American Hypocrisy And The Struggle For Human Rights

By Janiah X Adams -Contributing Writer- | Last updated: Apr 6, 2016 - 1:44:01 PM

MIAMI—Human rights violations is a term constantly thrown around. It is used by those who are actual defenders of human rights and by those who claim to be human rights defenders as a veil to cover a different goal. The latter has been especially used by the U.S. government.

Army guards escort a detainee back into Joint Task Force Guantanamo’s Camp 6 after his outside recreational time July 2008.

The world watched the U.S. president use so-called human rights violations and demands for justice as a gateway to enter countries such as Syria and Libya, claiming that leaders Bashar al-Assad and Muammar Gadhafi were killing their own people. American politicians have spoken aggressively against ISIS and attacks that have taken place in Brussels and Paris.

But underneath the American rhetoric lies a sordid history and deep hypocrisy when it comes to the over incarceration of Blacks and Latinos as well as police shootings and racial profiling. Then there are charges that domestic political prisoners Mumia Abu Jamal, a former Black Panther Party member and journalist, Leonard Peltier, an American Indian Movement leader jailed since the 1970’s; and Imam Jamil Al-Amin, an outspoken Muslim leader who was formerly known as Black Power activist and revolutionary H. Rap Brown, languish in America. These longstanding rights abuses inside the “world’s greatest democracy” have been joined by the evil of Islamophobia as Muslims are targeted at home and abroad.

U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement make an arrest.

Amnesty International, one of the world’s largest human rights grassroots organizations, held its 2016 Annual General Meeting conference in Miami, April 1 to April 3. The group is no stranger to the fight for freedom and justice and is very familiar with advocating for change. Amnesty has bases all around the world and members, young and old, who are passionate about making the world a safer place to live, free of injustice. Over the years Amnesty has become more critical of U.S. failures after a long history of focusing on rights violations outside of the United States.

The theme for this year’s conference was “Change Our World.” Concerns about Syrian refugees, Guantanamo Bay, imprisoned reporters and Islamophobia were among topics discussed as were U.S. departures from what is right. The word that was oft-repeated throughout the three-day conference was “justice.”

During the official opening of the Annual General Meeting, Ann Burroughs, Amnesty International’s board chair, talked about the failure of justice systems around the world.

“We also see that march of highly militarized police forces who often act with impunity,” Ms. Burroughs said. “We see people of color marginalized. We see them targeted by the criminal justice system. There is an urgent need for reform for criminal justice in the U.S.”

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the United States is home to 5 percent of the world’s population, but the U.S. is home to more than 20 percent of the world’s prison population. Over the past two decades, the U.S. has locked up more non-violent drug offenders than ever before and for longer than ever before. During an NAACP convention in 2015, President Obama admitted, “The system is broken. We’ve locked up an entire generation of Black and Latino men.”

One workshop held during Amnesty International’s conference was titled “Born of Struggle, Implemented through Struggle: Using Human Rights Framework to Build an Intersectional Racial Justice Movement.” Topics such as the unjust killings of unarmed Black men, why civil and political rights aren’t enough to receive racial justice, and what strategies could be used to incorporate human rights when confronting racial injustice were discussed. The workshop was headed by Amanda Chavez Barnes, a 29-year-old member of the U.S. Human Rights Network.

“I think for Mexican descended people or Chicanos there’s been a movement to really embrace our indigenous identity, which I think is very important,” said Ms. Barnes. “Particularly when you think about migrants’ rights, we’re native to this land, so the fact that folks are being criminalized for being here is completely ludicrous. I think a lot of the things that affect the Black community also impact the Chicano community.

Treaise Bryant, 40, informs the crowd of the housing and displacement situation going on in Liberty Square in Miami.

“Of course, it depends because there’s colorism, and so, lighter skin, we don’t experience as much. In schools, our culture is criminalized a lot. When kids want to dress a certain way that lets them express who they are and their cultural identity, they’re said that they’re wearing gang styles and things of that nature. The school to prison pipeline, police violence, all of these things that are impacting the Black community are also impacting the Chicano community in the United States. So that’s why I think that it’s really important to, in the spirit of our forbearers, the Brown Berets, the Black Panthers, the Young Lords, we should really work together. Not for the Chicano community to co-opt the struggles of Black folks, but to re-honor some of those struggles. The difference is you’re taking it as your own without the participation of the group that you’re taking it from and without their consent and their permission of using it, versus actually standing in solidarity and talking about what we have in common. This is how we can work together.”

In 2015, Amnesty International released a report on the problem of lethal force by law enforcement in the U.S. It sent organization members to Ferguson, Mo., when protests surrounding Michael Brown’s death in 2014 were taking place. The group documented rights violations that were witnessed.

Noor Mir, an Amnesty International organizer in Baltimore, Md., has been doing a lot of organizing concerning human rights and the case of Freddie Gray, who died after an encounter with police officers. Six officers have been charged in his death—a rare outcome after a civilian dies in an encounter with law enforcement or in police custody.

Kadia Meckenzie, a 20-year-old student from New York who currently attends school at Cedar Crest College in Allentown, Penn., was also at the workshop. She and a group of friends started an Amnesty Chapter on her campus. Ms. Meckenzie said when the Black Lives Matter hashtag first came out, it was enlightening for her and other students.

“I think many of the students in general see it as reverse racism, and that’s not real,” she said.

“Because they’re in this level for so long, it’s threatening for (Whites) to see us come close to that level. Even though they may not see themselves as superior, technically they are, and they feel threatened by this. That’s why they react so badly, in my opinion. In order for them to move past this, they have to be educated in what’s going on. It’s not just a Black thing, you know? It’s a universal thing,” she said.

One of the other topics the conference focused on was Islamophobia. A workshop was dedicated to the topic, titled, “To Be Muslim in America: Confronting Prejudice and Hate.” Participants discussed rising anti-Muslim hatred going on in the U.S., and ways for activists to respond.

Hawa Diaby, a 20-year-old young woman who also studies at Cedar Crest College, attended the conference. Ms. Diaby is originally from Guinea and identifies herself as part of the Muslim community.

“Islamophobia is something that’s very real,” Ms. Diaby said. “It’s everywhere, as sad as it sounds, but I feel like with fear, it really overtakes the lives of people to the point where we take actions that result in many consequences. People have been paranoid, they’re doing things that they should not be doing and are saying things that are very inhuman.”

As a Muslim woman, Hawa Diaby covers herself and often has on many layers. When travelling, she is used to being patted down when going through the airport security check. However, when she was catching her flight to Miami, she had to be patted down extra, which included private areas.

“It was very uncomfortable,” Ms. Diaby said. “I felt violated in a sense. Islamophobia is very sad and very painful because, especially knowing who I am as a Muslim and who I am as a person, I know who I am and what Islam is about. As the Muslim community, we all need to come together. This is a critical time where we really need each other’s support and to be there for one another and to really empower each other because we can’t let this fear overtake our lives. We can’t let what people perceive of us get in the way of how we live our lives because we know Islam is all about peace.

“So when people come at us in a negative way, I know it’s hard, but reminding ourselves of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, he always responded with peace. When we keep that in the back of our head, we can break those barriers. People will see that what they think is wrong. They will wonder why they are being so wrong to this person when they are so calm and they will feel guilty in a sense, and that’s what we want to do. That’s how we get the human side of them.”

Other workshops during the conference explored topics such as sexual and reproductive rights in the United States, Hip Hop activism, why political candidates aren’t talking about human rights, and political prisoners.

On February 19, 2016, Amnesty International announced the release of Albert Woodfox, one of the members of the Angola 3, who had been in solitary confinement in Louisiana for more than 40 years. Jasmine Heiss, senior campaigner at Amnesty International USA’s Individuals and Risk Campaign, played an important part in the release of Mr. Woodfox, who became a Black Panther in prison and organized inmates to improve conditions at the infamous Angola State Prison. He was later convicted of the killing of a prison guard during an uprising at the institution. His defenders say he played no role in the death and was targeted by prison authorities. Petitions were sent out all over the world to get him released.

“We’re actively working, and we do different cases,” said Taliba Obuya, a Southern Organizer with Amnesty International. “In the state of Florida, we’re looking at Leonard Peltier, and we’re saying that to keep him incarcerated affects his mental health and that he also should be released.”

Although many Americans may see their country as a champion for justice for its involvement in world affairs, many fail to see the human rights violations that are taking place right at home. The issues that are faced here have not received as much attention from politicians as the rise of ISIS and other world issues. With the U.S. government’s lack of response to domestic issues, one questions its ability to fix the world’s problems, said activists.

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