Oral Statement to the Working Group on Minorities, Fourth Session, May 1998
Agenda Item 3 (b) Examining possible solutions to problems involving minorities
including the promotion of mutual understanding between and among minorities and Governments
Greetings to Professor Eide, Members of the Working Group, Representatives of States, NGO's, Scholars, and Guests:
My name is Silis Muhammad. I am a spiritual son of the late Honorable Elijah Muhammad (peace be upon him). Oh, how much he did for us: the so-called African-American, and perchance too for humanity.
Our question is whether the national minority, the so-called African- Americans, are in possession of their inalienable human rights.
Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the United States of America has ratified, states, "In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, or to use their own language."
Here, the so-called African-Americans are not in possession of their human rights. They were taken away from the culture of their origin. The slave ship took them from their place of beginning, as you scholars well do know. The slave master did not return them to their culture, nor did he bring their culture and teach it to them. Nor has the American government, to date, sought to teach them their culture, or return them to it. They are absent the knowledge of their cultural beginning.
The slave ship took them away from their ancestral religious belief. They were dislodged from the knowledge of their lineage to Allah, God. The slave master taught them of his religion ultimately, and of his lineage to a supreme being whom he refers. to by the name of God. The federal or local governments of America did not teach nor make provisions for the so-called African-American, or slaves, to learn the knowledge of their transmissible religious belief. They are absent the knowledge of their ancestral tradition of religion.
Regarding their original language, there were not any provisions set in motion by the local and federal governments of America for them to cultivate and continue speaking their language. To the contrary, provisions were set in motion to prevent them from speaking their language, originally. They were intentionally separated from one another, with total disregard, during slavery such that they would not be able to speak their language. Ultimately, they lost the knowledge of it.
Thus, to the extent that they were deprived of their culture, their religion and their language, they are not in possession of their human rights. Moreover, to the extent that they, especially during the period of chattel slavery, were constrained by the laws, the culture, the religion and the language of the Anglo-American, they lived, and to this day live, under a tyrannical government. By the acts of forced assimilation the Anglo-American has sought also to subsume the so-called African-American into its Constitution.
The human rights, the desires and the perpetual existence of the national minority are not embodied in the majority Constitution: which, from its origin, is absent any input of the national minority .The laws arising from America's majority Constitution do not embody the living will of the national minority.
Thus, we feel we cannot intelligently argue the issue of (a) violation of our human rights. While we are human, we have not been in possession of (our) human rights for the past 433 years. Our human rights were willfully destroyed, utterly. They were destroyed by the slave masters, under the auspices of the United States central and local governments, during our long sojourn as slaves in America.
The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that recognition of the inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. Here, at the beginning of the histories of the so-called African-American, the enslaved Africans brought to America were defined in the same terms as the "cattle" belonging to the Anglo-American rulers. Thus, our rights were those of their "cattle"; ours were not human rights.
It is everywhere known, amongst the scholars, that the clause in the Anglo-American Declaration of Independence which states, "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights..." did not and does not apply to slaves and to the formerly enslaved.
Embodied in a people's Constitution is the living spirit of their past woes (afflictions), present
wants, beliefs, hopes and the insatiable perpetual will for the control over their own future.
Scholars know well that the essence of the spirit of America's Constitution can be found in the Declaration of Independence. At the time of the formation of America's Constitution and the insertion of the spirit of that clause, so-called African-Americans were slaves. While they were indeed human beings, they were not accorded the respect of being human.
Thus the clause had reference to the Anglo-American sentiments towards the King of England, apparently. The slaves of the Anglo-American, on the eve of the founding of its Constitution, were not members of the same will.
The will of the formerly enslaved so-called African-American, the afflictions, the present wants, beliefs and the aspirations for future hopes were not and are not, today, embodied in spirit in the Constitution of America. The "living will" of the former slave --the present day so-called African-American, cannot be subsumed in the Constitution of America. It is a human right impracticality .It is unrealistic, and therefore a moral wrong: when and wherever it is imposed.
"Inalienable rights" is a power that the majority of African-Americans do not feel, or do not even know they should feel. Their human rights having been demolished, they do not feel the spirit of being protected by the law which arises out of the Constitution. They can merely hope for protection of the law. Justice and peace are powers which only the few hand picked African- Americans can today enjoy, from time to time; but, they too are reminded quite often, that the Anglo-American's power is the only established recognized political power and authority in the United States.
Therefore, this statement is a request for United Nations assistance in the establishment of a forum (perhaps under the auspices of the Sub-Commission), so that the so-called African- Americans' grievances can be expressed, systematically and officially recorded, evaluated and remedied. The type of forum requested is similar to the one opened for the Aboriginal peoples in Geneva. We wish that the United Nations will establish a forum within the boundaries of the United States, preferably in the state of Georgia, in the city of Atlanta.
Only a limited few so-called African-Americans are knowledgeable of their internationally protected human rights. Among those who are, the members of the Lost-Found Nation of lslam can be counted. They were organized under the leadership of the late Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and taught to reclaim their own --their human rights.
The United States' central and local governments promote such negative propaganda against the late Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Lost-Found Nation of Islam that many so-called African-Americans, who aspire to recapture their human rights, are fearful of association with this group. They fear harassment from the society and the authorities and that they will lose the blessing of "crumbs" given them by the Anglo-American. They are unaware that they have the protection of the General Assembly's proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The United States ordained slavery and forced assimilation upon captive Africans for more than 400 years. America's educational system, its socialization system, coupled today with forced assimilation, have persuaded many so-called African-Americans to believe that they are full and equal citizens of America. The United States Government wishes to persuade you and the world, today, that African-Americans are full and equal members of America's society, enjoying inalienable human rights. Their propaganda is so persuasive and effective that even some so-called African-Americans believe that the self-determination of the Anglo- American is their very own.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, "disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind " America's disregard and contempt for human rights ought to be seen by the U. N. as she has dispossessed us of our culture, religion and language and forced assimilation upon us. Indeed it is barbarous, and it denies us the full enjoyment of freedom.
"Whereas," according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, "it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that his human rights should be protected by the rule of law."
The million man march on Washington D.C., 16 October, 1995, while not falling within the class of a full blown rebellion, does evidence that the so-called African-American is emerging from the period of political domestic democratic-fictionalization. Also, evidence of a growing discontent with America's social, economic and political behavior towards African-Americans can be observed by the million woman march, which took place in Philadelphia, 25 October, 1997. In addition, further evidence of the eve of rebellion of the so-called African-American against the U.S. can be observed by the upcoming million youth march. It is planned to occur 17 September 1998 in Harlem, New York.
African-Americans have looked toward and exhausted all remedies made available by the majority government, albeit, it is viewed as the oppressor. It is necessary and desirable that now African-Americans begin to look towards the United Nations and to the international community for its technical, political and economic assistance, in advance of open arms, and organized resistance to a constituted government. America' s government is, particularly in the eyes of our youth, viewed as a tyrant; and tyranny, practiced by a government or its agents, according to international law, makes that government illegitimate.
It is the belief of many, and it has been widely taught by the late Honorable Elijah Muhammad that "blood will flow in the streets of America as high as a horse's bridle." The Rodney King verdict of 29 April, 1992, ignited bloodshed in not less than ten major cities in America. But the Watts incident may more clearly illustrate the point. Only one Black male was initially killed by police officers, August of 1965 in Los Angeles, yet more than ten additional major cities in America were inflamed into rioting and demonstrations as a result. There was much bloodshed.
The United Press International reported 34 persons killed and 1000 persons injured in Los Angeles alone. As an eye witness, I am representative of the one thousand (1000) persons whose blood was shed. From the butt of a shotgun, swung by one of the hundreds of officers and military soldiers, my scalp was lacerated, my face dripped with blood. Of the thousand injuries sustained in Los Angeles during the six day period of that bloody inferno, mine was perchance the least. An incomparable holocaust is today, on the horizon. That which we have pointed you to is like unto the fever which precedes the cold, or in this instance a decisive flu.
Knowing this, cannot the U. N. open a forum for this national minority in its host country?
We pray our human rights, politically and amicably can be recaptured, our rights to self determination rectified and the damages which we have sustained be awarded in great measure in order to accomplish the cathartic cleansing mentally, emotionally, and physically of our 400 years of long-suffering.
The fate of America is hers alone. We took no part in its political architecture. We were her victims. We do not have a land which we can call our own, and our human rights are not in our possession. In the absence of our own unique political machinery, they cannot ever be because we do not govern self. America has never reinstated unto us that human right. Our destiny is to this day under the control of the Anglo-American's political machinery.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes "it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations." Here, at the U. N., nations, like people, can develop friendly relations. However, during the developmental process there must exist some measure of mutual respect for one another.
There is no question that the United States of America is well respected. On the other hand, what do African-Americans, as descendants of slaves, have or possess that would command respect from the government of the United States? This government has in the past, and still currently withholds from us possession of our human rights. Thus, having been dispossessed, we will not be a respected people unless a forum is established wherein our human rights are rectified and our injuries remedied, by some force, miracle, moral or legal intervention of the U. N.
We pray that the U.S. Government not be given the tacit approval of the U. N. to subvert the opening of a forum wherein African-American grievances can be expressed, systematically and officially recorded, evaluated and remedied.
Our prayer is for the recapture of the possession of our inalienable human rights. Moreover, we solemnly pray to be heard by the U. N. and its member States, the Supreme collective human political body, and the consummate aggregated Judge of the earth.
Thank you Professor Eide, and members of the Working Group for offering the opportunity of participation. May this intervention warrant your action.
NOTE: Available at the Secretariat: Reparations Petition for United Nations Assistance under Resolution (1503) on behalf of African- Americans in the United States of America, 1994, by Mr. Silis Muhammad.
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