A Special United Nations Tribunal has been requested to discuss race relations in the U.S. amid racial tensions in the country.
Justin Hansford, Ph.D., a law school professor at Howard University and the director of the historically black research facility’s Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center, is calling for discussions on racial issues in the U.S.
“When in Ferguson, my big accomplishment was taking Mike Brown’s family to the U.N. in Geneva, Switzerland. That was my first experience working with the U.N. on an official level,” Hansford said in his interview with The Dig, a news site based at Howard University.
“It was one thing I could give to the movement that others couldn’t give. There are a lot of organizers, activists, but not many can take these issues to the international level. I went to Geneva three or four times, and I started to meet more people in that sphere,” he continued.
Hansford is also a “leading scholar and activist” in critical race theory (CRT) and was inspired by fellow activist Malcom X’s efforts to bring black people’s issues to the international stage, according to his biography.
The professor currently serves on the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD) and is now calling for the creation of a program to offer payouts to slave descendants to atone for their ancestors’ enslavement and oppression under Jim Crow laws.
The Dig went on to highlight Hansford’s efforts to bring his type of reparations and racial justice to American shores.
Hansford says that reparations should be determined on a case-by-case basis. While he indicated that a $5 million payout would not be sufficient for some individuals, the professor clarified that his goal does not involve urging the U.S. government to make these payments as U.N. resolutions are not binding on member states.
However, his recommendations could be difficult to pass in the U.S. given the country’s bipartisan politics. But he continues to believe that using international human rights organizations and groups, including the United Nations, may be a way to apply pressure on non-governmental organizations.
Lastly, Hansford suggested leveraging charitable giving from churches, higher learning institutions, and private companies to develop a framework for reparations.
