Living While Black
Posted by Michelle Moquin on May 26th, 2016
Hey, Everyone,
From Newswire.com
UN Say United States Must Pay Compensation For Slavery
A UN panel of experts has issued a vividly horrific account of the plight black people have suffered in the United States, urging American authorities to establish a body that would be responsible for making reparations to the descendants of Africans who were brought to the US and sold into slavery.
Vice News reports:
Speaking at a press conference in Washington, DC, three members of the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent said that Congress should pass the Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act, a bill that Michigan Representative John Conyers last introduced in 2015.
Mireille Fanon Mendes-France, the working group chair and a French human rights expert, told VICE News that the US hadn’t properly addressed the legacy of enslavement or adequately provided necessary redress for those who are descended from Africans forcibly resettled in bondage.
“It’s been absolutely insufficient,” she remarked. “They are excluded, they are invisible. There is structural racism and structural discrimination, and they face that because of the pigmentation of their skin.”
Mendes-France, the daughter of the Martinique-born writer and leading black intellectual Franz Fanon, clarified that she is not in favor individual payments, as the idea of reparations is often presented in America. She applauded efforts in the Caribbean to sue the British government for centuries of slavery, and recommended that reparations in the US be funneled through the financing and “full implementation of special programs based on education, socioeconomic, and environmental rights.”
Mendes-France and fellow working group members Sabelo Gumedze of South Africa and Ricardo A. Sunga III of the Philippines spoke in the US capitol after an 11-day tour of the country, with additional stops in Baltimore, Chicago, New York, and Jackson, Mississippi. The panel, staffed with different experts, last visited the US in 2010.
Though the group will not release a full report of its findings until a Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva in September, each member read from a lengthy preliminary statement that touched on mass incarceration, police brutality, lack of housing, and the US government’s failure to ratify a number of international human rights treaties.
“Despite substantial changes since the end of the enforcement of Jim Crow and the fight for civil rights, ideology ensuring the domination of one group over another continues to negatively impact the civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights of African-Americans today,” said the group’s preliminary report. “The persistent gap in almost all the human development indicators, such as life expectancy, income and wealth, level of education and even food security… reflects the level of structural discrimination that creates de facto barriers for people of African descent to fully exercise their human rights.”
The three experts roundly criticized what they called a lack of gun control and the passage of stand-your-ground laws in several states, saying that they demonstrated how “the state is also not acting with due diligence to protect the rights of African-American communities.”
Citing the killings by police of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray, Laquan McDonald, Oscar Grant, and Marlon Brown — among others — the panel added that they were “concerned about the alarming levels of police brutality and excessive use of lethal force by law enforcement officials committed with impunity.”
The working group said it was unacceptable that there remained no “national system to track killings committed by law enforcement officials.”
Among its recommendations, the working group said that Washington should allow the independent monitoring of jails and prisons in the US and consider inviting the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, as well as a separate working group focused on arbitrary detention, to evaluate conditions at detention facilities.
The preliminary report recognized several initiatives undertaken nationally since 2010, including a recent executive order aimed at reducing the number of federal prisoners that are kept in solitary confinement. It also highlighted the work of a congressional task force determining that punitive mandatory sentences for drug crimes led to prison overcrowding. The group also noted that the Affordable Care Act, the Obama administration’s healthcare overhaul, had allowed 2.3 million black people to obtain health insurance.
But the panel added that “despite the positive measures… the Working Group is extremely concerned about the human rights situation of African-Americans.” Despite pushback against mandatory minimum sentencing, the group said that the war on drugs has led “to mass incarceration that is compared to enslavement, due to exploitation and dehumanization of African-Americans.”
The preliminary report highlighted pollution and other environmental concerns — including the ongoing scandal over lead contamination in Flint, Michigan’s water supply — which the experts said disproportionately affect minority communities across the country.
As it did in 2010, the panel also heavily censured US states that prevent individuals from voting based on their criminal histories, and those that have in recent years implemented stringent voter-ID laws. According to the Sentencing Project, 5.85 million Americans cannot cast ballots due to felony convictions, including one out of every 13 blacks.
“Especially considering that people of African descent are being targeted for racial profiling and disproportionate sentencing, in our view the right to vote is so important that it must be guaranteed to everyone,” Sunga said.
Sunga added that he was particularly concerned about policing in schools, where “children are being charged with misdemeanors… leading to the school-to-prison pipeline, this vicious cycle.”
“That actually creates the conditions, recreates the current situation, and we’d certainly like to have that matter addressed,” he said.
Several activists who had spoken with the working group this year or during past visits were present in Washington on Friday. Michael Scott, the CEO of Equity Matters, a nonprofit in Baltimore that promotes access to healthcare, said that the experts had this year inquired about the gap between existing policies aimed at curbing discrimination and their enforcement.
“There are many laws on the books, like affirmative fair housing, that do not get enforced,” he said.
The working group noted that because the US has failed to ratify so many international human rights treaties — among them those concerning the rights of women and children and a protocol of the Convention Against Torture that allows for international inspection — “African-Americans do not have the possibility to bring their cases or individual complaints to regional and international bodies when they have exhausted all domestic remedies at the state and federal level, as they are not party to the protocols which would allow them to bring complaints.”
“Furthermore, international human rights treaties cannot be invoked in national courts as there is no enabling legislation,” the group added.
Also in attendance was Baltimore attorney and activist Stephanie Franklin.
“People see us as very different,” she said of black people in the US. “They see us as not facing the same issues. But we are. It’s poverty, healthcare issues, cultural issues, housing issues, environmental justice issues, reproductive justice issues — clearly, criminal justice issues. It runs the gamut.”
“Now the question is what is the US government going to do with the recommendations,” she added, “and how we as activists of civil society are going to hold the US accountable for all the human rights violations that are happening to black people in this country.”
*****
Readers: Of course there is no national system to track how many thugs with guns have killed OTWs. Now, why would they want to track that? Because the numbers would be staggering and a pattern would be visible. It should be unacceptable and something needs to be done about it.
Hooray for Obamacare. It has given so much to so many people. And more still needs to happen.
Mass incarceration = Modern day enslavement.
Lots more to say here. Your turn. Blog me.
Peace out.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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May 26th, 2016 at 10:35 am
hello people
May 26th, 2016 at 7:09 pm
And we know that will never happen. Whitefolk always want to sue their or some other government if they feel wronged, but if an OTW tries it he is lambasted.
May 26th, 2016 at 7:12 pm
Michelle, don’t count on the government giving one damn cent to those blacks. We sue the Japanese, the Saudis, and anyone who we feel has wronged us but we never accept minorities suing us for what we did to them.
May 26th, 2016 at 7:14 pm
Actually if we allowed America to be sued for every past deed we as whites have done to OTWs, the country would have to go bankrupt. So sorry minorities you will just have to suck it up for your country.
May 26th, 2016 at 7:18 pm
Michelle, can you fix this network you have. It is just too difficult to get in at times. Hello Barry. and if the blacks get theirs will the American and the Japanese Americans be far behind? We whites have screwed every OTW that is a citizen at one time or another.
May 26th, 2016 at 7:20 pm
Nice topic. Bet you real money the republican controlled Congress is laughing its head off.
May 26th, 2016 at 7:20 pm
Why should we compensate blacks, they got to be citizens didn’t they.
May 26th, 2016 at 7:27 pm
The amount of dirt and evil we as enslavers committed upon black is way too terrible for us to allow the world to discover. So we would never allow it to go to court. That’s why we never mention the conditions under which slavery existed.
I’m form South Carolina most of my relatives feel they were born too late to enjoy the benefits of slavery All that sweet black pussy for the taking.
May 26th, 2016 at 7:29 pm
Henry#6, we should compensate them because our ancestors committed an unforgivable crime against their ancestors and we continue to try to keep their children down and under the heel of ours.
May 26th, 2016 at 7:30 pm
You americans are sick.
May 26th, 2016 at 7:31 pm
I agree with Henry, why should we pay for something our ancestors did? I never owned a slave.
May 26th, 2016 at 7:35 pm
Henry Says:
May 26th, 2016 at 7:20 pm
You are an inconsiderate fool.
May 26th, 2016 at 7:37 pm
The world knows that white America was founded on slavery.
May 26th, 2016 at 7:37 pm
The world knows white America was founded on slavery
May 26th, 2016 at 7:38 pm
What’s up Michelle, I can’t get my comment in.
May 26th, 2016 at 7:40 pm
Zen Lill your loyal fans are calling out to you.
May 26th, 2016 at 7:44 pm
White America does not want the world to be talking about the horrors they committed during their 250 years of slavery. It is almost too incredible to imagine. Yet the bastards would do just about anything to replicate the deed.
May 26th, 2016 at 7:47 pm
Let’s not forget about the cruelties white americans heaped upon the Latinos. I am still suffering under their boot of racism.
May 26th, 2016 at 7:49 pm
Just about every OTW citizen in this country knows someone in their family that white America has raped, murdered, falsely imprisoned or just terrorized. I hate to say it but on the whole they are an evil race.
May 26th, 2016 at 7:50 pm
Fuck all you wetbacks, niggers and jews.
May 26th, 2016 at 7:52 pm
I would beg to differ with you Luisa. Sure a few of my race are rabid racists, but for the most of us we too abhor the way racism is practiced in America.
May 26th, 2016 at 7:53 pm
My family has never owned any slaves. Why should our tax dollars go to compensate what someone else’s family did?
May 26th, 2016 at 7:54 pm
Luisa, your attitude sucks. How are you different from the people you are ranting about?
May 26th, 2016 at 7:59 pm
Grace#19 – I think Henry#6, answered your question in a round about way. You are a citizen and as such you taxes go to pay what your government deems owed.
As Henry suggested you shouldn’t complain because slavery helped your family become part of this country. If you are a Johnny-come-lately, then you should be grateful that others came before you and formed this great country for you to call home.
Since that home was made possible by the enslavement of blacks, then you should not blink when reparations are deemed due. Does that help?
May 26th, 2016 at 8:00 pm
Toby, NO! and fuck you, you bleeding hearted liberal.
May 26th, 2016 at 8:02 pm
Oliver@18, if your race abhors it so much why has it continued for so long?
May 26th, 2016 at 8:02 pm
Grace#22, such a mouth.
May 26th, 2016 at 8:04 pm
If reparations are paid to the blacks for slavery, what about my people suffered while building their fucking railroad?
May 26th, 2016 at 8:07 pm
George,WP welcome back. You are the comedy sidekick for this blog. It wouldn’t be the same without you.
May 26th, 2016 at 8:08 pm
Carla23, Sweet! and true.
May 26th, 2016 at 8:10 pm
Howard@20, she is different because she is the victim and she feels the pain.
May 26th, 2016 at 8:11 pm
Don’t encourage him Sherman.
May 27th, 2016 at 6:31 am
The selection of Trump shows that racism is still the primary ruling factor in your country. Yet you bastards want to come to the Middle East and tell us how to live.
May 27th, 2016 at 6:35 am
“Living while black” in the US is like being a woman in an islamic country. The police are basically terror tools used by those in power(men in islamic countries, whites in America) to terrorize those they want to keep in a second class status.
May 27th, 2016 at 6:48 am
As much as I hate what the men are doing to women in the Middle East, I have to admit that the white in your country are doing much the same thing to blacks. They incarcerate them at will with wildly disparately different sentencing. Blacks get way more time for similar crimes than whites.
I know this because I used to watch “Forensics” on when I stayed with my cousin in Los Angeles. I am from the Philippines. At the end of the show they tell you what the convicted goons got for their crimes. Almost never do the whites get the death penalty or life without parole. Most times they get a definite set of years for horrendous murders, while the blacks get the death sentence in those states which offer it or life without parole in those states which don’t.
My cousin still watches so if you doubt my claim. Tape a few shows. We did five at a time and every day there were five new ones. After one or two sittings you will see the obvious disparity in the sentencing. It is so glaring yet whites who see this don’t give a shit.
May 27th, 2016 at 6:52 am
Din@33, Here in China we see the selection of Donald Trump as white america telling us what we can expect from them. I think our country should make sure that we have a very strong military because we are partners with devious racists devils.
In my humble opinion, we should be prepared to strike first, because white america would nuke us without a twinge of conscious. One can see that the majority of whites in the US have no feelings for the non whites.
May 27th, 2016 at 6:57 am
I live in an Islamic country here in Africa. We treat our women better than the whites treat their OTWs, If Trump brings your army to our country we will declare a Holy war upon the US. I don’t see a problem recruiting help from people so oppressed by racism.
May 27th, 2016 at 7:02 am
Here in England, we too are nervous about the atmosphere of racism that got Trump elected by white america. Your country has a long history of selecting racists to run for its POTUS. Today the alliances are too fragile to withstand your usual tactics.
It will be difficult to get cooperation from non white countries. Even a few white countries may not want to be seen closely aligned with a regime that puts an unqualified racist in the White House. Our minorities may see that as a sign that we feel the same about them as the majorities of whites feel about its minorities. That would make them vulnerable to being recruited by islamic terrorists.
May 27th, 2016 at 7:04 am
I am Nigerian and it makes me cry to see that women in America barely have it any better than we do under islam. Your politicians use religion to deprive women of their rights just as islam does here. America is not the place to go if a woman is seeking equality with a man.
May 27th, 2016 at 7:05 am
I am American. So Fusi you can keep your black ass in Nigeria.
May 27th, 2016 at 7:08 am
David Says:
May 27th, 2016 at 7:05 am
I am American. So Fusi you can keep your black ass in Nigeria.
Fusi@39, the white boy has spoken, so you know that’s the law. 1,2,3 all together now — Fuck you david, you tiny dick wanna be hitler.
May 27th, 2016 at 7:16 am
My short visit (two weeks) to the USA left no doubt that as a white person I had more rights than its non whites. Yet I hear you americans putting down Putin as if he is the dictator. At least he is respected as our leader. In your country your Congress do everything in their power to thwart their president simply because he is black.
I think in a war with my country we will have a lot more to offer your minorities than you do. Your whites always want to go to war because they do not have to risk their own in the battle. They have plenty of non whites ready to die for them because those are the only jobs they will allow them to get.
Your white men are so jealous of the attention I give the black men in your country. I would never think of sleeping with a black man, but it is so much fun teasing your white men with the thought I have the intention. They practically go berserk when they see me flirting with a black.
May 27th, 2016 at 7:19 am
I live in Wyoming in a very racist small town. I am a blond from Spain. If I don’t make it known that I am spanish but not latina, I get discriminated against. Frankly people you have a sick country.
May 27th, 2016 at 7:21 am
So America is trying to tell Japan what it should do economically while attempting to put an incompetent fake billionaire into office. Why your minorities don’t rise up and eliminate the their racists whites in their sleep is the only mystery left.
May 27th, 2016 at 7:23 am
Stay out of our country. You need to clean up your own act. No where on earth could a buffoon like “the donald” get taken seriously in politics but in racist america. You people are the joke.
May 27th, 2016 at 7:25 am
I married a black man. He is very intelligent and has a PHD. Our children that can pass have a good life. The two who cannot have a miserable life. They are constantly bullied by the whites in their class. The teachers look the other way. I cry a lot.
May 27th, 2016 at 7:27 am
What a country, huh? Most of us whites like to think we are the best country in the world. I like to think we are. But sometimes like with this Trump thing, it can get seriously embarrassing.
May 27th, 2016 at 7:35 am
I am a Canadian citizen living in the US. I am from Somalia. I chose Canada over the US because I heard so many horror stories about how it treats its black population. Now that I am a celebrity and live in the US most of the time for employment, I am so glad I chose Canada.
The whites in the USA feel they are entitled to have special privileges. I completely understand the success of a Trump. All he had to do was to say out loud what most white in this country are constantly thinking. They call it “not being politically correct,” but lets be honest, it is just be overtly, and rudely racists because you have the political and police power to disrespect your minorities.
I too look forward to the day when the demographics change. If your minorities are as insensitive and mean as you whites are, a blood bath is coming.
May 27th, 2016 at 7:44 am
Allah is great and there is no other God. Keep your racist trump in your country. America is the big lie. You claim to be civilized yet you imprison your minorities with disproportionate sentencing and you use religion to force your women to have babies.
You discriminate agains muslims and other minorities. No wonder you are afraid the we will recruit some of them. I laugh at your feeble attempts to stop Islam. Trump is the best recruiting tool you could have given us. All the world can see you for the hypocrites you are.
May 27th, 2016 at 7:45 am
Yes, I have to admit. Some of your white men can be as over bearing as russian men when it comes to making claims on who we as women can choose as partners.
May 27th, 2016 at 7:51 am
Nothing good can come of the republican part choosing Trump as its representative for POTUS. But white men don’t care. They are so used to using a states ability to subject their OTWs to racist policies because on a State level the majority can use the vote to take away the minorities political, economic, and social rights.
Hence, they want to do that on a federal level as they did in the past before Civil Rights Laws were passed. The world is a more dangerous place now. White america can not do as they please with their OTWs as they did in the past. That blood bath Yasmin#48, may come sooner that they think, if a trump led Congress and POTUS attempts to turn the clock back to the days of legal white male terrorism.
May 27th, 2016 at 7:57 am
Love your blog Michelle. It is uncensored, raw and true the feelings of people all over the world. Only in an open dialogue can we get a chance to see and perhaps understand the feelings of others. Then and only then can a people of the planet attempt to reach a compromise.
Please don’t censor your blog as the huffpost and others do. All one gets then is the establishment line. The “censors” get to keep the dialogue pleasing to the reader. The reader is fooled into a belief that disagreement is as fervently against his opinions as they really are.
May 27th, 2016 at 7:59 am
My correction of that last paragraph.
Please don’t censor your blog as the huffpost and others do. All one gets then is the establishment line. The “censors” get to keep the dialogue pleasing to the reader. The reader is fooled into a belief that the disagreements aren’t as fervently against his opinions as they really are.