UN report again calls out America’s ‘systemic racism and racial discrimination’
By Anisah Muhammad, Contributing Writer- December 12, 2023
America has once again been cast into the global spotlight for her rampant systemic racism and human rights issues.
After a 14-day visit to the U.S., Ashwini K.P., UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, xenophobia and related intolerance, reported findings of systemic racism and racial discrimination.
She traveled to Washington, D.C., Detroit, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Atlanta, meeting with government officials from the federal, state and local levels. She also met with more than 80 civil society groups working on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance affecting Black people, Latinos, Asians, Jewish communities, Indigenous people, migrants, Muslims and Arab communities. Her visit was from Oct. 31 to Nov. 14.
“ … it was abundantly clear throughout my visit that many continue to face persistent, multi-faceted and mutually reinforcing forms of systemic racism and racial discrimination,” Ms. K.P. wrote in her 11-page report. “I have heard that initiatives taken by the Government have not yet translated into significant improvements in the lived experiences of the most excluded individuals and do not adequately address the white supremacy, underlying power imbalances and historical drivers which underpin contemporary forms of racism and racial discrimination.”
She expressed her concern about the limits of the federal government’s power to address racial discrimination, the coordinated pushbacks against racial justice initiatives and the federal government’s failure to truly commit to key international racial justice standards. She observed that Black communities, in particular, experience persistent systemic racism with roots in colonialism and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.
Special Rapporteur Ashwini K.P. Photo: UN News/Pauline Batista
“One individual I met with described systemic racism in the United States of America as ‘being in the air we breathe,’” she said.
Issues found include voter disenfranchisement; racial discrimination in education, food systems, law enforcement and the criminal justice system, migration governance and digital technologies; the elimination of affirmative action in college admissions; poverty and economic inequality; redlining, the lack of affordable quality housing and homelessness, in particular amongst Black and Indigenous populations;
Environmental racism, including “sacrifice zones” like cancer alley along the Mississippi River and “Cop City,” the large-scale police training facility being built in Atlanta; inequitable health care and health outcomes; gun violence and hate speech and hate crimes, particularly, anti-Black hate, anti-Asian hate and Islamophobia.
The report listed very few recommendations. On the issue of voter disenfranchisement, Ms. K.P. wrote, “I call upon the United States of America to urgently implement the recent recommendations of both the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Human Rights Committee on this issue, including the full and urgent restoration of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.”
On the issue of racially discriminatory food systems, she recommended that the government “takes urgent action to address racially discriminatory food systems and their impact, including racial inequities in food insecurity.”
Ms. K.P. will detail a fuller list of concerns and recommendations to the U.S. government in her report to the 56th session of the Human Rights Council in June 2024. Her recommendations will include suggestions on how the listed issues can be addressed, “as well as on how an overarching reparatory justice approach should be taken to address and transform systemic forms of racism that were established by past injustices.”
“One individual I met with described systemic racism in the United States of America as ‘being in the air we breathe,’” she said.
Issues found include voter disenfranchisement; racial discrimination in education, food systems, law enforcement and the criminal justice system, migration governance and digital technologies; the elimination of affirmative action in college admissions; poverty and economic inequality; redlining, the lack of affordable quality housing and homelessness, in particular amongst Black and Indigenous populations;
Environmental racism, including “sacrifice zones” like cancer alley along the Mississippi River and “Cop City,” the large-scale police training facility being built in Atlanta; inequitable health care and health outcomes; gun violence and hate speech and hate crimes, particularly, anti-Black hate, anti-Asian hate and Islamophobia.
The report listed very few recommendations. On the issue of voter disenfranchisement, Ms. K.P. wrote, “I call upon the United States of America to urgently implement the recent recommendations of both the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Human Rights Committee on this issue, including the full and urgent restoration of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.”
On the issue of racially discriminatory food systems, she recommended that the government “takes urgent action to address racially discriminatory food systems and their impact, including racial inequities in food insecurity.”
Ms. K.P. will detail a fuller list of concerns and recommendations to the U.S. government in her report to the 56th session of the Human Rights Council in June 2024. Her recommendations will include suggestions on how the listed issues can be addressed, “as well as on how an overarching reparatory justice approach should be taken to address and transform systemic forms of racism that were established by past injustices.”
“You can never achieve unity, or E Pluribus Unum, in this country under the doctrine of White supremacy,” Minister Farrakhan writes in his book, “A Torchlight for America.”
The U.S. allows White supremacy to rule
“There’s nothing new in the report that we didn’t already know, nor is there anything new in the solutions,” Student Minister Dr. Abdul Haleem Muhammad, the Southwest Regional Student Minister of the Nation of Islam, said to The Final Call.
He quoted from the book, “A Torchlight for America,” written by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
“The Founding Fathers upheld obedience to God as their symbol while practicing genocide, colonialism and slavery among the native population and our forebears,” Minister Farrakhan writes. “This is not a democracy in the fullest meaning of the word. Racism has to be overcome in order to gain a full expression of E Pluribus Unum (out of the many, one).”
“The current American way of life can only produce an apparent unity among Caucasians, because it negates the diversity and beauty of the non-White population. You can never achieve unity, or E Pluribus Unum, in this country under the doctrine of White supremacy,” Minister Farrakhan further writes.
“As long as that mindset exists and America does not reject the vision of the Founding Fathers, then America is doomed to failure and the judgment of God,” Dr. Muhammad added.
Just a month before Ms. K.P.’s visit, UN international experts on advancing racial justice and equality in the context of law enforcement issued a 32-page report based on an earlier visit in the spring. They listed 29 recommendations at the end of the report.
During that spring 2023 visit, Cephus X Johnson and Beatrice X Johnson, affectionately known as “Uncle Bobby” and “Auntie Bee,” respectively, provided testimony to the experts, based on their 14-year experience fighting for justice and advocating for reform, after the killing of their nephew, Oscar Grant III, by a police officer in Oakland, California.
They have witnessed three UN visits so far: one in 2010, one in 2015 and the recent one in the spring.
“These out-of-country folks come to the United States. They see, they witness, they hear and they take back this information to the United Nations and then they condemn the United States, and yet, nothing changed,” Mr. Johnson said to The Final Call via Zoom.
“It’s telling us that the United States is still taking the position to allow White supremacy to rule,” he added.
The U.S. allows White supremacy to rule
“There’s nothing new in the report that we didn’t already know, nor is there anything new in the solutions,” Student Minister Dr. Abdul Haleem Muhammad, the Southwest Regional Student Minister of the Nation of Islam, said to The Final Call.
He quoted from the book, “A Torchlight for America,” written by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
“The Founding Fathers upheld obedience to God as their symbol while practicing genocide, colonialism and slavery among the native population and our forebears,” Minister Farrakhan writes. “This is not a democracy in the fullest meaning of the word. Racism has to be overcome in order to gain a full expression of E Pluribus Unum (out of the many, one).”
“The current American way of life can only produce an apparent unity among Caucasians, because it negates the diversity and beauty of the non-White population. You can never achieve unity, or E Pluribus Unum, in this country under the doctrine of White supremacy,” Minister Farrakhan further writes.
“As long as that mindset exists and America does not reject the vision of the Founding Fathers, then America is doomed to failure and the judgment of God,” Dr. Muhammad added.
Just a month before Ms. K.P.’s visit, UN international experts on advancing racial justice and equality in the context of law enforcement issued a 32-page report based on an earlier visit in the spring. They listed 29 recommendations at the end of the report.
During that spring 2023 visit, Cephus X Johnson and Beatrice X Johnson, affectionately known as “Uncle Bobby” and “Auntie Bee,” respectively, provided testimony to the experts, based on their 14-year experience fighting for justice and advocating for reform, after the killing of their nephew, Oscar Grant III, by a police officer in Oakland, California.
They have witnessed three UN visits so far: one in 2010, one in 2015 and the recent one in the spring.
“These out-of-country folks come to the United States. They see, they witness, they hear and they take back this information to the United Nations and then they condemn the United States, and yet, nothing changed,” Mr. Johnson said to The Final Call via Zoom.
“It’s telling us that the United States is still taking the position to allow White supremacy to rule,” he added.
The Congress of Racial Equality conducting a march in memory of the children killed in the Birmingham church bombing in 1963. Photo: MGN Online
Ms. Johnson only has one question regarding the recent report.
“What will be done? We know this. We know everything that’s in that report. We know it; we live it,” she said. “They make these reports, but what will be done?”
She spoke to The Final Call from Phoenix, Arizona, where she was on the ground fighting for justice for her sister and her sister’s companion, both of whom were hit by a Caucasian man while they were crossing the street. She accused the police department of helping the man escape accountability and used the situation as an example of blatant injustice in the U.S.
“I was told he was never even supposed to see a day in court, because that’s what they do. But if you’re Black or Brown here and if you kill someone, and it could be an accident by vehicular homicide. They’ll try to give you six years off the top,” she said. “So that’s the injustice. That’s the criminal, racial injustice here and all over the country.”
Mr. Johnson acknowledged that the UN reports do give exposure to the issues plaguing Black people in the U.S. He urged Black people to continue to stand and fight for change, to make life better for future generations.
“What we’re doing is planting a seed in our generation to come that this fight is real, and that you are a human being and you have a right to life, freedom and justice, and that you have to fight for it, because this system does not want to really give it to you,” he said.
He described the impending death of White supremacy and how it will fight back like a dying animal, causing many to die in order to bring real freedom, justice and equality to the U.S.
“I believe we will win. It’s not going to happen tomorrow, but White supremacy is dying. This racist system is dying,” Mr. Johnson said. “They’re going to do everything they can to try to maintain their power, but it’s going to go. And so we just have to be ready for the war that we’re going to face.”
The divine solution
The UN, along with countless domestic organizations within the U.S., has issued report after report telling America what she should do to solve the problems within her borders. Despite her own human rights violations, America still parades as the moral police on the world stage. Her hypocrisy is causing a global loss of friendship, as foretold of by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam.
Ms. Johnson only has one question regarding the recent report.
“What will be done? We know this. We know everything that’s in that report. We know it; we live it,” she said. “They make these reports, but what will be done?”
She spoke to The Final Call from Phoenix, Arizona, where she was on the ground fighting for justice for her sister and her sister’s companion, both of whom were hit by a Caucasian man while they were crossing the street. She accused the police department of helping the man escape accountability and used the situation as an example of blatant injustice in the U.S.
“I was told he was never even supposed to see a day in court, because that’s what they do. But if you’re Black or Brown here and if you kill someone, and it could be an accident by vehicular homicide. They’ll try to give you six years off the top,” she said. “So that’s the injustice. That’s the criminal, racial injustice here and all over the country.”
Mr. Johnson acknowledged that the UN reports do give exposure to the issues plaguing Black people in the U.S. He urged Black people to continue to stand and fight for change, to make life better for future generations.
“What we’re doing is planting a seed in our generation to come that this fight is real, and that you are a human being and you have a right to life, freedom and justice, and that you have to fight for it, because this system does not want to really give it to you,” he said.
He described the impending death of White supremacy and how it will fight back like a dying animal, causing many to die in order to bring real freedom, justice and equality to the U.S.
“I believe we will win. It’s not going to happen tomorrow, but White supremacy is dying. This racist system is dying,” Mr. Johnson said. “They’re going to do everything they can to try to maintain their power, but it’s going to go. And so we just have to be ready for the war that we’re going to face.”
The divine solution
The UN, along with countless domestic organizations within the U.S., has issued report after report telling America what she should do to solve the problems within her borders. Despite her own human rights violations, America still parades as the moral police on the world stage. Her hypocrisy is causing a global loss of friendship, as foretold of by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam.
In this June 19, 2020, file photo, people demonstrate in Chicago, to mark Juneteenth. A national coalition of labor unions, along with racial and social justice organizations, will stage a mass walkout from work July 20, as part of an ongoing reckoning on systemic racism and police brutality in the U.S. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
“America has done the worst work of deceiving other peoples and making false friendships with them. Now her turn has come. No one wants to trust her for friendship, for she has deceived many nations,” the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad writes in his book, “The Fall of America.”
“America wants everyone to help her bemoan all of her set-backs; but when she causes others to fall … breaks up the countries of other peoples and destroys their independence and freedom, she laughs and prides herself as doing a great thing. She puts her feet upon their economic neck and destroys their independence as a nation,” He adds. “All this now returns to America. The little nations are now awake. They had looked for true friendship from America but instead America deceived them.”
The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad pleads with Black people in America to separate from White America. “The Black slave children are victimized by the White slavemaster, because of the condition the White slave-master brought our Black slave-fathers up in. They do not readily hear the right answer to the problem. Regardless, to how I cry in their midst, they are poisoned and mentally dead,” He writes.
In analyzing Ms. K.P.’s report, Student Minister Dr. Haleem Muhammad expressed that “instead of becoming an ‘egalitarian kingdom structured on truth, where each of us will be treated with fairness and justice,’ America is devolving into a habitation of devils, a hole of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.”
“And instead of America attempting the uphill road, as outlined in Surah 90 (of the Holy Qur’an), day by day it’s becoming apparent that the best and only answer to the problem is separation, the solution offered by Allah through the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan,” he said.
Ms. Johnson agreed that the best solution for Black people in America is to activate in their communities the guidance given by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.
“The solution is in “Message to the Blackman.” … The solution? We have been given the solution as a people. The solution is for us to come together and come out of that White man’s world and his system by building our own nation. That is the solution. There is no other solution,” she said. “And yes, accountability. We should demand accountability while we are building our nation. We should hold police accountable while we are building our nation, but we must be building our nation. We must be separating; we must.”
“America has done the worst work of deceiving other peoples and making false friendships with them. Now her turn has come. No one wants to trust her for friendship, for she has deceived many nations,” the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad writes in his book, “The Fall of America.”
“America wants everyone to help her bemoan all of her set-backs; but when she causes others to fall … breaks up the countries of other peoples and destroys their independence and freedom, she laughs and prides herself as doing a great thing. She puts her feet upon their economic neck and destroys their independence as a nation,” He adds. “All this now returns to America. The little nations are now awake. They had looked for true friendship from America but instead America deceived them.”
The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad pleads with Black people in America to separate from White America. “The Black slave children are victimized by the White slavemaster, because of the condition the White slave-master brought our Black slave-fathers up in. They do not readily hear the right answer to the problem. Regardless, to how I cry in their midst, they are poisoned and mentally dead,” He writes.
In analyzing Ms. K.P.’s report, Student Minister Dr. Haleem Muhammad expressed that “instead of becoming an ‘egalitarian kingdom structured on truth, where each of us will be treated with fairness and justice,’ America is devolving into a habitation of devils, a hole of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.”
“And instead of America attempting the uphill road, as outlined in Surah 90 (of the Holy Qur’an), day by day it’s becoming apparent that the best and only answer to the problem is separation, the solution offered by Allah through the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan,” he said.
Ms. Johnson agreed that the best solution for Black people in America is to activate in their communities the guidance given by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.
“The solution is in “Message to the Blackman.” … The solution? We have been given the solution as a people. The solution is for us to come together and come out of that White man’s world and his system by building our own nation. That is the solution. There is no other solution,” she said. “And yes, accountability. We should demand accountability while we are building our nation. We should hold police accountable while we are building our nation, but we must be building our nation. We must be separating; we must.”
