Judge Claudia Morcom Speaks for MCLI at Durban Review Conference Against Racism
Racial discrimination is deeply embedded in the U.S. economy. In Detroit, allegedly the car capital of the world, executives are paid three hundred times what the union laborers make. In Feb. 2009, 584,000 people were unemployed in Michigan &mdash 12% of the population &mdash up from 8.9% in September 2008. 14.3% of Michigan’s population is African-American and 4% is Latino.
Congressman John Conyers of Michigan introduced House Bill 40 to establish a Commission to study reparations for persons of African descent that was never acted on by the Congress, and this UN body should urge action on … reparations and restitution to the African descendents of slavery. (See Par. 100, 104 on p.6.)
MCLI also urges every State that has not done so already to ratify and enforce the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights … and to make timely reports under the Treaty’s requirements, ensuring that such reporting includes the local level, and urge that all NGOs work to convince … municipal leaders and agencies to report … and disseminate such reports in their jurisdictions and to the Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination. We urge the NGOs to send representatives to the CERD meeting when the reports are discussed to generate transparency….
We abhor the fact that youth and adolescents are being victimized by the U.S. justice system in the many local jurisdictions that … allow life imprisonment without the possibility of parole on some children after committing three criminal offenses. We abhor the fact that police violence against people of African descent is still occurring, resulting in Taser deaths and shootings, as … occurred in Oakland, California, in the Oscar Grant case.
We abhor the fact that, despite the requirements of fair and impartial trials in our Nation, the U.S. Court allowed 5 Cubans arrested in Miami to be tried and convicted in an atmosphere described as the “perfect storm of prejudice and intolerance,” and despite the UN Working Group finding that they were arbitrarily detained and the wives of two of the Cuban 5 have been prevented from seeing their husbands, in violation of … UN treaties the U.S. has ratified.
There are many areas around the U.S. that are in violation of the National Environmental Protection Act. The fact that many of the toxic waste dumpsites are in minority communities and low-income neighborhoods illustrates the disregard for the health and safety of minorities.
We urge all States to educate/contact their border/immigration officials so they don't perform or allow acts of violence by vigilante groups….