecked by existing anti-discrimination legislation.  

In March of this year civil rights and human rights groups took the unusual step of submitting a joint letter to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination asking it to “urge” the United States to meet is obligations under ICERD. I must add my voice to those of others who are asking the United States government to stop “dragging its feet” and to move quickly to develop a comprehensive national plan for the implementation of ICERD.          

Finally, I organized this Remembrance and Reparations Peace Rally as a way to commemorate the 30 million African men, women and children stolen from Africa and brought in chains to foreign lands to be used as  “cheap labor”. It was their “free slave labor” that built the world economic system that helped Europe and the United States rise to preeminence.      

This, the largest forced movement of humans in world history, has only recently been acknowledged as a crime against humanity. A crime whose legacy continues to negatively impact the descendants of those enslaved.
The Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, in the recommendations from their tenth session held in March of this year, specifically call on UN member states, “to recognize the continuing consequence of the transatlantic slave trade and slavery on people of African descent and the historic disadvantage and marginalization of this group and to develop comprehensive affirmative action programmes, as appropriate, to reduce the high rate of poverty, unemployment, under-employment and underrepresentation among African descendants.”  

The fact that a recommendation like this has to be made some 400+ centuries after the end of slavery, is the reason the demand for reparations must be taken up this year—in the International Year of People of African Descent. When the UN convenes as a general assembly in September, it’s my fervent hope the member states, whether acting through committees, working groups or rapporteurs, agree to “establish a mechanism that [will] reopen the discussion on reparations for slavery and the transatlantic slave trade,” as recommended by the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent.  

There was a time in our history when Americans had the courage to do the hard things. We faced two world wars, a depression, civil rights battles and
a terrorist attack on our country. Whether the United States government will authorize Susan Rice, its permanent representative to the UN and a woman of African descent, to support creating a mechanism for reopening discussions on reparations is a question I hope will be answered in the affirmative.

However, red flags have already been dropped on this issue because of the United States government’s poor track record on supporting “black causes ” in the UN.  In fact, the report of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent states the provisions of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA) and related documents pertaining to the status and protection of people of African Descent haven’t been implemented in the way envisaged, “because of the lack of political will and commitment by [member] states.”  

During our peace rally tomorrow we’ll say a prayer for our country and our leaders because a call for reparations will require our nation to engage in a painful debate about its past in order to bring about true reconciliation and healing.  We’ll pray our leaders have the political will to do this hard thing.  
Respectfully,

Lola Rainey
Organizer
Remembrance and Reparations Peace Rally

# # #

A small Asian based internet multi-media business focused on promoting the creative works and projects of poet/author/philanthropist, Ivory Simone.
End
Bangkok Poetry Streams PRs
Trending News
Most Viewed
Top Daily News



Like PRLog?
9K2K1K
Click to Share