Race relations in America got into a messy tangle last
week..It is a rotten shame that in America,
there are still many people, who embrace racial
intolerance, without understanding the
disastrous consequences of such racial
outbursts.
There is a spiritual dimension to racial
discrimination and denigration of Man. Those
light-headed individuals, who are racists are
advertently or inadvertently questioning the
Creator of the Universe, why He created people
with different skin pigmentations, noses, hairs
and eyes.
No-one deserves an answer to such stupid
musings. In every society on our planet and I
have visited the five continents, "some people
run, some people walk, while some people don't
even move at all." Don Williams.
I have never bothered whether some-one is
piggish-white, charcoal- black or Obama brown.
My quest has always been to find out what such
people have done to add value to the human
condition on planet Earth.
This is why I often look down on African
leaders, who fail to uplift the conditions of
life of those they claim that they are
governing. When I compare the progress that the
Chinese and other states have achieved, I feel
ashamed.
Non-performance can lead to loss of esteem and
one cannot blame those, who demand high
standards from their fellow earth sojourners.
In America, the society was so structured that
the Caucasian race had better opportunities to
develop themselves than the negro and indians,
who faced elimination.
This situation lasted for centuries. It is a
heart-rending story.
As the world entered the ERA OF THE GENTILES,
ATONEMENT AND THE BROTHERHOOD OF MAN, the will
of Jehovah NISI, manifested in America.
Mr Barack Obama, unexpectedly became the
President of the United States of America.
Ever since, every presidential policy aimed at
improving the human condition in America has
been misinterpreted and misconstrued to favour
"blacks" . As a result, racist and
race-conscious organisations have sprung up in
America like mushrooms, all determined to run
down the Obama administration.
The health-care and banking regulatory laws are
in defence of the socio-economic rights of all
Americans.
The defence of human rights is the primary
purpose of modern international human rights
law, to which the United States had subscribed
to, inexorably.However, there appears to be
disconnects between the zeal with which the US
promotes human right externally and its strict
application of laws against racial
discrimination in America.
The United Nations Charter urges nations to
promote" Universal respect for and observance of
human rights and fundamental freedoms for all
without distinction as to race, sex, language or
religion."
The United Nations Durban Human Rights
Conference 2001, expanded the scope of the
defence of human rights to include xenophobia
and racial intolerance.
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Racial Discrimination should be reviewed to
include measures against xenophobia and related
intolerance.
It is ironic that during the last World Cup,
participating nations condemned racism, yet, the
message seems to have fallen on deaf ears. This
proves that "Things are easier said than done"
The Harvard University don's case and the
Agricultural director's mistreatment show that
race relations in America have not gained
acceleration in the right direction that should
lead to racial harmony..
In the 1975 UN Declaration on All Forms of
Racial Discrimination, it was stated that (a)
Any doctrine on race differentiation is
seriously flawed, morally condemnable, socially
unjust, and dangerous. There is no justification
for racial discrimination , in theory or
practice,(c) Racial discrimination harms, not
only those, who are its objects but also those,
who practice it.
Small-minded acts like xenophobia, intolerance,
racial bigotry, ethnic preference, erect
barriers on the historical forward march of the
human race. Such practices create inferiority
complexes and reduction in daring ,reduction in
self-esteem, etc.
All these handcuff ambition, human adventure and
the spirit of enterprise..
Professor Dr. Emmanuel Omoh Esiemokhai is the
President of the proposed AFEMAI UNIVERSITY,
FUGAR, EDO STATE, Nigeria.
|