23 April 2009

On Tuesday, April 14, according to the Huffington Post, the White House placed a conference call to American "Jewish leaders," all but assuring them the U.S. would not show up for Durban II, the international conference on racism, in Geneva, Switzerland. President Obama's close adviser Samantha Power, of the National Security Council, said the event's revised draft document "met two of our four red lines frontally, in the sense that it went no further than reparations and it did drop all references to Israel and all anti-Semitic language. But it continued to reaffirm, in toto, Durban I."

Translation: although the document, under relentless U.S. pressure, has been watered down to the point of irrelevance, it remains unacceptable because it reaffirms declarations of the first World Conference Against Racism, in Durban, South Africa, in 2001. There is virtually no chance President Obama will reverse his decision to boycott Durban II, April 20-24.

We must first ask: Why is the White House reporting to "Jewish leaders" on an issue that is of interest to all Americans, most especially people of color? Has Obama arranged such briefings on Durban II for "Black leaders," "Latino leaders," or "Native American leaders" – representatives of constituencies that have suffered genocide, slavery, discrimination, forced displacement and all manner of racist assaults right here on American soil? No, he has not. Barack Obama knows full well that he risks nothing by disrespecting African Americans at will. Across the Black political spectrum, so-called leadership seems incapable of shame or of taking manly or womanly offense at even the most blatant insults to Black people when the source of the affront is Barack Hussein Obama.

"Barack Obama knows full well that he risks nothing by disrespecting African Americans at will."

Several weeks ago, popular Sirius Radio Black talk show host Mark Thompson ("Make It Plain") wondered aloud if Obama's threat to boycott Durban II should be a "deal breaker" – a "last straw" offense against Black interests and sensibilities. It should have been. The Obama administration' s fawning, damn near servile behavior when accommodating Zionist demands – and I use the word "demands" quite purposely – was a lesson in how Power responds to constituencies it favors, fears, or at least, respects. Blacks get nothing from Obama's White House except permission to worship him as the ultimate role model. Less than nothing, as the unfolding Durban outrage demonstrates.

Obama has done more damage to the Durban process than George Bush, who pulled out of Durban I after the conference had begun. Important language survived the 2001 disruption, such as:

"We acknowledge that slavery and the slave trade, including the transatlantic slave trade, were appalling tragedies in the history of humanity not only because of their abhorrent barbarism but also in terms of their magnitude, organized nature and especially their negation of the essence of the victims, and further acknowledge that slavery and the slave trade are a crime against humanity and should always have been so, especially the transatlantic slave trade and are among the major sources and manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, and that Africans and people of African descent, Asians and people of Asian."

and,

"Urges States to adopt the necessary measures, as provided by national law, to ensure the right of victims to seek just and adequate reparation and satisfaction to redress acts of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, and to design effective measures to prevent the repetition of such acts"
As University of Dayton, Ohio law professor Vernellia R. Randall has pointed out, pressures from the Obama White House caused revisions in the Durban II draft that

• withdrew language related to reparations;
• removed the proposed paragraph related to the transatlantic slave trade being a crime against humanity;
• removed proposed paragraphs designed to strengthen the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent; and,
• overall weakened the efforts related to people of African Descent.
And of course, language related to Palestinian rights and Israeli racism was totally eviscerated. (Samantha Power: "..it did drop all references to Israel and all anti-Semitic language.") But none of that was enough to satisfy the Zionists, who hope to utterly destroy Durban II, and erase Durban I from the record. (Power, on remaining U.S. objections: "But it continued to reaffirm, in toto, Durban I.")

"Durbin II should have been a deal breaker."

George Bush's walkout at Durban I provided a sour ending for the event, but allowed participants to make some important statements and carry out additional work over the next eight years. The United States and other countries were to report to Durbin II on residential segregation, criminal justice, police brutality, felony disenfranchisement and Katrina displacement. That cannot happen if the official American delegation is not in Geneva. Samantha Power told her Jewish leadership friends, who don't want Durban II to occur, at all, not to worry. "In order for us to participate in the negotiations, to sit behind the placard, to be involved in a frontal way, much more would need to be done. And all four of our red lines will need to be met."

Israel and the White House speak of "red lines" that they will not tolerate being crossed in politics and diplomacy. But where are the "red lines" that so-called Black leaders will not allow to be breached? Where Barack Obama is concerned, such lines do not exist – which is why he is permitted to walk all over Black folks, with impunity.

Yes, Durbin II should have been a deal breaker. Instead, it was mostly cause for sniveling lamentation and words of "concern" or wishful predictions by Black notables that Obama would change his mind (after the damage had already been done!) and attend the conference.

The National Conference of Black Lawyers (NCBL), although initially registering "profound disappointment" (oh, my!) with Obama's boycott of Durbin II, cheerily added, "we are confident that your Administration will be reversing its decision in time to participate in the conference and its remaining preparatory meetings…." That was on March 27, by which time Obama's vandals had caused the shredding of almost every word of value in the documents. The Black lawyers' "Open Letter to President Barack Obama" was signed by an impressive list of many scores of prominent organizations and individuals – but in its determined, concentrated meekness, should never have been expected to have any impact on the White House. And of course, it had none.

"Where are the `red lines' that so-called Black leaders will not tolerate being breached?"

The likes of the NCBL would be flattered to have Obama's people string them along – any attention would do. But Samantha Power and her boss won't even bother, understanding perfectly well that the meek inherent nothing but contempt. In her thorough and collegial report on Durban to Jewish leaders – who are anything but meek – Power said: "We will make our decision [to attend] up closer to the date of the conference, we want to show good faith to our allies and the people who are working hard to improve the text... But we are also not interested in being involved or associated with fool's errands."

Obama's White House has not seen fit to show the slightest glimmer of good faith to Black people (at least, those not in his immediate family or employ), and seems to consider salvaging Durbin II a "fools errand." You know what color the "fools" are.

TransAfrica chairman Danny Glover placed an article in the April 8 issue of The Nation magazine that read like a letter to President Obama. "This should be a moment for the United States to rejoin the global struggle against racism, the struggle that the Bush administration so arrogantly abandoned," wrote Glover. "I hope President Obama will agree that the United States must participate with other nations in figuring out the tough issues of how to overcome racism and other forms of discrimination and intolerance, and how to provide repair to victims."

Let's see if Glover calls Obama "arrogant" when the president finishes sabotaging Durbin II. My bet is, "disappointed" is about as strong as Glover will muster. Obama sucks the spine out of Black people.

And as long as Black notables (let's drop the "leadership" charade) turn into invertebrates at the mere thought of Barack Obama, so long will he treat the entire group as inconsequential, harmless ciphers.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgen daReport.com.