On this day in 1960, white police officers in Sharpeville, South
Africa, opened fire on a peaceful anti-apartheid demonstration killing
69 black South African protestors. To mark the solemn occasion of what
came to be known as the "Sharpeville Massacre," the international
community proclaimed this day as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination – an occasion to amplify efforts to eliminate racism.
Closer to home, today is a particularly appropriate time to remind
the Obama administration that it needs to make good on a promise it made
to the international human rights community to come up with a concrete
plan to battle discrimination and fully comply with its obligations
under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms or Racial Discrimination, also known as ICERD.
When it comes to racism, putting partisan differences aside should be
easy. We can all agree that racial discrimination violates the
fundamental human right to equality that all people enjoy. People of
good conscience of all political stripes can agree that our government
can and should do more to combat racial discrimination and promote
inclusion and opportunity.
But how do we get there from here?
Read on...
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