United Nations experts specializing in the subject of racism on Friday highlighted the fatigue that members of the black community feel because of the color of their skin, at the end of a visit to the United States, where the authorities must address the legacy of slavery “at all levels”.
The United Nations Group of Independent Experts was formed after the death of George Floyd, a black man, in 2020 by suffocation after a white policeman in Minnesota pinned him to the ground.
The experts met with victims, civil society figures, the judiciary, police unions, and federal and local officials over 12 days, in Washington, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, and New York.
“In the United States, racial inequality goes back to the genesis of this country. There will be no quick fixes,” Tracy Casey, one of the team, told a news conference.
She added that the terms called for “comprehensive reform and strong leadership at all levels” to deal with the “legacy deeply ingrained” in the daily lives of people of African descent.
“To this day, racial discrimination manifests itself during first encounters with law enforcement authorities, detentions, sentencing and denial of rights,” she said.
The interviews conducted by the team highlighted the “exhaustion black people feel in the daily life of being black”.
This group is known as the “International Mechanism of Independent Experts on the Advancement of Racial Justice and Equality in the Context of Law Enforcement”.
While the team will issue a detailed report, the experts hailed in a preliminary statement “the various promising initiatives put in place by the authorities to combat racial discrimination.”