Political Cartoon by Aidyn Despiau- Vazquez
Quick Facts
Throughout history there have been undeniable forms of racism and discrimination that have led to countless atrocities. Although time has passed, this mentality and this racism still persist in our world today, taking many different forms of prejudice and discrimination. One of the jobs within the Human Rights Council is to take in consideration grave human rights violations and how to act upon them. This issue seems to be especially prevalent now with countless anti racism movements such as the BLM, that are gaining popularity and occurring worldwide. However, it’s important to consider that systematic racism exists further than just police brutality but also within education, industries and banking.
Situation in America
African-Americans have faced heavy discrimination in the United States since the 18th century, and although progress has been made since then, much of this discrimination has seeped deep in our modern world.
The grass-root movement, Black Lives Matter, began in 2013, but gained international popularity after the emergence of a video of a black man named George Floyd being tragically and unjustly choked to death by a police officer, with people worldwide recalling his last words: “I can’t breathe”. According to the United Nations Humans Rights Committee, “ In the United States, there can be no question that the problem is not one of isolated incidents of police misconduct, but rather it is one of systemic racism in law enforcement.” Other victims of police brutality who you might recognize from news headlines are Breonna Taylor, Philando Castile and Michael Brown. The officers responsible for these unjust deaths are yet to be charged for their crimes.
According to the World Economic Forum, “both men of color and women of color are less likely to be promoted than their white counterparts.“ While statista.com states, “the rate of fatal police shootings among Black Americans was much higher than that for any other ethnicity, standing at 32 fatal shootings per million of the population as of October 2020.” Systemic racism runs deep in the United States, but all over the world as well and we hope that the delegates of the Human Rights Committee will be able to come up with a comprehensive resolution or even just be part of the conversation.
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