Mar 12 - United Nations say the U.S. owes reparations for slavery and mass incarceration

A UN-affiliated group based out of Geneva says that after a history of slavery, the US owes reparations to African-Americans.

This recommendation was part of a study by the United Nations’ Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent. This group reports to the international organization’s High Commissioner on Human Rights. They provided their findings to the United Nations Human Rights Council on Monday. They found that present injustices found around the country are linked to the darkest chapters in US history.

“In particular, the legacy of colonial history, enslavement, racial subordination and segregation, racial terrorism and racial inequality in the United States remains a serious challenge, as there has been no real commitment to reparations and to truth and reconciliation for people of African descent,” the report read. “Contemporary police k!llings and the trauma that they create are reminiscent of the past racial terror of lynching.”

When discussing the many k!llings of unarmed black men at the hands of police the report warned against “impunity for state violence,” which has created, what they call a “human rights crisis” that “must be addressed as a matter of urgency.”

“Despite substantial changes since the end of the enforcement of Jim Crow and the f!ght for civil rights, ideology ensuring the domination of one group over another, continues to negatively impact the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of African Americans today,” it said. “The dangerous ideology of white supremacy inhibits social cohesion amongst the US population.”

The report talks about the extrajudicial murders that came from an era of white supremacy:

“Lynching was a form of racial terrorism that has contributed to a legacy of racial inequality that the United States must address. Thousands of people of African descent were k!lled in violent public acts of racial control and domination and the perpetrators were never held accountable.”

The reparations that the report suggested could manifest in a number of different ways. They could include “a formal apology, health initiatives, educational opportunities … psychological rehabilitation, technology transfer and financial support, and debt cancellation.”