Oral Statement to the Working Group on Minorities, Fourth Session
May 1998, Agenda Item 3 (c)
Mr. Chairman:
My name is Ida Hakim. I am the Chief Executive of a non-governmental organization. It is an honor to be here, and I sincerely thank the Working Group on Minorities for allowing participation of N.G.O.s.
Regarding the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities: I humbly draw your attention and the attention of the Working Group to the possibility that the Declaration does not recognize the unique problems of the National Minority that we are concerned with.
Our organization has been working primarily within the United States of America. Our area of concern is human rights violations affecting National Minorities. Of particular concern to us are the violations of the human rights of African-Americans which began with the slave trade some 400 years ago, and which continue as ongoing legacies of slavery in the United States of America. Our organization is capable of collecting evidence, conducting studies, and educating the people of the United States about human rights and the responsibility of restoration and reparations. But since many of us are from the majority population, we do not claim to be authorities on what will have to be done in order to bring about a solution to the ongoing problems.
We have been listening, instead, to the solutions that are coming from within the African-American community. As grassroots observers, we have the privilege of seeing which leaders understand the meaning of self-determination, and which leaders teach about human rights. Among a people so exploited and abused as are the African-Americans, there is need for a leader with rare humility and brotherly love. Consequently, we are very pleased to see that Mr. Sills Muhammad has made himself available to participate in this session of the Working Group. Mr. Muhammad has written and lectured for years on human rights and solutions for the problems which began with the slave trade. He is someone we would describe as a leader arising from the essence of the people.
We were especially grateful when we read the resolutions of the 1997 session of the sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, and saw the Sub- Commission's recognition of the fact that African Diaspora communities in the Americas continue to suffer from the legal, political and economic legacies of the slave trade. We noted that the Sub-Commission called upon the Working Group on Minorities to consider how it might usefully address these legacies. It is our prayer that in this session, the Working Group will find ways that the United Nations can intervene and assist African-Americans.
The importance of United Nations intervention and assistance on behalf of National Minorities has been amply demonstrated in the case of the Indigenous Peoples. We are seeing more and more instances where compensation has been made, land has been returned, and cultural and religious artifacts returned to the people from whom they were stolen. Perhaps because of the support and educational efforts of the United Nations, Indigenous Nations are reviving and passing on their language, validating their true history, and remembering and appreciating their ancestry. For them recovery seems possible. They are fortunate to have land, culture, ethnic identity, religion and language to reclaim and restore into modern times.
For them and other Minorities the Declaration is an honorable document and a necessary one. There appears to be, within the Declaration, a firm resolve to protect the interest of National Minorities, and a presumption that the National Minority will have some self identity to protect, or to return to. But the Declaration does not appear to recognize the unique problems of African- Americans. The African-American is unlike other National Minorities in that he has been a victim of complete and unrelenting destruction of his identity to the point where many victims do not even know how they have been damaged or why they suffer. This is a National Minority population whose heritage has been wiped away, and whose history goes no farther than a time period of being enslaved.
Article I, Section 1 of the Declaration tells us that "States shall protect the existence and the national or ethnic, cultural, religions and linguistic identity of minorities within their respective territories and shall encourage conditions for the promotion of that identity." The United States Government cannot possible achieve this end for its African-American population because it intentionally destroyed all remnants of the identity of its slaves and slave descendants. The Constitution of the United States, the Courts, the Legislature and the Presidents have all worked together to force the assimilation of captive, Africans into the alien European culture of the United States. From the arrival of the first slave ship until this day the captive Africans have not been self-determining as a Minority and as a Nation of People.
Today's United States Government wishes to persuade you that African-Americans are full and equal members of a mufti-cultural society .Their persuasion is so effective that even some African-Americans believe it is true. For example, whereas other Minorities in the United States feel a strong desire to advance their own cause and identify with the development of their own people, increasing numbers of African-Americans can be observed identifying themselves as "multi-cultural" rather than Black.
I ask you, how can African-Americans be full and equal members of a mufti-cultural society when the only culture they have is a post-slavery culture? They have no inherited land, no accumulated assets from their labor, they have no memory of their language, no knowledge of their relatives and ancestors, they have no knowledge of their religion. Instead they have a legacy of oppression, terrorism, poverty, anger, frustration, discrimination and deceit. The only independent help that has come to them, came through the late Honorable Elijah Muhammad. The inspired blend of religion and nationalism that he taught has sewn the seed of self- love and revitalization. Without his intervention the United States Government might have succeeded in completely assimilating, and thereby destroying the descendants of its slaves.
Once again, it is our prayer that this session of the Working Group on Minorities will mark the beginning of a change in world opinion about African-Americans. It is our prayer that the United Nations will intervene and assist in bringing about a solution for African-Americans before racial violence erupts cross the United States. And, it is our prayer that both the Majority and the Minority populations of the United States will be persuaded to work together to bring about a more just world where human rights are fully respected and truth is uplifted.
We thank the Working Group again for offering the opportunity of participation and we appreciate again the participation of Mr. Silis Muhammad on behalf of African-American people.
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