This Is Awesome

My first job out of college, I worked at an women's human rights NGO that did advocacy at the U.N. I used to show up for work hung over, with hickeys all over my neck, and fall asleep at big important meetings. Also, the guards always thought I was a little boy and would give me shade about my U.N. badge.

After about a year of this, at the ripe old age of 23, I concluded that international human rights work was too nebulous, brought about change too slowly and I swore it off to do grass roots activism. Now and I look back and think "what a little punk I was."

I don't want to work at the U.N. ever again, but I'm glad they exist, especially with this new mission. We need someone to find us some facts and write a report on how f-ed up this racist country is!

U.N. Independent Expert On Racism Begins Fact-Finding Mission In U.S.

Official Visit Underscores Ongoing Issues Of Discrimination Throughout
Nation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 19, 2008

CONTACT: Rachel Myers, ACLU, (212) 549-2689 or 2666; media@aclu.org
           Stacie Miller, Lawyers' Committee, (202) 662-8317
           Ajamu Baraka, USHRN, (404) 695-0475

WASHINGTON – Several national civil liberties and human rights groups today
welcomed a fact-finding mission to the U.S. by the United Nations Special
Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination,
xenophobia and related intolerance. The American Civil Liberties Union,
Global Rights, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, the
U.S. Human Rights Network, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Rights Working
Group and the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty call on the
U.S., state and local governments to fully cooperate with the special
rapporteur.

"The visit of the special rapporteur is a critical opportunity to shed light
on the pervasive and systemic problem of racism and discrimination in the
United States," said Jamil Dakwar, Director of the ACLU Human Rights
Program. "In this election year, the eyes of the world will be turned toward
America and its longstanding promise to end racial and ethnic inequalities."


At the invitation of the U.S. government, Special Rapporteur Doudou Diène is
visiting the U.S. from May 18 to June 6 to examine issues of racism and
racial discrimination in this country. Diène will visit Washington, New
York, Chicago, Omaha, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Miami and San Juan, Puerto
Rico over the next three weeks where he will study incidents of contemporary
forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
and the governmental measures in place to address them.

Diène is scheduled to meet with federal and local government officials as
well as members of diverse communities across the United States and
representatives of several non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

"The special rapporteur's visit presents a unique opportunity to give voice
to those combating racism in the U.S. and will bring our concerns to the
U.N. and its enforcement mechanisms," said Aubrey McCutcheon, Director of
Programs at Global Rights. "I am confident Mr. Diène's visit will heighten
our efforts towards eliminating racism and its vestiges."

In March 2008, the separate U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination (CERD) issued a strongly worded critique of the United
States' record on racial discrimination and urged the government to make
sweeping reforms to policies affecting racial and ethnic minorities, women,
immigrants and indigenous populations in the U.S. Several civil liberties
and human rights organizations have urged the special rapporteur to
critically examine the continuation of racism and racial discrimination in
various areas identified by CERD and well documented in extensive NGO
reports, including criminal justice, education, housing, juvenile justice,
immigration policy, police brutality, hate crimes and racial profiling.

The mandate of the special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism,
racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance was established in
1993 by the U.N. Commission on Human Rights and further extended by the U.N.
Human Rights Council. The special rapporteur will submit a final report on
the visit to the Human Rights Council in the spring of 2009.

More information about the special rapporteur's visit is available online
at: www.aclu.org/intlhumanrights/racialjustice/sronracism.html and
www.ushrnetwork.org/special_rep

More information about the CERD recommendations to the U.S. is available at:
www.aclu.org/intlhumanrights/racialjustice/cerd.htmland and
www.ushrnetwork.org/projects/cerd