U.S. officials outlined progress in decreasing racial discrimination this week before a United Nations panel, but their reports were overshadowed by outrage over the death of several young black men in the U.S. in recent days, most notably the shooting of Michael Brown by Missouri police.
“Over the last several years under active White House leadership, the State Department has worked closely with many federal agencies and others to reinforce the importance of human rights obligations,” said Paula Schreifer, deputy assistant secretary for the State Department’s Bureau of International Organization Affairs, “including those set forth in the convention, in our daily work implementing domestic laws and policies.”
Schreifer and other U.S. officials testified before the panel in Geneva, Switzerland, which was reviewing progress of countries that have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The U.S. ratified it 20 years ago.
But much of the talk of the meetings has focused on the recent racial-fueled rumblings in America’s heartland, according to several participants.
“The death of Michael Brown has shocked the conscious of the world,” said Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, in a conference call. “It’s raised serious concerns about the amount of training theses [police] officers have received.”
Henderson was referring to Michael Brown, the unarmed 18-year-old black man shot and killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri last Saturday. Some witnesses told reporters that Brown did nothing wrong, and that he even had his hands in the air to show he was unarmed. The chief of the St. Louis County Police Department, however, has told news outlets that Brown tried to assault the officer.
Ferguson residents have protested every night this week. Police used tear gas on demonstrators and news crews Wednesday night. Two journalists were arrested after police tried to evacuate a McDonald’s.
“This issue has resonated here at the United Nations,” said NAACP Washington bureau chief Hilary O. Shelton. “As we have watched international TV, this story continues to run in circulation. The world is watching what happened in Ferguson, Missouri.”
A report released last month, authored by more than 40 non-governmental civil rights organizations and in conjunction with the U.N., highlighted several areas of improvement for the U.S., notably the “stand your ground” laws in several states and the “disproportionate use of deadly force against individuals of color by state and local police.”
“The U.S. criminal justice system is in crisis,” Henderson said. He said there’s a pervasive problem with police unfairly targeting black men.
“The tragic shooting of Michael Brown shows us just how vulnerable they are. We can and must end this terrible trend.”
On Wednesday news broke that on Monday night in Los Angeles, the LAPD shot and killed Ezell Ford, 25-year-old black man during an “investigative stop,” according to an LAPD press release.
On Wednesday evening, Steven Lerman, Ford’s attorney, said on “All In With Chris Hayes” on MSNBC that Ford was not armed and that he was mentally challenged. Ford’s mother told KTLA in Los Angeles that her son was on the ground and cooperating with police before he was killed.
However, U.S. officials at the conference repeated their message of progress in America.
“The United States strongly supports the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination,” said Keith Harper, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council. “We do so in the context of our commitment to build a country and a world characterized, as President Obama has said, by ‘a just peace based on the inherent rights and dignity of every individual.’”