U.N. racism investigator to visit U.S. from Monday
Help us Mr. U.N.!
A special U.N. human rights investigator will visit the United States this month to probe racism, an issue that has forced its way into the race to secure the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.
Presumably he will be limiting his investigation to Democrats then. No?
The United Nations said Doudou Diene would meet federal and local officials, as well as lawmakers and judicial authorities during the May 19-June 6 visit.
"The special rapporteur will...gather first-hand information on issues related to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance," a U.N. statement said on Friday.
Notice the subtle way this is all just assumed to exist here in quantities to justify the visit?
Race has become a central issue in the U.S. election cycle because Sen. Barack Obama, the frontrunner in the battle for the Democratic nomination battle, stands to become the country's first African American president.
His campaign has increased turnout among black voters but has also turned off some white voters in a country with a history of slavery and racial segregation.
FWIW, we also have a history of eliminating slavery and spending untold billions to help rectify its legacy, eliminating segregation a long time ago, and generally rescuing all manner of folks all over the world. Again. And. Again. And. Again.
Diene, a Senegalese lawyer who has served in the independent post since 2002, will report his findings to the U.N. Human Rights Council next year.
Must take a long time to catalogue our sins. Well, at least there is one silver lining:
However, the United Nations has almost no clout when it comes to U.S. domestic affairs and is widely perceived by many as interfering. The United States is not among the 47 member states of the Geneva-based forum, but has observer status.
Of course, we should expect utopians to prefer the perfect over the good:
A U.N. panel which examined the U.S. record on racial discrimination last March urged the United States to halt racial profiling of Americans of Arab, Muslim and South Asian descent and to ensure immigrants and non-nationals are not mistreated.
It also said America should impose a moratorium on the death penalty and stop sentencing young offenders to life in prison until it can root out racial bias from its justice system.
Can we leave the UN now?
Please?
Pretty please?