[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 15768-15769]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



  AMERICA SHOULD NOT TURN ITS BACK ON WORLD CONFERENCE AGAINST RACISM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Osborne). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I would also like to be 
associated with the remarks of the gentleman from Minnesota relative to 
the loss of Korey Stringer, who not only was a great football player, 
but indeed was a role model, not only for Minnesota, but for the entire 
Nation. So we share with you the comments you have just made.
  Mr. Speaker, as we speak, an intensive 2 week effort is under way in 
Geneva to finalize plans for the World Conference Against Racism, 
Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. The World 
Conference, to be held in Durban, South Africa, on August 31, is 
expected to be the most important international meeting on racism ever 
held.
  Given America's tragic history of racial oppression, racism and 
inequality and the bloody struggles required to end slavery, lynching, 
Jim Crow discrimination in employment, education, health care and 
public accommodations, one would assume that America would have some 
important lessons to share with the international community.
  Given the heavy price the world has been forced to pay as a result of 
the slave trade, one would assume that America would be sensitive and 
responsive to an attempt to clarify that history and examine means of 
redressing the wrongs of slavery and racism.
  Given the ongoing conflicts and the heritage of conflict as a result 
of the exploitation of the Third World and other developed nations, 
largely driven by the American slave system, driven by the lingering 
aftereffects of the slave trade, one would assume that America would be 
sensitive and responsive to an attempt to clarify that history and 
examine means of redressing the wrongs of slavery and racism.

[[Page 15769]]

  Given the contradictions arising from the international debt crisis, 
from the process of globalization and trade driven by the great 
inequalities between the rich nations and the poor nations, one would 
assume that America would be sensitive and responsive to an attempt to 
clarify that history and examine means of redressing the wrongs of 
slavery and racism.
  One would assume that America would feel a powerful sense of 
responsibility to share those experiences, because we understand the 
immense human, social and economic costs associated with the evils of 
racism and discrimination.
  Unfortunately, if one were to make those assumptions, one would be 
wrong. Our State Department has indicated that the United States will 
not attend the World Conference unless two items are struck from the 
proposed agenda: The characterization of Zionism as racism, and the 
issue of reparations for slavery and colonialism.
  In international forums from Ireland to the Mideast, from Southern 
Africa to the Indian sub-continent, America has always insisted that 
problems cannot be solved, that differences cannot be narrowed, if we 
refuse to discuss them.
  Suddenly America has become the loner in world diplomacy, insisting 
it is our way or no way. The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the Germ 
Warfare Treaty, the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty, and now the World 
Conference on Racism.
  What kind of superpower are we? Are we about democracy, about 
democratic process, about transparency and mutual self-interest? Or are 
we about imposing our will on international consultations, about 
insisting on predetermining the outcomes of discussions between 
nations?
  Only those who fear the outcome of fair and open discussion have 
reason to refuse to engage in debate and discussion. I believe that we 
have nothing to fear in openly and honestly exploring history and in 
repudiating racism.
  It is time to come to grips with racism and the legacy of racism. It 
is in our national interests and in our international interests.
  UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has correctly defined the problem. He 
stated we need to ``find ways to acknowledge the past without getting 
lost there; and to help heal old wounds without reopening them.''
  If America is serious about its affirmation that racism and democracy 
are fundamentally incompatible, and I think that we are serious about 
it, then America must be at the table on August 31.
  So I would hope, I would pray, and I would urge that America do in 
fact attend the conference, participate, and explore with the rest of 
the world attempts to find solutions to our past and present problems.

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