[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 85 (Tuesday, June 19, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1154]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                DISCUSSION ON U.N. CONFERENCE ON RACISM

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. EARL F. HILLIARD

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 19, 2001

  Mr. HILLIARD. Mr. Speaker, ANC leader Thozamile Botha once said, ``We 
cannot choose war, we have come from war''. To my colleagues and 
friends here today, I say that we cannot choose racism, because we have 
come from racism. It has brought us, and our children nothing but 
strife and sorrow. We all need each other in this new era of 
globalization. The time has come for us to stop harming each other 
because of our differences, and start using our differences to 
strengthen our weaknesses.
  Racial discrimination has been an historical tragedy in all 
countries. Those countries, which enjoy lavish wealth today, do so 
because they were the oppressors of yesterday. Now, stands an 
opportunity to stop the cruel cycle of racial discrimination.
  Historically, social structures and cultural beliefs combined to 
legalize racial oppression. Many lost opportunities or faced obstacles 
to living a prosperous life because of racial discrimination and abuse. 
The message rings loudly throughout any society as to which lives are 
considered more valuable. This instantly creates intense conflict 
within society.
  A society that places and holds certain citizens in poverty and at a 
disadvantage with respect to occupation and education create an 
environment that induces many negative social ills--poverty, 
illiteracy, and crime are just a few. If all persons are expected to 
support and abide by the system, then the system should value all life 
equally. Those who will receive unequal treatment from the system may 
not honor it with equal respect.
  The Conference on Racism focused initially on dismantling apartheid 
in South Africa. Apartheid fell, but just as with slavery in the United 
States, the remnants of inequality still remain.
  International conflict now goes beyond nations going to war with one 
another. The wars of ``the post, cold-war era'', involve conflict among 
groups and neighbors who have lived side by side for generations. The 
world has become a new and politically unfamiliar place to many, and 
with unfamiliarity brings the desire to cling to that which they know 
and condemn that which is unfamiliar.
  Why are so many countries afraid to address the issue? We know racism 
is everywhere, and it threatens to overwhelm us all if we do not place 
safeguards to prevent the harm it would incur.
  The root of racism is fear. Fear of not being on top, fear of not 
being given preferential treatment, fear of competing for resources. 
However, the most powerful fear is one of a diminished self-worth. Too 
often those who perpetuate racism have intertwined their feelings of 
worth and confidence with the comparative status of those around them.
  Hence, we do not struggle to improve life for one group, we struggle 
to change the false sense of superiority of another group--and it is 
this fear of losing superiority that frightens most. However, the only 
cure is to show them that a better world exists, not just for the 
oppressed, but for them as well. It is a new world that many cannot 
begin to imagine. It is this world that the U.N. Conference wishes to 
promote. The reality many people experience in the world today is not 
just emotionally painful, but it has many other ramifications that fall 
like stacks of dominoes. The effects of racism spread quickly and can 
soon pour into every community, harden and form the foundation of 
social institutions; and every mind of every person becomes polluted.
  Our failure to address racism, as an international community is the 
reason we have so much international conflict. Racism should be viewed 
as a mental illness, and without a cure or an attempt at prevention, 
will create the sick atrocities we witnessed in Rwanda and Bosnia. We 
must find new ways to monitor hate and distrust before it reaches 
epidemic proportions. As global citizens we face not just diseases of 
the body, but of the mind and the spirit. We have too long focused on 
those problems we can see, and have pathetically crawled away from the 
true source of its origin.
  U.S. citizens consider themselves the guardian of individual 
liberties. It was our political ancestors who created the framework 
that became the United Nations. It was our first ambassador, Eleanor 
Roosevelt who established the Human Rights Commission.
  The U.S. urgently seeks its renewal on the U.N. Human Rights 
Commission. To those who wish to accomplish this, I give a quote from 
Eleanor Roosevelt. ``Where after all, does universal rights begin? In 
small places, close to home . . . unless these rights have meaning 
there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerned citizen 
action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress 
in the larger world.''
  I join my colleagues in an earnest plea for the administration and 
Congress of the United States, to give their full support to the World 
Conference on Racism and send an official delegation to Durban, South 
Africa.
  We have been a staunch promoter of human rights and underlying any 
democratic philosophy is the belief that all men are created equal. 
This is the core of human rights and eliminating racism should be at 
the core of our domestic and foreign policy. We are not calling upon 
the world to repent, but to acknowledge the past, refuse to ignore the 
present and hopefully challenge the future.

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