Africa400 kicks off the Black Woman Is God Series for Women’s History Month as Mama Tomiko and Baba Ty welcome back Special Guest Nwasha Edu,  Co-Founder of Akoma Day with her husband Montsho Edu.

“Akoma Day is a 7-day Black Love holiday celebrated from February 14th to February 20th and offered as an alternative to Valentine’s Day for black people who want to celebrate their love with cultural integrity.  Considering black people were the first to develop love words, terms, songs, poems, talismans and monuments of love, we should also return to our autochthonous holiday expressions. The focus of Akoma Day is to restore Black Love as the primordial example of love personified for all humanity to model.  The holiday was first conceived in 1997, celebrated locally in 1999 and then formally introduced internationally in 2001.

“Although officially celebrated for one week, the holiday is to be embodied throughout the year as a tool to attain the pinnacle level of Love in our intimate, personal and professional relationships. Part of celebrating the holiday involves organizing a sacred space to invite the 7 virtues, 7 principles and 7 symbols into your life and love.”

The February 18, 2021 Consultation held by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR) was conceived as a forum to share experiences and analyses of racialized police brutality and abuse, primarily inflicted upon Afrikans and Afrikan-Americans in the United States and in other parts of the world where anti-Black racism in particular is widely practiced.  Statements and testimonies were shared between members of civil society and experts in the field. Participants from throughout the Afrikan Diaspora participated, which included Continental Afrikans, Afrikan-Americans, Caribbeans and Europeans who all shared their analyses, perspectives and personal experiences pertaining to specific acts of police brutality and abuse, police responses to protests against these acts of brutality and abuse, and an overarching analysis of the behavior of police agencies, police unions, political bureaucracies and extremist organizations in justifying, protecting and reinforcing policies that permit impunity for police officers and agencies for acts of brutality.

This was organized as part of a series of follow-up measures pursuant to UN Resolution 43/1, Promotion and protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Africans and of people of African descent against excessive use of force and other human rights violations by law enforcement officers (https://undocs.org/A/HRC/RES/43/1) and other subsequent reports (https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25971&LangID=E; also https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26326&LangID=E and https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Racism/Pages/Call-Implementation-HRC-Resolution-43-1.aspx).

Specific panel discussions centered on the topics of systemic racism (how it shows up in our spaces and our recommendations and analyses for dismantling the systemic racism that is implicit in a lot of the injustices we see today), violations against Afrikans and People of Afrikan Descent by law enforcement officers (with emphasis on certain incidents such as the murder of George Floyd), the government’s response to peaceful protests, and the accountability (or lack thereof) of government and police for these actions.

The purpose of the Consultation was to elicit people’s personal experiences, investigative reports, analyses and recommendations to come up with an agenda for transformative change that can be implemented by UNOHCHR and by activists in general.

As a matter of process, the emphasis was on courteous exchanges between participants, and people were encouraged to speak freely. For that reason, UNIHCHR did not record or broadcast the Consultation so participants would feel encouraged to speak freely and not feel inhibited, especially since this is an often emotional topic. What we were able to report below comes from rough notes of the discussions, without quoting or naming names of participants, except in a very few cases where specific presenters have already published articles on the Web, which are referenced and linked below, or who agreed to submit analyses of the issue to us for publication.

SYSTEMIC RACISM

Mass Criminalization, Mass Incarceration and Mass Supervision: Pulling In Children and People with Mental Health Issues

Mass criminalization, mass incarceration and mass supervision in the criminal justice system have exploded over the last five decades in the United States. This is also a worldwide phenomenon. Mass criminalization is expanding the net of the criminal justice system to include a number of different issues that occur in society and bringing those people into the criminal justice system for processing. This has contributed to the development of criminal records in the US and disproportionately impacts Black men.

Much has been said in discussions about the school-to-prison pipeline, or the use of what have sometimes been referred to as School Resource Officers (SROs) in schools. This is essentially placing police officers and agents in position to recommend or implement corrective behavior with regard to school children that they may not be qualified to direct. Child misbehaviors in school are seriously mishandled when the police are called instead of parents, and the police may then mistreat or manhandle the children. Profanity and “misbehavior” are often criminalized and used against Black students more than against White students. As was discussed several times in the Consultation, this contributes to more and more children being placed under the supervision, if not outright custody, of the criminal justice system.

There is also the issue of people with mental illness, mental disabilities or who are undergoing mental health crises, as in the recent case of Daniel Prude in Rochester, New York, which will be discussed in more detail below. A significant number of people killed by police suffered from severe untreated mental illness. Black people are disproportionately represented in these cases. Racial profiling and racial animus seems to heighten the disparity. Police often do not properly respond to cases involving mental illness. One database reported that 222 people with mental illness have been killed by police since 2015.

Well over half of US arrests are estimated to fall into categories of disorders, substance abuse and mental health issues. The result is a system that is inconsistent with human rights and civil rights. People wind up in civil and criminal courts where they are forced to plea-bargain and are thus pulled into the criminal justice system’s reach through incarceration and supervision.

As several participants recommended, conscientious criminal justice experts should look at moving away from processing people into the criminal justice system and toward a Restorative Justice strategy, at least for people with mental health and substance abuse issues. Local Restorative Justice Centers can arrange care for people with substance abuse and mental health issues, provide opportunities for people to pay back communities they may have damaged, provide community services, avoid criminal arrests, reduce the injustices of the criminal justice system and free up the criminal courts. Police would take a person with substance abuse or mental health issues to a Restorative Justice Center instead of submitting them to the criminal justice system. This can help people build their citizenship as well as roles as community leaders.

The Impact Even Without an Arrest

Families who have not suffered directly from encounters with police are nonetheless affected by the reports of police brutality and abuse. Mothers more often will not allow their children to play with toy guns outside as a result of the Tamir Rice shooting, for example.

Even when an arrest does not result, direct interactions with law enforcement can cause trauma, especially to children. Sometimes this trauma can lead to children acting out and thus further interaction with law enforcement or institutionalization for mental health crises.

Some activists are skeptical of the health community as well as the criminal justice system. Excessive mental health intervention is often regarded as a means of just shifting the surveillance of Black and Brown communities from one agency of control to another.

Much is made of the need for better training of police officers. For the most part, training is not the issue here. The purpose of training is essentially to impart a knowledge or skill (such as how to properly fire a weapon, execute a chokehold or navigate legal issues pertaining to use of force), not as an “attitude adjustment” to convince an officer to treat people with courtesy and respect. Occasionally this approach is successful (there have been “cultural competence” and workforce diversity sessions that have educated officers and employees alike), but as often as not, an officer with deep-seated racial bias can resent the notion that they have a “problem” that must be “fixed” and may thus see such training as a punitive or disciplinary exercise and respond resentfully as a result. “Training racism out of a person” rarely seems to work. Police know how to behave properly. We see this when they interact with people they have been taught to respect (usually, rich and influential White men), regardless of the crime that may be involved.

The degree to which this pattern of behavior disproportionately impacts people of Afrikan decent points to a sense of disposability that Black Lives have been forced to endure, especially in the context of the backlash against the slogan “Black Lives Matter” among much of the US’s White population.

How can we limit the scope of criminal statutes? The War on Drugs and the War on a Variety of Undesirable Behaviors have expanded the limits of criminal law. Excessive punishments have ensued, resulting in mass incarceration on a global scale and increased surveillance and suspicion even when no crime is committed. Not everything must be dealt with using criminalization of a subject. There is harm such as sexual violence and personal physical violence where criminal law must step in, but where is the limit? Every social problem cannot be met through the application of criminal law.

VIOLATIONS AGAINST AFRICANS AND PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT BY LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS

The Police-Involved Death of Daniel Prude in Rochester, New York

The ACLU of New York ad other activists have demanded full accountability and transparency regarding the death of Daniel Prude, as well as the treatment of protesters during the demonstrations following the release of the body-worn camera footage. Current legislation is also being proposed seeking the removal of law enforcement from mental health and substance abuse calls.

On Monday, March 3, 2020, Joe Prude called 911 to ask for help for his brother. Police found Daniel Prude walking nude down the street in freezing temperatures. Police handcuffed him and covered his head with a hood, holding him forcibly to the ground. One officer held his head to the pavement while 3 others held his body. After approximately two minutes, Daniel Prude stopped breathing. Paramedics administered CPR and took him to the hospital. On March 30, Daniel Prude was taken off life support and pronounced dead.

There was no official announcement of Prude’s death, and the body camera footage was withheld and Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests were denied until September 2, when the body worn camera footage was released to the public by the family and local activists.

A mobilization hit the streets following the release of the body camera footage. Rochester Police responded aggressively along with New York State Troopers. According to ACLU-NY, excessive force was used and assemblies were declared unlawful with insufficient justification. Military vehicles, dogs, long range acoustic devices, teargas and pepper balls were deployed against peaceful protesters and journalists. Protesters were detained for low-level offenses.

A bill in the New York State Legislature co-sponsored by Assembly Member Harry B. Bronson (D-138) and Senator Samra Brouk (D-55) on behalf of the Prude Family, ACLU and Black-led organizations known as “Daniel’s Law” (https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2021/02/05/daniels-law-mental-health-law-daniel-prude-rochester/4389178001/) would establish statewide and regional mental health councils and amend the Mental Hygiene Law to limit the powers of police officers handling mental health calls.

University of Chicago Global Human Rights Clinic

The University of Chicago Global Human Rights Clinic (https://www.law.uchicago.edu/ghrc) has conducted several studies on police compliance with international law and standards. We looked on the Web for scholarly analysis of the actions of police departments as they relate to international human rights law, and this is one example of what we found.

A commentary by Global Human Rights Clinic Director Claudia Flores, Chicago Police Use of Force Policies Fall Short of Human Rights Standards (https://www.law.uchicago.edu/news/claudia-flores-chicago-police-use-force-policies-fall-short-human-rights-standards) provides a good introduction to this organization’s work for law enforcement reform and the difficulties involved.

An Attack on the Black Family: Aging People in Prison Human Rights Campaign (APP-HRC)

Aging People in Prison Human Rights Campaign (APP-HRC, https://www.apphrc.com) works to free people who have been imprisoned for terms in upwards of 30 years who have seen their families grow up without them. The organization’s director shared some perspectives on the impact of policing on Black Women, Black Men and Black Families that led to the historic rise of activist organizations from the Black Panther Party to MOVE, which in turn led to the violent response of US law enforcement (which will be discussed further below) that resulted in scores of activists and regular citizens being criminalized, surveilled, targeted, attacked (sometimes assassinated), framed, prosecuted and imprisoned for excessive terms, a historic wrong that APP-HRC has sought to correct by advocating for compassionate release for aging, long-held prisoners. The following are some points APP-HRC made in their presentation.

The crisis of police brutality, racism and abuse represents a war against the Black Family. Among other works, this is documented and analyzed in the recently-published book Black Women, Black Love: America’s War on African-American Marriage by Jamaican scholar Dr. Dianne Stewart. The family is the first institution of society. Once that is destroyed, one cannot create communities or nations.

This is also an attack on the Black Woman’s Womb. Whatever comes out of the womb is destroyed, disintegrated and dehumanized by the current practices of police agencies in the United States.

The slave patrols, the Ku Klux Klan and the police are all built along the same historical trajectory and lineage, that of “keeping the ‘other’ (in this case, Blacks) in line”. This is an issue that US government oversight has failed to remedy and thus must be dealt with by external human rights agencies, and within America the government and ruling class must be made accountable for how they treat People of African Descent.

This war has also produced the erasure of the Black Man. Confined within the prison system, Black men have been missing from neighborhoods and families for generations. There are sometimes three generations of families in prison at once.

According to the Prison Policy Initiative Report, $182 billion per year is spent on incarceration in the US. This is money that is not going to People of Afrikan Descent or to building communities. Meanwhile, private corporations are profiting off the incarceration of Black men, women and increasingly, children. Billions of dollars are being made off the incarceration and erasure of People of Afrikan Descent.

Prison is not an institution that is indigenous to Afrika. But there are increasingly overcrowded prisons in Afrika now. The US is exporting prisons and incarceration to Afrika. A 2017 report in Buzzfeed discusses how the US is exporting prisons and incarceration around the world.

APP-HRC recently helped secure the release of Joseph Negon, who served 68 years in prison after being imprisoned at age 15, as well as Samuel Barlow, who served 50 years.

Therefore, APP-HRC’s recommendations as a human rights organization are as follows:

(1) The UN must create a human rights entity on the Separation of Families of Afrikan Descent. Police violence, lynchings, incarceration, all are separations of the Black Family which have destroyed our first institutions for People of Afrikan Descent.

(2) A Working Group on Policing of People of Afrikan Descent specific to North America must be created.

(3) A Working Group for Criminal Justice and People of Afrikan Descent specific to North America must be created. If mass incarceration is not stopped, the result will be global incarceration of People of Afrikan Descent, disproportionately imposed upon the most impoverished.

(4) A Decade for the Elevation of the Child of Afrikan Descent should be established so the Afrikan Child can begin to feel safe and protected.

(5) A UN human rights entity on elevating the child of Afrikan Descent should be established.

If these things are not done, the Black Woman’s Womb is not protected, a nation cannot grow and the people cannot survive and thrive.

Bro. Cliff Kuumba, Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus

The Maryland State Facilitator of the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus and the Editor of KUUMBAReport Online made an oral presentation on the prevalence of police brutality and abuse wherever People of Afrikan Descent live in the world, to emphasize the fact that, despite the current Consultation’s focus on George Floyd and other victims of police brutality in the United States, this is something that happens to Black People worldwide, and we must not forget the names of victims of police abuse in South America, the Caribbean, Europe and even Afrika itself. A series of recommendations for jurisdictions truly working to end police brutality and abuse, as well as for the United Nations in its effort to bring transformative change to this state of affairs, was also proposed.  A PDF Document was also submitted, which can be read below:

UNOHCHR Police Brutality Consultation Presentation 1

The Legacy of Anti-Black Repression, Police Abuse and Political Imprisonment: Mama Julia Wright

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania activist Mama Julia Wright highlighted the comments of another participant who noted the fact that Black people around the world are “a colonized people” and that global decolonization of People of Afrikan Descent must take place. The experience of Afrikan people of racism and violence from police agencies stems from the fact that people of Afrikan descent around the world are colonized wherever we are found. It is imperative that Afrikan people find a way to decolonize ourselves throughout the Diaspora, in terms of the laws we are forced to live under as well as the internalized notions of powerlessness and inferiority to which we are regularly exposed.

Mama Julia Wright comes from the generation that was traumatized by the lynching of Emmitt Till, the assassinations of Malcolm X, Dr. King and Fred Hampton and the assaults on MOVE in Philadelphia. Many were literally pushed into activism by the oppression we faced on a regular, if not daily basis. In the words of activist and Political Prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, “I was kicked into the Black Panther Party”. (A recent report has stated that Mumia now is suffering from COVID-19, and several mobilizations were organized for late February and early March. Check out this post for more details.) She cited the recent movie “Judas and the Black Messiah” and its depiction of the assassination of Chicago Black Panther leader Fred Hampton as a graphic example of the shock Afrikan People have been forced to endure.

J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI and the White Supremacist police targeted the youth because they aspired to self-determination and to defend their lives and the freedom of their children. Many were assassinated. Some survived “by the skin of their teeth” and have languished for decades behind bars and in solitary confinement, which the UN defines as torture. The year 2021 has been designated the Year of the Political Prisoner.

Mama Julia Wright calls on the UN to pressure the new US administration to call a truce on all Political Prisoners. They have been placed behind bars because of their potential to lead us.

GOVERNMENT RESPONSES TO PEACEFUL PROTESTS, INCLUDING THE ALLEGED USE OF EXCESSIVE FORCE AGAINST PROTESTERS, BYSTANDERS AND JOURNALISTS

Police forces from Portland, Oregon; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Chicago, Illinois; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; New York City, New York; Louisville, Kentucky; Washington, DC and other large cities were cited in the Consultation for their actions against generally peaceful protesters in the wake of the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks and others. The history of several of these cities’ police departments was also discussed, including the Chicago police department and its well-documented history of police repression, especially under the tenure of detective Jon Burge (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Burge) and his “Midnight Crew” or “Ass-Kickers” who coerced confessions out of over 200 Black men using torture techniques ranging from stress positions to an electric “shock box” and mock-executions. These practices in Chicago and other cities were continued up to the present day, as police departments have been found to have engaged in systematic practices of silencing and suppressing protesters and activists for racial justice. Mass arrests without probable cause, intimidation, criminalization of activists, physical abuse, excessive use of force, illegal searches, confiscation of personal property, detentions and separation from legal counsel have been reported in cities across the country.

Police Response to Protesters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Reports were made about the May 31, 2020 (52nd Street) and June 1 (Highway 676) protests in Philadelphia in response to the May 25 killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, and the response of the Philadelphia police to those protests. Activists have charged the Philadelphia police, which has had a long and tortured relationship with Philadelphia activists such as the Black Panther Party and MOVE, of committing acts of brutality against the protesters, including corralling protesters against barriers to prevent their escape and the use of pepper spray, surveillance drones, acoustic devices and rubber bullets, which sometimes struck children and elders. At the same time, activists have accused the police of facilitating the free movement of White Supremacist organizations as they “patrolled” park areas in the city, and providing disparate treatment to these organizations as opposed to the tactics used against racial-justice protesters of police abuse.

On October 27, Philadelphia would once again be reeling from protests against the killing of Walter Wallace, Jr. the day before. Wallace was reportedly suffering from a mental health crisis, a recurring theme in police-involved shootings, and failed to obey police commands, at which point he was shot several times. Articles on the killing and subsequent protests can be found at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/27/philadelphia-walter-wallace-police-shooting-protest; as well as https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/28/walter-wallace-jr-hundreds-protest-philadelphia-second-night-police-killing; and https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a34493601/walter-wallace-jr-philadelphia-shooting-protest/, among other sources.

There was general discussion of militarized violence by police in response to protests against police brutality, the racialized aspect of this militarized response, and the difficulty experienced in attempting to obtain redress through regular democratic processes and established reform mechanisms. There was a high degree of frustration that the established means of seeking justice and reforms of police behavior were not seriously impacting police behavior. The killings of Breonna Taylor and Daniel Prude, and the resulting decisions to not seek criminal charges against the police officers who killed them, only add to the frustration that has long been felt by racial-justice activists.

Police Racism and Violence in Puerto Rico: Maria Mari, Kilometro Cero

Maria Mari spoke on behalf of Kilometro Cero (https://www.kilometro0.org), a human rights organization that works for the establishment of sovereign and human rights for the people of Puerto Rico. The following statement is presented in both English and Spanish and is also available at the Web site https://www.kilometro0.org/blog-desde-cero/2021/2/18/expresiones-de-kilmetro-cero-en-el-panel-de-rendicin-de-cuentas-y-reparaciones-durante-la-consulta-de-la-oficina-de-derechos-humanos-de-la-onu:

OFFICIAL STATEMENT: ENGLISH

Good evening. We thank the UN Human Rights Office for the opportunity to bring to the High Commissioner’s attention the situation of impunity regarding Police violence and racism in Puerto Rico, a colony of the United States with a 3.5 million population, a country with a unique Caribbean culture, where the language spoken is Spanish, and where a great part of our population is brown and Afro Caribbean.
In the last five years, due to extreme austerity measures imposed by the US Congress PROMESA Law (Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PROMESA – Editor), and also after experiencing consecutive crises after Hurricanes, a series of earthquakes and more recently the COVID pandemic, the situation of impunity of state violence has become even more precarious.

Of at least 23 people that the Police have killed in Puerto Rico since 2019:

• 14 did NOT carry firearms
• 3 were going through mental health crisis
• 11 were 25 years or younger

All of them belonged to impoverished or vulnerable communities, and poverty in our country is inextricably linked with brown or Afro Caribbean ancestry.

Not even one of these officers have been presented with criminal charges and neither has been expelled or even suspended from the Police Bureau.

Contrary to the United States, in Puerto Rico there are NO external independent entities that supervise or investigate excessive actions of the Police. The Police investigate itself and People must complain against police officers in the Police Bureau, which does not offer a fair, reliable and neutral process.

The Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice has been dismantled in the last decade and there is no specialized prosecution division to investigate cases of officer-involved killings or excessive use of force. First line district prosecutors usually investigate these cases. Oftentimes, families of people killed by Police tell us that prosecutors act as if they were the officer’s defense attorneys.

Civil judicial claims against the State have been extraordinarily limited with the approval of the PROMESA bill, even being suspended for a time period as this bill protects the State against plaintiffs who seek financial compensation.

Potential Civil Rights violation plaintiffs in PR must also comply with a 90 day term notification of claim which has proven exhausting and very hard to comply with for victims of police violence who usually have not yet consulted with a lawyer 90 days after their traumatic incident.

These and other restrictions have disincentivized most private lawyers from even pursuing these cases. On the other hand, the extreme austerity measures have reduced and even eliminated access to justice or pro bono law projects destined for impoverished communities. We at Km0 experience every day the hardships, frustrations, and impotence that victims of police abuse or the families of those killed by Police officers encounter in order to seek answers, reparations, and a minimum promise of systemic change.

As we all watched the Police response to George Floyd’s protests in the United States last year, we Puerto Ricans definitely related. Because that’s how violent the Police normally acts every time we have mass protests: even children and elderly are tear gassed, people are fired rubber-coated metal bullets from shotguns at close range, they are hit with clubs, massively arrested without cause, put in unmarked cars, threatened to death by police officers and no disciplinary actions are taken against these agents.

We ask that Puerto Rico be included when the High Commissioner visits the United States, as we have neither representation in the US Congress that holds political power over our country, nor sovereign representation in international forums.
State violence victims in PR are in a dehumanizing, unsustainable situation, with no real options of reparations under the political rule of a country that takes such great pride in its democratic values.
————————-
ESPANOL

Buenas tardes. Agradecemos a la Oficina de Derechos Humanos de la ONU por la oportunidad de llamar a la atención del Alto Comisionado la situación particular de impunidad con respecto a la violencia policial y el racismo en Puerto Rico, una colonia de Estados Unidos con una población de 3,5 millones, un país de cultura caribeña donde el idioma que se habla es el español, y donde gran parte de nuestra población es marrón y afrocaribeña.

En los últimos cinco años, debido a las extremas medidas de austeridad impuestas por la Ley PROMESA del Congreso de Estados Unidos, y también luego de experimentar las crisis consecutivas de huracanes, una serie de terremotos y más recientemente la pandemia del COVID-19, la situación de impunidad de la violencia del Estado se ha vuelto aún más precaria.

De al menos 23 personas que la Policía ha matado en Puerto Rico desde 2019:

• 14 NO portaban armas de fuego
• 3 estaban pasando por una crisis de salud mental
• 11 tenían 25 años o menos

Todos estas personas pertenecían a comunidades empobrecidas o vulnerables, y la pobreza en nuestro país está directamente ligada a la ascendencia afro caribeña.

Ni siquiera a uno de estos oficiales se les ha presentado cargos criminales ni ha sido expulsado o incluso suspendido del Negociado de la Policía.

A diferencia de Estados Unidos, en Puerto Rico NO existen entidades externas independientes que supervisen o investiguen las acciones excesivas de la Policía. La Policía se investiga a sí misma y la gente debe denunciar a los agentes en el propio Negociado de la Policía, que no ofrece un proceso justo, confiable ni neutral.

La División de Derechos Civiles del Departamento de Justicia ha sido desmantelada en la última década y no existe una fiscalía especializada para investigar casos de homicidios o uso excesivo de la fuerza por parte de agentes de ley y orden. Los fiscales de distrito de primera línea suelen investigar estos casos. A menudo, las familias de las personas asesinadas por la Policía nos dicen que los fiscales actúan como si fueran los abogados defensores del oficial.

Los reclamos judiciales civiles contra el Estado han sido extraordinariamente limitados con la aprobación del proyecto de ley PROMESA, incluso siendo suspendidos por un período de tiempo ya que esta ley protege al Estado contra demandantes que buscan una compensación económica.

Los demandantes potenciales de violación de los derechos civiles en PR también deben cumplir con un plazo de 90 días de notificación de reclamo que ha demostrado ser agotador y muy difícil de cumplir para las víctimas de violencia policial, que generalmente aún no han consultado con un abogado 90 días después de su incidente traumático.

Estas y otras restricciones han desincentivado a la mayoría de los abogados privados de incluso llevar adelante estos casos. Por otro lado, las medidas de austeridad han reducido e incluso eliminado el acceso a la justicia o proyectos de ley pro bono destinados a comunidades empobrecidas. En Kilómetro Cero vivimos todos los días las penurias, frustraciones e impotencia que enfrentan las víctimas de abusos policiales o los familiares de los asesinados por policías para buscar respuestas, reparaciones y una mínima promesa de cambio sistémico.

Mientras observábamos la respuesta de la Policía a las protestas por el asesinato de George Floyd en Estados Unidos el año pasado, aquí en Puerto Rico definitivamente nos identificamos profundamente. ¿Por qué? Porque así de violenta suele ser la respuesta policial cada vez que tenemos protestas masivas: incluso a niños y ancianos se les lanza gases lacrimógenos, a la gente se le dispara a quemarropa con escopetas de balas de metal recubiertas de goma, se les golpea con macanas, se les arresta masivamente sin causa, se les coloca en vehículos sin identificación, se les amenaza de muerte y no se toman medidas disciplinarias contra estos agentes.

Solicitamos que se incluya a Puerto Rico cuando la Alta Comisionada visite Estados Unidos, ya que no tenemos representación en el Congreso de Estados Unidos que tiene poder político sobre nuestro país, ni representación soberana en foros internacionales.

Las víctimas de la violencia de Estado en Puerto Rico se encuentran en una situación deshumanizante e insostenible, sin opciones reales de reparación bajo el dominio político de un país que tanto se vanagloria de sus valores democráticos.

WHITE SUPREMACIST ORGANIZATIONS INFILTRATING POLICE AGENCIES

According to recently released reports from the FBI, since 2006 there have been active links between law enforcement and White Supremacist organizations. The FBI document can be found at http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/402521/doc-26-white-supremacist-infiltration.pdf.

The Web site Just Security published an article, White Supremacist Infiltration of US Police Forces: Fact-Checking National Security Advisor O’Brien, by Danielle Schulkin on June 1, 2020 (https://www.justsecurity.org/70507/white-supremacist-infiltration-of-us-police-forces-fact-checking-national-security-advisor-obrien/#:~:text=An%20FBI%20intelligence%20assessment%20%E2%80%94titled%20%E2%80%9CWhite%20Supremacist%20Infiltration,law%20enforcement%20communities%20or%20recruiting%20law%20enforcement%20personnel.%E2%80%9D) which contradicted, among other things, the attitude of the Trump Administration about racism in policing:

On Sunday morning, CNN’s Jake Tapper asked President Trump’s National Security Advisor, Robert O’Brien, whether he thinks “systemic racism” is a problem in law enforcement agencies in the United States. O’Brien responded: “I don’t think there is systemic racism. I think 99.9 percent of our law enforcement officers are great Americans,” said O’Brien. “But … there’s a few bad apples.”

There are two flaws in O’Brien’s response. First, O’Brien ignores the well-documented support by law enforcement officers of alt-right extremist ideology throughout the country. Second, O’Brien misunderstands the nature of systemic racism—a term that means that institutions we have in place produce racially disparate effects on minority populations—in his discussion of individual officers.

The Brennan Center for Justice makes note of this FBI report in an article titled Hidden in Plain Sight: Racism, White Supremacy, and Far-Right Militancy in Law Enforcement (https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/hidden-plain-sight-racism-white-supremacy-and-far-right-militancy-law). One part of the report that we wish to specifically highlight here, however, is the difficulty in prosecuting police officers for even intentional acts of racial bias:

Federal prosecutors do face a high evidentiary bar when bringing criminal cases against law enforcement officials, which require proof that the officers willfully intended to violate the victim’s civil rights in their use of force. It is not enough to prove that an officer’s intentional use of excessive force resulted in a denial of a victim’s constitutional rights. The civil rights statute that covers police brutality, 18 U.S.C. § 242, requires prosecutors to prove that police officers intended to use excessive force and that they did so with the specific intent to violate the victim’s constitutional rights. 

The Justice Department has been delinquent in gathering data about overtly racist police conduct. The lack of a federal database that tracks this type of misconduct or membership in white supremacist or far-right militant groups makes discovering evidence of intent more difficult. The FBI only began collecting data on law enforcement use of force in 2018, after Black Lives Matter and other police accountability groups pushed for more federal oversight of police violence against people of color.  This is a positive step, but the data relies on voluntary reporting by law enforcement agencies, a methodology which has led to serious deficiencies in hate crime reporting.

In addition to criminal penalties, the Justice Department also has the authority under 42 U.S.C. § 14141 and § 3789d(c)(3) to bring civil suits against law enforcement agencies if it can demonstrate a “pattern or practice” of civil rights violations.  Civil suits have a lower evidentiary bar, but they target department-wide problems rather than individual officers’ misconduct. These cases often reach settlement agreements or “consent decrees,” which provide for a period of DOJ oversight of agreed upon reform efforts. The Obama administration opened 20 pattern and practice investigations of police departments, doubling the number initiated by the Bush administration, and entered into at least 14 consent decrees with police agencies.  The Justice Department has not developed metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of these efforts in curbing police violence or civil rights abuses, however. 

The Trump administration abandoned police reform efforts championed by Obama’s Justice Department. Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered a review of civil rights pattern and practice cases and, on his last day in office, signed a memo establishing more stringent requirements for Justice Department attorneys seeking to open them, which limited the utility of this tool in curbing systemic police misconduct.  Sessions also killed a program operated by the DOJ Office of Community Oriented Policing Services that evaluated police department practices and offered corrective recommendations in a more collaborative way that avoided litigation. Attorney General William Barr has indicated similar disdain for law enforcement oversight, once threatening that communities that do not give support and respect to law enforcement “might find themselves without the police protection they need.”

An article by The Intercept, FBI Investigated White Supremacists in Police (https://theintercept.com/2017/01/31/the-fbi-has-quietly-investigated-white-supremacist-infiltration-of-law-enforcement/) discusses this issue further, including the infiltration of White Supremacist organizations into police agencies with what came to be known as “ghost skins” (White Supremacists who join police agencies and warn others of potential police investigations of racist organizations) and obstacles to reform of these issues within police agencies because of the very history of police in general:

Reforming police, as it turns out, is a lot harder than reforming the military, because of the decentralized way in which the thousands of police departments across the country operate, the historical affinity of certain police departments with the same racial ideologies espoused by extremists, and an even broader reluctance to do much about it.

“If you look at the history of law enforcement in the United States, it is a history of white supremacy, to put it bluntly,” said [Pete Simi, a sociologist at Chapman University who spent decades studying the proliferation of white supremacists in the U.S. military], citing the origin of U.S. policing in the slave patrols of the 18th and 19th centuries. “More recently, just going back 50 years, law enforcement, particularly in the South, was filled with Klan members.” …

Norm Stamper, a former chief of the Seattle Police Department and vocal advocate for police reform, told The Intercept that white supremacy was not simply a matter of history. “There are police agencies throughout the South and beyond that come from that tradition,” he said. “To think that that kind of thinking has dissolved somehow is myopic at best.”

Efforts are being made under laws such as the California Law Enforcement And Reform (CLEAR) Act and in favor of a process for screening officers and officer candidates using significant background checks, screening for known affiliations with White Supremacist organizations and providing a basis for people to report these cases, using this information to establish grounds for review, and termination of officers with such ties. These efforts have been resisted by police bills of rights that have been passed in several states.

The 2006 FBI report was recently re-released by Maryland Congress Member Jeremy Raskin’s office. There has been little to no action at most state levels and the Department of Homeland Security has been slow in its response.

Identifying law enforcement and other officials who attended the January 6 Capitol insurrection are also part of furthering efforts to address the legacy of White Supremacist organizations that used law enforcement officers to harass, torture and otherwise discriminate against people of color in our communities.

Many agencies do not have explicit policies that outline prohibited behaviors, so police officers often respond to investigations, inquiries and reviews of their behavior with lawsuits and union action.

There is no coordinated strategy to identify the links the FBI has known about since 2006. There is often no statewide effort, including statewide police officer certification, and even in areas that are receptive to reforms there has been much pushback against these efforts. Problems effectively regulating this behavior emanate from the fact that each county in several states has its own code of conduct that operates independently of the others, with no reporting to each other.

Infiltration by White Supremacist organizations in the police forces (1) threatens the integrity of criminal investigations (2) jeopardizes the safety of elected officials, peace officers and the public and (3) invites bias and discriminatory application of laws and services.

Several human rights and legal organizations are working along the lines of the Plain View Project (https://www.plainviewproject.org/).

Closing Thoughts

The failures of domestic and international law in bringing redress for victims of police violence and abuse have not gone unnoticed.

The group noted the clear differences in police behavior between Black Lives Matter protesters and White Supremacist mobilizations.

The international community must emphasize the solidarity of those who stand up for human rights and against racism, activists and organizers from different groups who are participating in this effort together.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights will address the Human Rights Council on March 18 on UNTV (http://webtv.un.org/) to update them on the progress of her office.

We contacted many of the participants in this Consultation to seek their permission to share their reports and recommendations. We thank those who agreed to share their analyses and suggestions. We also understand the perspective of those who asked to keep their participation and their presentations confidential, as they were often of a personal nature, or may have led to the identification of activists whose security may have been placed at risk as a result. We are grateful for the participation of all the activists, scholars, reporters and general members of civil society who participated in this Consultation, as it helps make clear to the United Nations and its Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights that the “people on the ground” are indeed aware, concerned, and motivated to take concrete, positive action on human rights issues such as this one, and that in turn should help spur the UN and its various organs to implement some of the actions recommended in this Consultation. It is our hope that the UN will also increase access for Pan-Afrikan civil society to its Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent (WGEPAD), and fully implement and operationalize its Permanent Forum on People of African Descent with a deeper connection to grassroots Pan-Afrikan activists and organizations. As we pass the midpoint of the UN’s International Decade for People of African Descent (IDPAD), more progress must be made, and more quickly and urgently, so that IDPAD will mean something more than a simple commemoration or theoretical exercise. Only through concrete action that will put teeth into the UN’s Resolution 43/1, such as sanctions on nations that continue to respond to police brutality with lip service, will Consultations like this one lead to real results that will bring true credibility to the UN as a world body that is capable of the pursuit of justice and human rights.

Word has come from Political Prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal’s support committees that he may have contracted the COVID-19 Coronavirus.  Officials at the Mahanoy Prison where he is being held claim he has tested negative, but those reports are questioned because he is suffering from shortness of breath and chest pains, according to reports.

A mass rally was held Saturday, February 27 at Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office at 12 noon, and a mass call-in to Krasner’s office as well as those of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf and Mahanoy Prison Superintendent Bernadette Mason was organized on Monday, March 1.

The Campaign To Bring Mumia Home

There will also be a Global Street Meeting on March 6 for Mumia:

This is an invitation  to join us on March 6th, 2021 from 2-4 PM EST for a Global Virtual Street Meeting for Mumia Abu-Jamal: 

FREEDOM HAS NEVER BEEN SO CLOSE

Join organizers, artists, supporters and educators as they shine a light on the important history of this international movement to #FreeMumia along with a summary of Mumia’s current legal situation and ways that people can get involved.

RSVP HERE: https://shorturl.at/iown6 

PLEASE SHARE WIDELY!!!

Follow on social media for more updates:

Twitter: @MumiaAbuJamal 
Facebook: @MumiaAbuJamal
Instagram: @BringMumiaHome

“A JUST PERSON WILL IGNORE HIS PRIDE WHEN HE HEARS WHAT IS RIGHT, AN UNJUST PERSON WILL IGNORE WHAT IS RIGHT AND HOLD FAST TO HIS GODDAMNING PRIDE…”
-John Africa

Follow on Twitter | Friend on Facebook

Continuing Organizing for Mumia at the University of California Santa Cruz

On Friday, February 26, a special Zoom call was held, The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal.

The event featured guest speakers Pam Africa and Johanna Fernandez, and a screening of Dr. Fernandez’s film, Justice On Trial.  Students and community members spoke about Mumia’s graduate student status, the institutional lack of support Mumia is experiencing from his currently incarcerated position and how we can powerfully unite in the call for his immediate release.  The event was sponsored by the UC Santa Cruz Mumia Abu-Jamal Support Collective out of the west coast.  For more information about this program, contact them by email at ucscmumia@gmail.com

The Wednesday, February 24 edition of Africa400 looks at Akoma Day, a weeklong celebration of Black Love that runs from February 14 – 20.  Mama Tomiko and Baba Ty interview Montsho and Nwasha Edu, creators of Akoma Day and the Black Love School.

Listen to the February 24 broadcast here:

“We are Montsho & Nwasha Edu MHS’, DSKM, SW-WMW.  Together we are a happily married SoulMate team and co-founders of the Akoma House Initiative.  Our symbol of introduction is the ‘Akoma’ (commonly called the ‘heart’ today)… It is an ancient Afrakan symbol of Love, Patience, and Purpose.

“We are the co creators of AKOMA DAY the 7 day Cultural Alternative to Valentine’s Day celebrated in 11 countries worldwide. We are the co-authors of two best selling books- Akoma Day: A Guidebook into the Sacred Science of SoulMating & Cultural Alternative to Valentine’s Day (2007) and You Are What You Cheat: A Guidebook into Understanding & Overcoming Infidelity (April 2014).

What is Akoma Day

“Akoma Day is a 7-day Black Love holiday celebrated from February 14th to February 20th and offered as an alternative to Valentine’s Day for black people who want to celebrate their love with cultural integrity.  Considering black people were the first to develop love words, terms, songs, poems, talismans and monuments of love, we should also return to our autochthonous holiday expressions. The focus of Akoma Day is to restore Black Love as the primordial example of love personified for all humanity to model.  The holiday was first conceived in 1997, celebrated locally in 1999 and then formally introduced internationally in 2001.

“Although officially celebrated for one week, the holiday is to be embodied throughout the year as a tool to attain the pinnacle level of Love in our intimate, personal and professional relationships. Part of celebrating the holiday involves organizing a sacred space to invite the 7 virtues, 7 principles and 7 symbols into your life and love.”

Following is a presentation we prepared for the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR) Consultation with Civil Society on police abuse, police brutality and police corruption.  This will be edited to a more polished final report:

UNOHCHR Police Brutality Consultation Presentation 2

 

The United Nations High Commission on Human Rights (UNOCHCR) continues its investigation into police brutality, violence and abuse. After its session at the UN Headquarters in New York in November 2015, in which testimony was presented from, among other witnesses, reporters and experts, Samaria Rice (mother of Tamir Rice), John Crawford II (father of John Crawford III), Alicia Garza (co-founder of Black Lives Matter) and several UN Special Rapporteurs from different parts of the world, the United Nations’ (UN) Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) determined the need to continue to monitor the ongoing crisis of police brutality, violence and abuse directed specifically against Black People around the world. For more details of this session, see https://kuumbareport.com/2015/11/10/confronting-the-silence-introduction-to-the-un-session/; and https://kuumbareport.com/2015/12/01/confronting-the-silence-structural-racism-the-view-from-america/.

While international bodies such as the United Nations may be seen (correctly) as excessively bureaucratic bodies and slow to respond to crises such as these in an expeditious or effective manner, the fact is that in many cases they do respond, even if not as quickly as we would like. The UNOHCHR has held periodic discussions and made regular reports on the issue of police brutality, violence and abuse, some of which we discuss below. After a June 2020 “urgent debate” and subsequent oral and written reports from the High Commissioner for Human Rights, former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, a consultative discussion is being held on Thursday, February 18 featuring several civil society organizations, activists and experts from the Diaspora. We will share details on these efforts below.

The “Urgent Debate”

This comes from the UNOHCHR’s Web site (https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25971&LangID=E):

Human Rights Council holds an urgent debate on current racially inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality and violence against peaceful protests

17 June 2020

Speakers Urge the Council to Establish an International Commission of Inquiry to Investigate Systemic Racism in Law Enforcement in the United States

The Human Right Council this afternoon began an urgent debate on current racially inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality and violence against peaceful protests. It heard calls from speakers for the Council to establish an international commission of inquiry to investigate systemic racism in law enforcement in the United States.

In her opening remarks, Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger, President of the Human Rights Council, said this urgent debate was being held at the request of Burkina Faso on behalf of the African Group. She bowed to all the victims and kindly requested those present to observe a moment of silence.

Amina Mohammed, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, via video teleconference, said this was an urgent and necessary debate, given that Afro-descendants still faced poverty and structural racism, causing them to be, for instance, amongst the hardest hit communities by COVID-19.

Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, emphasized that the wave of protests since the killing of George Floyd had been truly global. She encouraged the Council to heighten its focus on racism and racial discrimination, going beyond existing recommendations, and reiterated that “Black lives matter”.

Kwesi Quartey, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission, said the African Union rejected the continued racial discrimination against black citizens of the United States, urging the international community to ensure the total elimination of all forms of discrimination based on race, ethnicity or religion.

E. Tendayi Achiume, Special Rapporteur on racism, via video message, on behalf of other mandate holders, urged the Council to create an international commission of inquiry with the necessary authority to investigate systemic racism in law enforcement in the United States.

Philonise Floyd, brother of George Floyd, via video message, reiterated that none of the police officers were fired for his brother’s murder until mass protests took place worldwide, and requested the establishment of an independent commission of inquiry to investigate police killings of black people in America and the violence used against peaceful protesters.

In the discussion that followed, speakers thanked the African Group for putting this important topic on the agenda. For some of them, racist acts were not errors of the system in the United States, but rather functions of it, and racism was widespread in the administration of President Donald Trump. Other speakers stressed that racism was present everywhere and, consequently, no country should be singled out. Some endorsed the idea of creating an independent commission of inquiry, urging the Council to take action and not become a passive observer. Others expressed support for the United States’ recent steps to address racism, police brutality and violent responses to peaceful demonstrations, noting, for example, the charging of officers over George Floyd’s death, the removal of others responsible for excessive force, as well as moves towards police reform.

Speakers noted that the responsibility to protect human rights primarily rested with States. National policies should be revisited to better implement the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, and governments should strengthen their dialogues with communities of people of African descent. Acknowledging their countries own histories of racism, some speakers chastised privileges based on race and said it was not enough for leaders to merely express their opposition to racism. “Black lives matter”, several speakers emphasized.

Speaking in the urgent debate were Central African Republic on behalf of the African Group, Indonesia on behalf of a group of countries, Azerbaijan on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, Croatia on behalf of the European Union, Mexico on behalf of a group of countries, Marshall Islands, India, Venezuela, Brazil, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Uruguay, Netherlands, Armenia, Indonesia, Australia, Namibia, Nepal, Cameroon, Bahrain, Japan, Senegal, Nigeria, Fiji (video message), Bangladesh (video message), Spain, Togo, Ukraine, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Qatar, Somalia, Sudan, UN Women, Jordan, Sweden, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Cuba, Seychelles, Botswana, Sierra Leone, France, Belgium, Liechtenstein, South Africa, Philippines (video message), United Nations Population Fund (video message), Syria, Jamaica, Morocco, United Nations Children’s Fund, Iran, Egypt, Canada, Colombia, State of Palestine, Sri Lanka, Lesotho, Russian Federation, China and Switzerland.

The meetings of the forty-third regular session of the Human Rights Council can be followed on the webcast of UN Web TV.

The Council will next meet on Thursday, 18 June at 10 a.m. to conclude the urgent debate on current racially inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality and violence against peaceful protests. It will then continue the interactive dialogue with the Independent Expert on the human rights situation in Mali.

Statement by the President of the Human Rights Council

ELISABETH TICHY-FISSLBERGER, President of the Human Rights Council, recalled that on Friday, 12 June 2020, she had received a letter from Burkina Faso on behalf of the African Group containing the formal request to hold this urgent debate on “the current racially inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality against people of African descent and violence against peaceful protests”. She said she bowed to all the victims and asked those present to observe a moment of silence.

Key-note Statements

AMINA MOHAMMED, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, speaking via video teleconference, said this was an urgent and necessary debate. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres shared the Council’s abhorrence of racism. As stated in an op-ed that had recently been published by senior United Nations officials who were African or of African descent: “Not enough can ever be said about the deep trauma and inter-generational suffering that has resulted from the racial injustice perpetrated through centuries, particularly against people of African descent. To merely condemn expressions and acts of racism is not enough. We must go beyond and do more.” Noting that most recent protests against racism had been triggered by the appalling killing of George Floyd, she stressed that racism spanned history and borders across the globe. Today, people were saying enough. The United Nations had a duty to respond to the anguish that racism caused, as equal rights were enshrined in the Charter.

Ms. Mohammed recalled that the crimes and negative impact of the transatlantic slave trade were still being felt today: Afro-descendants still faced poverty and structural racism, causing them to be, for instance, amongst the hardest hit communities by COVID-19. As all recovered from the pandemic, returning to these systems was absolutely out of the question. Calling for a reset of law enforcement, Ms. Mohammed emphasized that the poison of racism still raged and the fight against it must still be waged. The world must fight racism in all its obnoxious forms. On a personal note, she added that she, like Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream that her granddaughter may live in a world where she was not judged by the colour of her skin but rather on the strength of her character. The United Nations, its leadership and staff, stood with all those who were pursuing the scourge of racism in all its forms.

MICHELLE BACHELET, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, emphasized that the wave of protests since the killing of George Floyd had been truly global. The brutal act had come to symbolise systemic racism and the excessive use of disproportionate force by law enforcement that harmed millions of people of African descent, people of colour, indigenous peoples and racial and ethnic minorities across the globe. Given the transcending public support for a sea change, 20 fellow United Nations leaders of African origin or descent had written this week that the world needed to go beyond merely condemning racism. Decisive action was required to reform institutions and address pervasive racism that corroded them. Ms. Bachelet was heartened to see national and local measures in this regard, such as banning of the use of chokeholds, tear gas, rubber bullets and flash grenades by police forces. Behind today’s racial violence, systemic racism, and discriminatory policing lay the failure to acknowledge and confront the legacy of the slave trade and colonialism. To build a more solid foundation for equality the world needed to better understand the scope of systemic discrimination, with disaggregated data by ethnicity or race. It was also necessary to make amends for centuries of violence and discrimination, including through formal apologies, truth-telling processes, and reparations in various forms. Time was of the essence. Patience had run out. Black lives mattered. Indigenous lives mattered. The lives of people of colour mattered. All human beings were born equal in dignity and rights: that was what this Council, like her Office, stood for.

KWESI QUARTEY, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission, welcomed the debate on the important and worrying issue of racial discrimination and human rights. The African Union rejected the continued racial discrimination against black citizens of the United States. This systemic discrimination could only be eradicated if the issues were examined from the roots. This was an opportunity for the international community to do so, and that required considering the transatlantic slave trade and its consequences. Yet images of a black man in London providing assistance to a far-right protester reminded that all were part of the same humanity. Racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia must not be allowed to erase all the achievements and development that humanity had reached. The African Union urged the international community to ensure the total elimination of all forms of discrimination based on race, ethnic or religious origin.

E. TENDAYI ACHIUME, Special Rapporteur on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance, speaking via video message, delivered a joint statement of behalf of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance; the Working Group of Experts on people of African descent ; the Special Rapporteur on the rights of freedom of assembly and association ; and the Coordination Committee of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council.

In the United States, there could be no question that the problem was not one of isolated incidents of police misconduct, but rather it was one of systemic racism in law enforcement. Furthermore, it was a situation that required urgent and decisive action by the Human Rights Council. Nevertheless, the predominant messages from the President of the United States and his administration had been to deny the existence of systemic racism in law enforcement. Instead, he had inflamed national tensions through racialized divisive rhetoric and called on public authorities to deploy force against protestors. The response of the United States’ Government to the national uprising against systemic racism in law enforcement had re-enacted the very injustices that had driven people into the streets in the first place. Any resolution adopted by the Council at the conclusion of this debate must provide for an international commission of inquiry with the necessary authority to investigate systemic racism in law enforcement in the United States. Failure to establish an international commission of inquiry would signal that black lives do not matter, or that if they do, they do not matter enough to mobilize the Human Rights Council to intervene where it should.

PHILONISE FLOYD, brother of George Floyd, speaking via video message, emphasized that his brother was unarmed when he was killed after being accused of passing a counterfeit $ 20 bill. The Floyd family had had to watch the last moments of his life, as they were captured on camera. Witnesses had begged the officer to take his knee off George Floyd’s neck to save his life for four minutes after he stopped breathing. None of the police officers were fired for this murder until mass protests took place worldwide, highlighting the same lesson yet again: black lives do not matter in the United States. The police had used violence against people peacefully protesting for George Floyd, injuring and killing them by using tear gas, rubber bullets and running them over with police vehicles. The sad truth was that George Floyd’s case was not unique: it represented the way black people were treated by police in the United States. Mr. Floyd emphasized that instead of watching the death of George, they could have witnessed his own death. He concluded his statement by asking the United Nations to help get justice for George Floyd and help all black people in the United States. Specifically, Mr. Floyd requested the Council to establish an independent commission of inquiry to investigate police killings of black people in the United States and the violence used against peaceful protesters.

Urgent Debate

Speakers strongly condemned the murder of George Floyd that was not justified, and all forms of racism, xenophobia and discrimination. The Committee against Torture and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination had made multiple recommendations over the years regarding the issues of police brutality and racism. Some of these recommendations went back to 2006 and were still relevant today. It was hoped that this debate would renew the commitment to put in place and implement the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. Speakers strongly condemned racially motivated violence and hatred, as well as attacks on peaceful protests and murders committed by police forces. Police forces played an important role in societies, but complaints of police violence were still common and marginalised people and communities were still unfairly treated by justice systems. Laws and practices must be people-centred in order to combat these problems within police forces.

Speakers expressed concern about the increased use of the mass media to transmit racism, xenophobia and racist discrimination, calling for the promotion of education and mutual understanding between communities. Public policies aimed at fostering a domestic environment of tolerance, respect and peace must be strengthened. Speakers expressed deep concern over structural and systemic racism in all societies affecting minority groups the world over, emphasizing that States had the responsibility to prevent racist-driven crimes and ensure justice and accountability. It was time to unite in a firm, global and collective response.

Speakers thanked the African Group for putting this important topic on the agenda. For some of them, racism was an inherent element of imperialism; it was widespread in the administration of President Donald Trump. Other speakers stressed that racism was present everywhere and, consequently, no country should be singled out. Others expressed support for the United States’ recent steps to address racism, police brutality and violent responses to peaceful demonstrations, noting, for example, the charging of officers over George Floyd’s death, the removal of others responsible for excessive force, as well as moves towards police reform. Speakers stressed that people of African descent continued to face systemic discrimination in many countries. In that regard, the tragedy of the death of George Floyd was both a reminder and a wake-up call.

The challenge remained for nations to foster the necessary will to achieve what had been long promised to black people. The responsibility to protect human rights primarily rested with States. National policies should be revisited to better implement the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, and governments should strengthen their dialogues with communities of people of African descent. Asian people had been subjected to racism in the context of COVID-19, some speakers pointed out. While some speakers stressed the need to ensure the enjoyment of the freedom of expression and related human rights, others emphasized the need for protesters to remain peaceful and refrain from destructing property. In addressing racism, it was paramount to ensure access to due process for all. Some called for a greater involvement of Special Procedure mandate holders. Acknowledging their countries’ own history of racism, some speakers chastised privileges based on race and said it was not enough for leaders to merely express their opposition to racism. “Black lives matter”, several speakers emphasized.

Girls and women of African descent were likely to be poorer and less educated amongst other forms of marginalization, all around the world. Racist acts constituted threats not only to individuals but also to societies and democracies. Speakers said that the timely response of the judiciary, including the latest ruling of the United States Supreme Court on the issue of non-discrimination, was yet another piece of evidence of democratic traditions and equality ideas being deeply rooted within the American society. Others said that racist acts were not errors of the system in the United States, but rather functions of it. The Human Rights Council must be the ultimate defender of the weak and do so particularly for the descendants and the victims of the transatlantic slave trade. All those present had a responsibility not to minimize the issue, not to generalize it and not to diminish it, because that would be a form of racism in itself.

Unequivocal support was reaffirmed for the International Decade for People of African Descent and related activities as designated by the United Nations. This initiative sought to guarantee the full and equal participation of Afro-descendants in all aspects of society; efforts should be redoubled towards its full realisation. Calling George Floyd’s killing an “execution,” some speakers said it reflected a long history of oppression, which dated back to the days of slavery, and was bringing the United States further from Martin Luther King Jr.’s ideal of a “beloved community”. Ascribing certain forms of racism to societal characteristics of “countries of the West,” speakers called for an end of the ideology of racial superiority.

Several speakers endorsed the idea of creating an independent commission of inquiry, urging the Council to take action and not become a passive observer. Some speakers expressed their sincere condolences to the family of George Floyd and deplored the use of social media platforms in inciting racial hatred. There were no easy fixes to racism, and building an equal society “begins with each of us”, speakers said. Racism and other forms of discrimination were still rampant and existed in all societies no matter how rich they were, others noted. No country was immune from the scourge of racism. Speakers urged the United States to take action to resolve the structural issues and economic inequality that had caused the recent events.

Citing race-related challenges they faced in their own countries, speakers said they remained conscious that the fight against racism was not won by words and proclamations alone, and called for all to look inwards to combat the legacies of slavery and colonialism that continued to haunt the world. The singular incident of the brutal death of George Floyd reflected a much wider, global problem of racism and racial discrimination. The Black Lives Matter-led protest movement had shaken the entire world. Quoting Malcom X, speakers said the matter at hand was not a “black problem” nor a “white problem”, but rather one that concerned all of humanity. Some speakers noted that Washington had ignored for decades the fair criticism of the international community and boycotted the work of the Human Rights Council. The confidence of the American administration in its messianic role as well as its impunity had led to the current tragedy.

The UN Human Rights Council Resolution

The UN then followed up with a Resolution, available at their Web site https://undocs.org/A/HRC/RES/43/1:

Human Rights Council, Forty-third session
24 February–13 March and 15–23 June 2020
Agenda item 1, Organizational and procedural matters
Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council on 19 June 2020

43/1. Promotion and protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Africans and of people of African descent against excessive use of force and other human rights violations by law enforcement officers

The Human Rights Council,

Reaffirming the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all,

Recalling the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, and that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in the Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour or national origin,

Recalling also the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and bearing in mind the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action,

Recalling further its previous resolutions on the comprehensive follow-up to the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance and the effective implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, and the International Decade for People of African Descent as proclaimed by the General Assembly in its resolution 68/237 of 23 December 2013,

Recalling the General Assembly resolutions in this regard, in particular Assembly resolution 74/137 of 18 December 2019, and the imperative need for their full and effective implementation,

Alarmed at the resurgence of violence, racial hatred, hate speech, hate crimes, neoNazism, neo-Fascism and violent nationalist ideologies based on racial or national prejudice, including the resurgence of racial superiority ideologies that incite hatred and violence against Africans and people of African descent,

Recognizing that racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance have a deep negative impact on the enjoyment of human rights, and therefore require a united and comprehensive response from the international community,

Recalling Human Rights Council resolution 7/34 of 28 March 2008, and all
subsequent resolutions on the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, including those of the Commission on Human Rights,

Taking note of the historic resolution on racial discrimination in the United States of America adopted at the first ordinary session of the Assembly of African Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity, held in Cairo from 17 to 24 July 1964, and the statement made by the Chairperson of the African Union Commission which condemned the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota, United States of America, on 25 May 2020,

Taking note also of the statement made by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on 8 June 2020 expressing its strong condemnation of the murder of George Floyd and repudiating structural racism, the systemic violence against Afro-Americans, impunity and the disproportionate use of force by law enforcement officers,

Recalling the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the Basic
Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials,

Encouraging States to look into their manuals and guidelines used for training law enforcement officers with a view to identifying the proportionality of measures in the handling of suspects and other persons in custody, with respect to the treatment of Africans and people of African descent,

Reaffirming the importance of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action in advancing racial equality, ensuring equal opportunities for all, guaranteeing equality before the law and promoting social, economic and political inclusion without distinctions based on race, age, sex, disability, descent, national or ethnic origin, religion or economic or other status,

Welcoming all statements made by the special procedures regarding the killing of George Floyd, and in particular their joint statement of 5 June 2020, and the statement made by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on 3 June 2020,

1. Strongly condemns the continuing racially discriminatory and violent practices perpetrated by law enforcement agencies against Africans and people of African descent, in particular which led to the death of George Floyd on 25 May 2020 in Minnesota, as referred to in the ninth preambular paragraph above, and the deaths of other people of African descent,
and also condemns the structural racism in the criminal justice system;

2. Deplores the recent incidents of excessive use of force and other human rights violations by law enforcement officers against peaceful demonstrators defending the rights of Africans and of people of African descent;

3. Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, with the
assistance of relevant special procedure mandate holders, to prepare a report on systemic racism, violations of international human rights law against Africans and people of African descent by law enforcement agencies, especially those incidents that resulted in the death of George Floyd and other Africans and people of African descent, to contribute to accountability and redress for victims;

4. Also requests the High Commissioner to examine government responses to
anti-racism peaceful protests, including the alleged use of excessive force against protesters, bystanders and journalists;

5. Calls upon all States and all relevant stakeholders to cooperate fully with the High Commissioner in the preparation of the report;

6. Requests the High Commissioner to provide an oral update on the preparation of her report to the Human Rights Council at its forty-fifth and forty-sixth sessions, and to present a comprehensive report to the Council at its forty-seventh session, to be followed by an interactive dialogue;

7. Also requests the High Commissioner to include updates on police brutality
against Africans and people of African descent in all her oral updates to the Human Rights Council;

8. Invites all treaty bodies, special procedure mandate holders and international and regional human rights mechanisms, within their respective mandates, to pay due attention to all forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, including against Africans and people of African descent, and to bring them to the attention of the Human Rights Council;

9. Decides to remain seized of the matter.

44th meeting
19 June 2020
[Adopted without a vote.]

Following Up on Resolution 43/1

This was part of the overall strategy of the Human Rights Council to make practical steps to follow up on these sessions as called for in the aforementioned resolution 43/1 (https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Racism/Pages/Implementation-HRC-Resolution-43-1.aspx):

Implementation of Human Rights Council resolution 43/1

Background

On 17 June 2020, the UN Human Rights Council held an urgent debate on “current racially inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality and violence against peaceful protests”. On 19 June 2020, the Human Rights Council adopted by consensus resolution 43/1.

As requested by the resolution, on 1 October 2020, the High Commissioner presented her first oral update to the Human Rights Council at its 45th session.

Mandate

The resolution requests the High Commissioner to:

Prepare a comprehensive report, with the assistance of relevant special procedure mandate holders, on “systemic racism, violations of international human rights law against Africans and people of African descent by law enforcement agencies, especially those incidents that resulted in the death of George Floyd and other Africans and of people of African descent, to contribute to accountability and redress for victims”. The report will be presented to the Council at its forty-seventh session taking place in June 2021, to be followed by an interactive dialogue.

Examine “government responses to anti-racism peaceful protests, including the alleged use of excessive force against protesters, bystanders and journalists”.

Provide an oral update on the preparation of the report to the Human Rights Council at its forty-fifth and forty-sixth sessions, at the September 2020 and March 2021 sessions of the Human Rights Council.

Include updates on “police brutality against Africans and people of African descent” in all of her oral updates to the Council.

Methodology

The High Commissioner established a dedicated team to work towards the effective implementation of Human Rights Council resolution 43/1. In the preparation of the report, the Office will adhere strictly to the principles of independence, impartiality and objectivity, in accordance with our established methodology.

OHCHR is seeking the views of member States, regional organizations, non-governmental organizations, UN entities, and other key stakeholders in response to a Call for Submissions. All stakeholders are requested to reply in writing to the call by 4 December 2020. Please note that unless otherwise indicated, all submissions received through the call for submissions will be posted in full and as received on OHCHR’s public website.

The voices of people of African descent who are victims of human rights violations and their families will be central to the work, which will also include consultations with relevant experts, civil society representatives, and community members and groups. As called for by the Human Rights Council resolution, the Office will also engage with relevant Special Procedures mandate holders.

Contact

For all contributions, please write to antiracism1@ohchr.org and registry@ohchr.org. For any other questions, please write to antiracism1@ohchr.org.

Documentation

Human Rights Council Resolution 43/1 (https://undocs.org/A/HRC/RES/43/1)

Statements and Media releases

1 October 2020: Oral update by the High Commissioner for Human Rights on A/HRC/RES/43/1 (https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26326&LangID=E)

Webcast: Oral update (http://webtv.un.org/search/item9-general-debate-29th-meeting-45th-regular-session-human-rights-council-/6196386529001/?term=2020-10-01&sort=date&page=6) followed by general debate (http://webtv.un.org/search/item9-general-debate-contd-30th-meeting-45th-regular-session-human-rights-council-/6196464288001/?term=2020-10-01&sort=date&page=5)

17 June 2020: Statement by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights at the Urgent Debate (https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25968&LangID=E)

17 June 2020: Human Rights Council holds an urgent debate on current racially inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality and violence against peaceful protests (https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25968&LangID=E)

3 June 2020: US protests: Deep-seated grievances must be addressed – Bachelet (https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25922&LangID=E)

28 May 2020: UN Human Rights Chief urges “serious action” to halt US police killings of unarmed African Americans (https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25910)

The High Commissioner’s Oral Updates to the Human Rights Council

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, went on record with several oral reports to the Human Rights Council, this one to the 45th session of the Council (https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26326&LangID=E):

Oral update by the High Commissioner for Human Rights on A/HRC/RES/43/1: Promotion and protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Africans and of people of African descent against excessive use of force and other human rights violations by law enforcement officers

45th session of the Human Rights Council

1 October 2020

Madam President,
Excellencies,

Thank you for this opportunity to update the Council on our work to implement resolution 43/1, of 17 June, 2020.

For too long, victims of systemic racism and racial discrimination and their families have endured prolonged suffering. Racism and racial discrimination have a devastating impact on victims, impinge upon rule of law and democratic space, and are unacceptable violations of human rights. It is our urgent and collective duty to address these issues – immediately and everywhere.

As I indicated in my opening statement to this Council two weeks ago, we continue to receive reports of police brutality and racism against people of African descent, underscoring the gravity of the crisis. The extent to which these human rights violations go unpunished is a source of concern. Often it appears that investigations are opened only when video footage, shared on social media, creates a wave of public outrage, placing heavy pressure on the authorities to act. The absence of accountability and redress for racially motivated crimes committed by members of security forces against people of African descent is unacceptable.

Law enforcement officials carry out some of the most necessary and challenging work in our societies. They have a duty to perform their functions in line with human rights law, while respecting equality and dignity. In every State where there is rule of law, there must also be oversight – and an absolute commitment to ending impunity.

Madam President,

Following the adoption of resolution 43/1, my Office immediately moved on its implementation, establishing a dedicated team to work towards its effective implementation, in accordance with our established methodology.

Racism affects all countries, as the resolution recognises, and an initial examination of the prevalence, patterns and trends of the issues raised in the resolution will guide the scope of our planned reporting. We will seek out the views of all Member States and other key stakeholders. I look forward to your cooperation and the engagement by States in these processes, including your sharing of good practices.

Central to this work will be the voices of victims of African descent and their families and communities. It is critical for us to hear and learn from their experiences, as we formulate recommendations that seek to bring about genuine and transformative change.

I am also most grateful to the hundreds of civil society organisations that have expressed their support for this work. I appreciate their trust in our Office; we will count on their help.

My Office will also engage with the Council’s Special Procedures mandate holders. In September, I met with the Special Rapporteur on Racism and the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent for an initial discussion, and I am grateful for their offers to contribute their expertise towards the implementation of the resolution.

Madam President,

This Council and its Member States have much to contribute to combatting racism and racial discrimination. Mindful of the profound importance of this mandate, my Office began implementing this resolution even before we received financial resources for it. Our intention, however, is to submit a Statement of programme budget implications that will help us go forward. I count on the Council’s support in this respect.

More broadly, the engagement of the Council and its Member States will be essential to focus efforts on recommendations and actions that deliver results. We cannot let the urgency felt in this Council last June subside. The Human Rights Council can contribute to making this moment a critical turning point in the respect and protection of the human rights of people of African descent.

I look forward to updating you in greater detail at the Council’s next session, in March.

Thank you, Madam President.

The Human Rights Council Calls for Input from Civil Society

This has led to efforts by the Human Rights Council to solicit input from experts and members of civil society on the issue of “excessive use of force and other human rights violations” by police, in this case to prepare for hearings held on December 4, 2020 (https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Racism/Pages/Call-Implementation-HRC-Resolution-43-1.aspx):

Call for inputs for the preparation of the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 43/1 on the “Promotion and protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Africans and of people of African descent against excessive use of force and other human rights violations by law enforcement officers”

Operative paragraph 3 of Human Rights Council resolution 43/1 requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, with the assistance of relevant special procedure mandate holders, “to prepare a report on systemic racism, violations of international human rights law against Africans and people of African descent by law enforcement agencies, especially those incidents that resulted in the death of George Floyd and other Africans and people of African descent, to contribute to accountability and redress for victims.” Operative paragraph 4 of the resolution requests the High Commissioner “to examine government responses to anti-racism peaceful protests, including the alleged use of excessive force against protesters, bystanders and journalists”. Operative paragraph 6 requests the High Commissioner “to present a comprehensive report to the Council at its forty-seventh session, followed by an interactive dialogue”. The forty-seventh session of the Human Rights Council is scheduled to take place in June 2021.

In order to inform the preparation of this report, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) would welcome information from all States, including independent governmental entities, as well as United Nations entities, inter-governmental and regional organizations, civil society and non-governmental organizations and all other relevant stakeholders, concerning:

⦁ Measures taken to identify, address, reform and remedy systems, institutions, structures, mechanisms, legislation, policies and/or practices that give rise to, perpetuate, entrench and/or reinforce systemic racism, racial discrimination and associated human rights violations against Africans and people of African descent, including those resulting from historical legacies, as relevant.

⦁ The impact of such measures on the enjoyment of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including, but not limited to, measures, mechanisms and procedures taken to identify, address and provide effective remedy and redress for systemic racism and racial discrimination experienced by Africans and people of African descent within law enforcement and the criminal justice system. Please also identify or include related public reports in this regard.

⦁ Information regarding specific incidents of alleged violations of international human rights law against Africans and people of African descent by law enforcement agencies, especially those incidents that resulted in the death of George Floyd and other Africans and people of African descent.

⦁ Measures taken to ensure accountability, remedy and redress and address any impunity for human rights violations against Africans and people of African descent, particularly by law enforcement agencies; and the outcomes and effectiveness of such measures. Please also share information about the functioning of accountability mechanisms and associated decision-making processes addressing human rights violations, and identify any patterns or trends in the outcomes of these mechanisms and processes that show or suggest differential experience of Africans and people of African descent with respect to accountability for violations suffered by them. Please also identify or include related public reports in this regard.

⦁ Information concerning laws, regulations, policies and other measures taken to prevent and address alleged human rights violations by law enforcement officials against Africans and people of African descent, as well as contribute to accountability, remedy and redress, and the outcomes and effectiveness of such measures.

⦁ Information concerning Government responses to anti-racism peaceful protests, within the meaning of resolution 43/1, including the alleged use of excessive force against protesters, bystanders and journalists, as well as applicable laws, regulations, policies, practices and other measures, and their impact and effectiveness.

⦁ Information regarding systems of collection by State authorities of disaggregated data based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin, and processes for the analysis of such data. In relation to the above-mentioned areas, please provide data disaggregated by race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin; as well as additionally by sex, age, economic and social situation, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity, incarceration and other status, where available. Where such information is not available, please indicate reasons why.

⦁ Mechanisms in place to ensure that Africans and people of African descent and their representatives are appropriately, adequately and sufficiently represented in processes to identify, remove and reform any structures, policies and practices of racial discrimination in institutions of law enforcement and the related administration of criminal justice.

⦁ Good practices, challenges and lessons learned regarding measures taken to: (i) combat systemic racism at the national, state/regional and local levels, including as informed by structural and institutional factors; (ii) prevent and address alleged human rights violations against Africans and people of African descent by law enforcement officials; (iii) ensure accountability for human rights violations against Africans and people of African descent and access to effective remedies and redress for such victims of contemporary and associated historical human rights violations; and (iv) ensure appropriate Government responses to anti-racism peaceful protests. Please also identify or include related public reports in this regard.

⦁ Specific information pertaining to all other aspects of the mandate set out in resolution 43/1, including regarding the situation and perspectives of African women and children and of women and children of African descent, as well as other relevant gender and intersectional dimensions, including discrimination based on colour, sex/gender, economic and social status, disability, or other status.

Process

Contributions should be sent in Word format by email to: Antiracism1@ohchr.org and Registry@ohchr.org by 4 December 2020. It is kindly suggested to include hyperlinks to relevant websites, documents, statistical data, public regulations and legislation providing more detailed information. Unless otherwise specified, all contributions will be made available in full and as received on the public OHCHR website. It should be noted that not all information shared will necessarily be reflected in the final report and that information falling outside the mandate will not be considered.

The February 18 Consultation with Civil Society

The US Human Rights Network (https://ushrnetwork.org), which regularly interacts with the UNOHCHR on issues of human rights and particularly those issues that impact people of Afrikan descent, has announced the consultation with civil society on this issue to be held Thursday, February 18. Their announcement, with pertinent details for those interested in participating, is presented below:

The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) is hosting a Consultation with Civil Society in preparation of the Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights under Human Rights Council Resolution 43/1 on Systemic Racism and Police Violence.

Thursday, February 18, 2021, 11:00-1:00 PM EST

Via Zoom

CSOs Interested in Participating Must FILL OUT THIS SURVEY (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfChW5ZSstSkagMrGoC2QqKDyMjDhgowE2A4cpK6fCxRaqovA/viewform) by Monday, February 15

All Parties Interested in Participating and/or Observing: REGISTER HERE (https://aclu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYkf–sqT8jHtd8BS1WjCyElHUgaXUL8l8S)

On 19 June 2020, the Human Rights Council adopted resolution 43/1 entitled “Promotion and protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Africans and of people of African descent against excessive use of force and other human rights violations by law enforcement officers” following an urgent debate by the Council’s members.

Resolution 43/1 requests the High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a comprehensive report on “systemic racism, violations of international human rights law against Africans and people of African descent by law enforcement agencies, especially those incidents that resulted in the death of George Floyd and other Africans and of people of African descent, to contribute to accountability and redress for victims”; and to examine “government responses to anti-racism peaceful protests, including the alleged use of excessive force against protesters, bystanders and journalists”. The report will be presented to the Human Rights Council at its forty-seventh session in June 2021.

In view of the preparation for the report, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) is organising a consultation to gather further information, updates, views and opinions on the issues raised by Human Rights Council Resolution 43/1.

Note: OHCHR will seek to hear from all participants. If a high number of participants register for the meeting, OHCHR may not be able to accommodate every request but will do its utmost to hear a range of views on the different themes, with priority given to directly impacted people and communities and civil society organisations led by people of African descent. In the interests of hearing as many views as possible, we encourage participants to coordinate your interventions in advance. In the event that some participants are unable to take the floor, they will be invited to send their interventions in writing.

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

This is a critical opportunity for affected individuals and organizations to engage directly with international bodies and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). To learn more, please click here (https://2eb10dad-2dc6-4e35-8204-bfad7e9ec875.usrfiles.com/ugd/2eb10d_3fd063ea831441eeba67a63290b30e5a.pdf?emci=a658b595-bb6b-eb11-9889-00155d43c992&emdi=ee71af4d-ef6b-eb11-9889-00155d43c992&ceid=7751878).

In solidarity,
US Human Rights Network Coordinating Center

We will provide a follow-up report on the February 18 Consultation, as well as a presentation we are preparing for possible inclusion in the Consultation.

The Wednesday, February 17 edition of Africa400 explored the topic Black Women, Black Love as Mama Tomiko and Baba Ty continued their observance of Black Love Month.  Mama Tomiko interviewed Special Guest Dianne Marie Stewart, author of Black Women, Black Love: America’s War on African American Marriage.

Listen to the show here:

The show airs at 2:00 PM on HandRadio, https://www.handradio.org or on the HANDRadio app. The audio from the show ia made available on this post and on our Media Page after the show airs.

Dianne Marie Stewart is an associate professor of Religion and African American Studies at Emory University specializing in African-heritage religious cultures in the Caribbean and the Americas. She was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and grew up in Hartford, CT, USA. She obtained her B.A. degree from Colgate University in English and African American Studies, her M.Div. degree from Harvard Divinity School and her Ph.D. degree in systematic theology from Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where she studied with well-known scholars such as Delores Williams, James Washington and her advisor James Cone. Dr. Stewart joined Emory’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 2001 and teaches courses in the graduate and undergraduate programs. Inspired by her pedagogical investment in Black love studies and her widely celebrated courses, The Power of Black Self-Love, (co-taught with Dr. Donna Troka), Black Love and Black Women, Black Love and the Pursuit of Happiness, Dr. Stewart spent four years research and writing Black Women, Black Love: America’s War on African American Marriage, which was published by Seal Press in 2020. Her public scholarship and interviews on the subject of Black love, partnership and marriage have also been published in The Washington Post and other outlets.

According to the 2010 US census, more than seventy percent of Black women in America are unmarried. Black Women, Black Love reveals how four centuries of laws, policies, and customs have created that crisis.

Dianne Stewart begins in the colonial era, when slave owners denied Blacks the right to marry, divided families, and, in many cases, raped enslaved women and girls. Later, during Reconstruction and the ensuing decades, violence split up couples again as millions embarked on the Great Migration north, where the welfare system mandated that women remain single in order to receive government support. And no institution has forbidden Black love as effectively as the prison-industrial complex, which removes Black men en masse from the pool of marriageable partners.

Prodigiously researched and deeply felt, Black Women, Black Love reveals how white supremacy has systematically broken the heart of Black America, and it proposes strategies for dismantling the structural forces that have plagued Black love and marriage for centuries.
—
AFRICA400 https://www.handradio.org
Wednesdays 2-3pm EST.
https://webuyblack.com

Mama Tomiko and Baba Ty discussed Black Love Day on the Wednesday, February 10 edition of Africa400 with Mama Ayo Handy-Kendi, founder of PositivEnergyWorks (https://www.positivenergyworks.com), as part of Africa400’s Black Love Series for February.

Check out the audio of the program, which was broadcast on HANDRadio (https://www.handradio.org) below:

Below, Mama Ayo briefly explains Black Love Day and some activities that are fitting for the occasion.

We also include below a link to purchase Mama Ayo’s book, The Black Love Book, as an e-book.

What Is Black Love Day (BLD)?

Black Love Day (BLD) is the 3rd nationally commemorative Holiday (wholyday) observance of atonement, reconciliation, and 24 hour demonstration of Black Love through 5 tenets (loving acts):
for The Creator,
for Self,
for the Black Family,
the Black Community,
and the Black Race

Some Traditional Things to Do on Black Love Day:

• It’s NOT WHERE YOU GO for Black Love Day (BLD)- it is WHAT YOU DO to demonstrate (show) love on this day. Demonstrate the 5 Tenets (acts of love) on BLD to transform on this wholyday, then practice these tenets everyday to maintain the higher vibration of love. Events and activities are held in honor of, to celebrate or to commemorate Black Love Day, so make the distinction. For example: Black Love Day is not the Black Luv Festival or the Relationship Ceremony, both held in D.C.. Instead Black Love Day, Feb. 13th is commemorated for 24 hours, both locally, nationally and internationally.
• The greeting is Nya Akoma (N yah Ah comah) means get a heart, be patient
• Display the Akoma, an ancient African Adinkra symbol of love, patience, goodwill, faithfulness and endurance. This heart-shaped symbol was re-named and co-opted as a “Valentine”;
• Wear the colors Purple and Black-purple of spiritual growth and royalty; black for the color of the people and freedom from evil (Psalms 7 or 12);
• Buy BLD conscious-raising gifts from Black merchants, practicing the tenet of Black Race love. Avoid the usual Valentine’s candy, trinkets, stuffed animals, jewelry. Consider buying healing products or food, inspirational, spiritual gift or hand-crafted gifts, made from the heart;
• In-gather the people at a Black Love Relationship Ceremony including in the Ritual of Reconciliation.

The Black Love Book 3rd Ed (E-Book) by Ayo Handy-Kendi

Get the Black Love Book to Learn More About Black Love Day and the healing power of Love:

https://www.positivenergyworks.com/store/p45/The_Black_Love_Book_3rd_Ed__%28E-Book%29_by_Ayo_Handy-Kendi.html

The Black Love Book, 3rd Edition (E-Book) by Ayo Handy-Kendi
$12.00

This is the 3rd edition of this book, an anthology about love and a how-to guide on observing the “wholyday” Black Love Day (BLD) observed annually on February 13th. This revised book includes some new material from the first edition, some corrections and enhanced artwork.

Written as the “definitive guide” on observing BLD, by the founder of the wholyday, Ayo Handy-Kendi, The Breath Sekou, the book explains BLD‟s origin, its symbols, and its rituals. The book further provides concrete suggestions of “love in action” activities that can be initiated on BLD, in Black and White communities to help these communities heal through love in ways that are meaningful, far beyond the 13th.

The history and background of Valentine’s Day, the up-til-now, holiday of love, is also included with an explanation as to why, BLD, is a more spiritual, cultural and wholistic alternative that is needed now by African Americans to rejuvenate and re-bond their relationships through love. As an anthology, the book further offers inspirational, poems, essays and articles that describe love’s many forms and expressions while providing helpful techniques of love’s healing transformational power.

Available through Facebook, Twitter and Google+

AFRICA400
Wednesdays 2-3pm EST.
https://handradio.org/
https://kuumbareport.com/
https://srdcinternational.org/
webuyblack.com