Did you know that…International Tribunal finds U.S. guilty of crimes against humanity Against Black, Brown and Indigenous Peoples

By Special to Workers World 

The International Tribunal on Human Rights Abuses Against Black, Brown and Indigenous Peoples was held Oct. 23-25 at The Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center in Washington Heights, New York City, aka Turtle Island, Lenape land. The main theme of the Tribunal was “We Still Charge Genocide” in recognition of the “We Charge Genocide: The Crime of Government Against the Negro People” — a 1951 petition to the United Nations signed by dozens of notables including Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois, Claudia Jones, Harry Haywood and Paul Robeson.

The 2021 indictment is against the United States of America, represented by its President, Department of State, federal and state policing agencies and other governmental institutions. The following is an edited version of the findings presented at a press conference at the United Nations Church Center, Oct. 25. Go to the Spirit of Mandela Facebook page at tinyurl.com/75syh4px for video testimonies, findings and verdict. WW will be writing on the five indictments including testimonies of witnesses in future issues. 

Background

The Panel of Jurists heard testimony emphasizing the millions upon millions of Indigenous and African peoples murdered, disappeared and nearly exterminated over a period from 1492 through the present. Further, the witnesses and prosecution argued that the wrongs have been historic and deliberate, with colonization, racism, militarism, imperialism, materialism, criminalization, patriarchy, neocolonialism and internal colonialism as part of the larger process that now manifests itself in medical and digital apartheid, chemical warfare, environmental violence and racism, disinvestment and a pandemic of accessible guns and drugs — with the majority of gun violence perpetrated by police and security forces in the false claim of upholding law and order. 

Statements were made testifying to new forms of colonialism which include the Prison Industrial Complex, the Military Industrial Complex and the commercialization of our health and privatization/commodification of all social services.

The testimonies include substantial evidence of the erasure of histories; distortion and cultural misappropriation contributes to and exacerbates the attempted invisibilization and denial of People’s basic humanity. The profound impacts of all of these realities extend beyond the erasure and attempt to exterminate Black, Brown and Indigenous lives. Hence, as one witness stated, “the colonization of the spirit and mind continues to this day.”

The testimonies of this Tribunal reaffirm the traditional wisdom and knowledge of Black, Brown and Indigenous Peoples. Strong evidence was presented on the indomitable, unbreakable resistance and resilience of the peoples’ struggle for justice and dignity. In the face of egregious human rights violations and crimes against humanity, this spirit of collective survival shone through…..more here

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