Events

Meiklejohn Institute to Hold Human Rights Forum on Racism

Published

7 years ago

October 13, 2017

The Meiklehohn Civil Liberties Institute (MCLI) is hosting a Human Rights Forum to work with community organizations and individuals directly affected by racism at the hands of public officials.

The forum will be held Monday, Oct.16 at 6:30 p.m. at the Omni Commons, 4799 Shattuck Ave. in Oakland. Based on the forum, reports will be submitted to the United Nations on Racism and Human Rights Violations in the United States.

“We encourage everyone who wants to work on this project or include your knowledge or experience to attend, Steven DeCaprio, Development Director of MCLI.

Walter Riley

“We are currently facing a political climate of increased human rights violations and racism in the U.S. The unjust and senseless decision of Judge Timothy Wilson acquitting police officer Jason Stockley of the murder of Anthony Lamar Smith in St. Louis serves as just one of many examples of racist oppression that is increasing under the Trump administration,” said Walter Riley, president of the institute’s board.

“In order to mobilize with diverse communities facing racism at the hands of local, state, and federal governments, we are reaching out to social justice organizations and community members to work together to report these human rights violations to the United Nations by Nov. 15,” he added.

MCLI is working to facilitate the submission of “shadow reports” to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Shadow reports are reports submitted by NGOs to the U.N. outside of the reporting process by nation states. Shadow reports serve as a tool to raise awareness about human rights violations and to hold public officials accountable.

Founded in 1965, the institute is part of the peace and justice community, protecting and expanding human rights. MCLI is a center for peace law, an organizer for the right to education, an information clearinghouse on social change, an advocate of government accountability, a training center, and repository of history.

Making reports works, according to the institute. “As the late Justice Frank Newman often said, the most effective method of enforcing human rights standards is the mobilization of shame, which worked in South Africa and later in East Timor,” said Ann Fagan Ginger, executive director of MCLI. “More recently, MCLI submitted a report after Hurricane Katrina to the U.N., adding to public pressure that eventually led to the convictions of the police responsible for the Danziger Bridge shootings.”

The U.S. ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and is required by Article 55 of the Charter of the United Nations to respect human rights.

Walter Riley

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Related Topics:Meiklejohn Institute Oakland Racism

Up Next

Curry Surprises Kids At Bushrod Community Center

Don't Miss

Marian Etta Barfield, 86

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of October 30 – November 5, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of October 30 – November 5, 2024

Published

1 day ago

November 1, 2024

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of October 23 – 29, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of October 23 – 29, 2024

Published

1 week ago

October 26, 2024

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Arts and Culture

Soaring Birds and Towering Waves Greet Attendees at 29th Annual Maafa Commemoration at Ocean Beach

The 29th Annual MAAFA Commemoration San Francisco Bay Area was held at Ocean Beach, Sunday, Oct. 13. Warm and cloudy with waves as high as tall buildings, we gathered to honor African ancestors who died by the millions over the centuries of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.

Published

2 weeks ago

October 21, 2024

Oakland Post

Ayikwei H. Scott (drummer standing), Dr. Uzo Nwankpa (seated), Iya Nefertina Abrams (in background), unnamed participant to the left. Next frame: co-founder, Sister Wanda Sabir at mic. MAAFA winged chorus (center frame). We are singing the MAAFA song Brotha Clint composed. Chorus: Sister Wanda and Antwuanette Queen-Pope, Brother Desmond Iman, Baba Darinxoso Oyamasela. Minister Alisha Teasley (Lower right). Photo montage by Zochi.

By Wanda Sabir

Special to The Post

The 50 or so children and adults attending Maafa, Kiswahili word meaning ‘great disaster,’ came from as far as Monterey and Sacramento to just up the block. We all felt the ancestors’ ethereal embrace as Min. Imhotep and Min. Alicia of Wo’Se Community Church poured libations and invited us to call their names with our mouths, feet, and hands.

Birds on the beach lifted their wings in flight moving towards us and flying overhead the way legends say African ancestors flew away from plantation fields. Their collective Aṣé!

The theme for the 29^th Maafa event was accountability and as Zochi led us through Mu-i (pronounced moo-ee, a movement meditation) we embraced our power from our roots through our crown chakras. Dr. Uzo Nwankpa, a healer in residence at Freedom Community Clinic, taught us the Igbo war chant —“Eyinmba” which was also an embodied movement.

Our ancestral poet this year was Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911), born in Baltimore to free parents. She was a poet, abolitionist, suffragist, educator, and freedom fighter who lived in Philadelphia.
“It’s time to be a grown person,” Wanda Sabir, Maafa CEO stated. “Own up, fess up, get righteous. Accountability means we don’t blame others for our poor choices and their consequences. We don’t blame the system, genetic weakness, structural racism, poverty of the soul, families of origin, peer pressure, ignorance….
“We are more than the worse thing we have suffered. We are more than what our ancestors survived.
“Our ancestors do not want us to be functional. Our ancestors want us to be free.”
The drummers were phenomenal, and the section of the program open to reflections was filled with song, poetry, dance and prayers. A special treat was “Amkara Music” by Karamo Susso and Amina Janta, who will perform at Bissap Baobab in San Francisco on Oct. 20.
Join us for a Zoom dialogue on adrienne maree brown’s article, “Murmations: Love Looks Like Accountability” (Yes! Magazine, 7/25/22): Sunday, Nov. 10, 2-4 pm PT. Register in advance: MaafaSFBayArea.com, 510-397-9705. Here is the MAAFA 2024 program (https://qr1.be/CPFI).