(FinalCall.com)�The United States government�s opposition to discussion of reparations�let alone possible inclusion of reparations on the agenda of the UN World Conference Against Racism�is rooted in its inability to recognize the humanity of Black people, say activists, experts and politicians.

Concern about even talk of reparations in an international forum has sparked possible U.S. withdrawal from the racism conference.

In interviews, reparations advocates said discussions, including whether slavery should be defined as a crime against humanity, foreshadow shifting a balance of power in the world and advance the global status of Black people.

On the other side, several white public policy groups contacted by The Final Call declined to discuss reparations, pleading ignorance. The White House simply did not return telephone calls.

"What we see in (President) Bush is a return to the refusal to regard the fundamental human rights of African people as public policy," argues Dr. Imari Obadele, a national board member for the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N�COBRA).

As one of the authors of "The U.S. Presidency and the Struggle that Shaped the Nation States," Mr. Obadele presents an analysis of all the inaugural speeches delivered by U.S. presidents.

When George Washington took office, "there was already 100 years of colonial racism in the making in the Virginia colonies. What you find in these early speeches is that the African people being held in slavery, there is not one word about them as a matter of public policy," said Mr. Obadele.

This does not change until the 1960s, when Lyndon Johnson was "forced by Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X to make laws which begin to reflect positive policy," he said.

This historical absence from political discourse has apparently left traditional public policy organizations in oblivion regarding the claim for reparations.

The Cato Institute said there was not one person on staff who was prepared to discuss the issue of reparations. A representative of the Heritage Foundation, a right wing group, said they were not familiar with the issue and do not consider discussing it beneficial for their organization.

The White House has yet to issue an official statement and failed to respond to numerous calls. Secretary of State Colin Powell has said reparations should not be considered at the racism conference because slavery occurred too long ago, according to a State Department official, who was only willing to speak anonymously about reparations.

That isn�t surprising given that the Congressional Black Caucus is still awaiting a response from the administration on its request to meet with President Bush on reparations and its impact on the U.S. position on the racism conference.

Still Mr. Powell�s comments, in light of settlements made to indigenous people for their rights over land that was stolen from them by the first settlers of this country, are not valid, say reparations advocates.

Time is not a determining factor in validating claims for reparations, they add.

Furthermore, America�s adamant opposition to the discussion of reparations manifests a failure to truly reconcile its history, specifically in terms of the condition of Black people in this country, many believe.

"Human history is sadly littered with crimes and cruelty. But historical crimes cannot be avenged. Many Black criminals have blighted the lives of other Americans. Is it justice to make other Blacks pay reparations to other whites for that? Of course not. Only the actual criminal can be punished and only the actual victim can be compensated. Anything else is dangerous nonsense," counters conservative columnist Mona Charon, in a recent opinion piece.

David Horowitz, an erstwhile �60s radical turned conservative guru, created controversy with his "Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks�and Racist Too" ad in college newspapers, argued against reparations.

Among his arguments is the assertion that Blacks have already been paid reparations.

"Since the passage of the Civil Rights Acts and the advent of the Great Society in 1965, trillions of dollars in transfer payments have been made to African-Americans in the form of welfare benefits and racial preferences (in contracts, job placements and educational admissions)�all under the rationale of redressing historic racial grievances. It is said that reparations are necessary to achieve a healing between African-Americans and other Americans. If trillion dollar restitutions and a wholesale rewriting of American law (in order to accommodate racial preferences) for African-Americans is not enough to achieve a �healing,� what will?" Mr. Horowitz asks in the ad.

"It doesn�t make any difference what they do in any conference, we don�t recognize international law. It�s absolutely invalid," chimed in Phyllis Schlafly, president of the conservative Eagle Forum, regarding any UN discussion or dictate on reparations.

Ms. Schlafly believes it would be a "good idea" if the U.S. did not send representatives to the racism conference. "There wasn�t any UN when slavery existed in this country," she adds. "What more do you people want? We gave our blood. Thousands of our people died to end slavery?"

"One of the things that complicates the issue of reparations," explained the State Department official, "is holding countries to a present legal standard for acts committed before an international standard was established. Reparations has not been legally fully worked out in an international system," he added.

Yet, the intricate details of an international reparations claim can never be decided if it is never discussed, some argue. Validation of the right to a claim precedes the settlement of the claim. There is a Latin legal maxim that says "where there is a right, there is a remedy."

It could be argued that U.S. government opposition to discussing reparations prevents the development of a remedy. Although the U.S. government objects to describing slavery as a "crime against humanity," by definition, slavery is seemingly a crime against humanity. According to the Nuremberg Charter Tribunal, used to prosecute Nazi war atrocities, crimes against humanity involve: "murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population ... whether or not in violation of the domestic law of the country."

Some U.S. officials contend discussion on reparations should only be held within individual countries. Geographically isolating slavery weakens the claim for reparations, some activists say.

Slavery in America was linked to foreign countries, so proper restitution must involve an international appeal for justice, they argue.

"The trans-Atlantic slave trade was a collective economic enterprise of the western world. The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Portugal and Spain were collectively built on the trans-Atlantic trade," said Dr. Conrad Worrill, national chairman of the National Black United Front while attending N�COBRA�s 12th annual convention, June 22-24 in New Orleans.

"The U.S. and slave trading nations do not want to admit that they participated in a crime and to the continued manifestation and impact of that crime," he continued, referring to Jim Crow segregation, apartheid and colonialism on the African continent.

After slavery was legally abolished, European nations used the 1884 Berlin Conference to divide Africa and control the resources, Dr. Worrill noted.

In America, he said, Jim Crow laws evolved into discriminatory practices, the rise of the prison industrial complex and flooding drugs in the Black community. That continued oppression after the "end" of slavery left Blacks unable to seek redress, Dr. Worrill argued.

The World Conference Against Racism reparations controversy marks the elevation of the status of Black people in the world and a growing worldwide movement for justice, he maintains.

The U.S. and the European Union oppose reparations discussions, Dr. Worrill said. Only France, he noted, has become open to talking about reparations, after 100,000 Africans demonstrated in Paris.

"The UN is a legitimate body for the identification of international crime. So when the UN takes the position with us, this raises the foundation to take the country before an international court," he contends.

Whether or not America is able to deal effectively with the past, present or future, the push for reparations is "the veneration of our struggle. Our ancestors are smiling on us," Dr. Worrill said.