Paul Robeson presents “We Charge Genocide” to the UN Secretariat, Dec. 17, 1951. |
There have been several attempts in the past 75 years by people in the U.S. to get some help from the UN to do something about the genocide of Black and indigenous people in the U.S. by police. Just a couple of years ago, for example, Michael Brown’s parents led a march to the UN headquarters in Manhattan. Paul Robeson, William L. Patterson, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis and many others presented evidence of genocide to the UN in NYC and Paris in 1951.
The UN Human Rights Council is now conducting a one-year investigation that began in June. If that investigation concludes that there is a genocide problem in the U.S,, the Council will take steps to deal with the problem. If the investigation does not see enough information or public interest in the investigation, the UN will do nothing. It has taken over 75 years to get this investigation. The UN needs to be convinced of the seriousness of the problems.
It would help if many people in the U.S. added their voices to the effort. Please help. Please send an email.
Complaint Procedure Unit Human Rights Council Branch
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations Office at Geneva
CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Fax: (41 22) 917 90 11
E-mail: CP@ohchr.org
This office will send a response.
To get the UN to take any steps it’s necessary to emphasize the human rights violations such as the killings while pointing out convincingly that the methods to try to change this which the U.S. federal, state and local governments allow have not worked to diminish the violent deadly problems. People have tried to take officers to trial and rarely have succeeded. The courts almost always dismiss a case before it can get seriously considered. When there are trials, they are often delayed for years. The trials almost always have the same results – no punishments. Law suits have been tried, families meeting officials, electing new politicians, civil disobedience, protests, news media reports, op ed pieces. There seems to be no way for Americans to change this from within. The politicians and judges almost never allow people to do anything about it. The courts almost always dismiss a case before it can get seriously considered.
On June 12, Burkina Faso’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva wrote a letter to the UN Human Rights Council for the African Union on behalf of the 54 African countries, asking the UN’s human rights body for an “urgent debate” on “racially inspired human rights violations, police brutality against people of African descent and the violence against the peaceful protests that call for these injustices to stop.”
“The protests the world is witnessing are a rejection of the fundamental racial inequality and discrimination that characterize life in the United States for Black people, and other people of color,” the letter said.
The ACLU, NAACP and over 600 human rights groups in 60 countries are working on this. Please, your help is needed too.
A fact of life is that for the past 500 plus years, genocide and many other forms of discrimination have made terrible problems for nonwhite people in this part of the world. Millions of people have tried to end white racism and have been extremely unsuccessful. Black unarmed people, for any reason, can get killed by any cop in the country with almost never any punishment. People living in the U.S.A. have not been able to stop this.
Here is a sample letter that can be copied and pasted if desired. Or, a more personal letter can be written, containing, for example, information about how the family suffers because a family member was murdered by police.
Dear United Nations Human Rights Council:
I am a United States citizen (or resident) writing to ask the UN to help with the terrible problems of racism and genocide in the United States. For many years non-white people in the US have been mistreated in many ways. Many people who are non-white have been killed, beaten, or jailed for little or no reason. Police throughout the country have admitted to killing Black and Brown people for the most minor problems such as allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes or talking disrespectfully to a police officer. Thousands of non-white people have been killed for actions for which a white person would get a $40 fine, if convicted by a judge. For over two hundred years the methods to try to change this which the U.S. and state and local governments allow have not worked to diminish the violent deadly problems. People have tried to take officers to trial and rarely succeeded. The courts almost always dismiss a case before it can get seriously considered. When there were trials, they were often delayed for years. The trials almost always had the same results – no punishments. Lawsuits have been tried, electing new politicians, civil disobedience, protests, news media reports and op-ed pieces, families meeting officials, letters and petitions. There has been no way for us to change this from within. The politicians and judges almost never allow people to do anything about it. The courts almost always dismiss a case before it can get seriously considered. Even electing President Obama did not stop or diminish the problem.
We in the U.S. have had millions of Americans try to end these problems but we cannot. We need help from the United Nations. Please help us.
The UN has spent huge efforts to try to stop ethnic violence in many parts of the world. Many Black and other non-white people in the U.S. have been killed. The UN’s help is needed in order to oppose this genocide.
Sincerely,
Name and address