Good morning. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you so much for convening us today as we dedicate ourselves to eliminating racial discrimination.
Colleagues, some of you may have heard of the famous Montgomery bus boycott – which began in late 1955, after Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat to a white man.
But what many people – including many Americans – don’t know is that the first bus boycott of the Civil Rights Movement took place over two years earlier in my home state of Louisiana, in the city of Baton Rouge.
In June of 1953, members of the Black community banded together to fight the segregated seating system on city buses.
The boycott lasted just over a week but served as inspiration for years to come; inspiring other bus boycotts across the country, and empowering Louisianans to mobilize around issues like voting rights. I was just a few months old at the time of the boycott, and so, I didn’t know that the world was changing, right outside my front door.
But I can now say, in hindsight, that my neighbors’ collective action reshaped the trajectory of my life, and the lives of Black Americans across the country.
Colleagues, all these years later, there is still so much work ahead of us – including here in America.
And though some may seek to rewrite history, I instead believe we must face it, we must face it head on.
We must reckon with the legacy of chattel slavery, which has resulted in not only lingering systemic racism – but, on an individual level, real generational trauma.
We must reflect on policies that attacked Native Americans’ rights to self-governance and continues to pose barriers to fully exercising their inherent sovereignty.
And we must combat the rise of anti-Asian hate, antisemitism, and Islamophobia, as well as vile anti-immigrant rhetoric, including against members of the Latino community.
While this work may begin at home, I also know the United States isn’t an outlier.
Just as I am descended from enslaved people, so too are millions around the world: people from Haiti and Brazil and Colombia and Jamaica. As well as many other countries who do not know which country their family is from – only that they were taken from that country by force.
And just as I have experienced discrimination and racism, so too have people in every country on earth. There are no innocents on this account. And in far too many places, that bigotry has turned deadly.
But the ubiquity of racism cannot numb us to it or paralyze us from taking action. Like the Black Louisianans who took a stand in Baton Rouge, we too must commit to rooting out injustice.
For our part last year, "the United States welcomed" several initiatives aimed at advancing racial justice globally. These included welcoming "the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism," racial discrimination xenophobia and related intolerances along with "the Expert Mechanism" dedicated towards achieving equality within law enforcement sectors worldwide because ultimately however painful recognizing past failures helps create more equitable futures ahead
"In 2023," significant steps were taken by launching Secretary Of State’s Award For Global Anti-Racism Champions while revitalizing US-Brazil Joint Action Plan To Eliminate Racial And Ethnic Discrimination Promoting Equality alongside various efforts under UNESCO UN Permanent Forum On People African Descent knowing hatred spans borders commitment fighting should span them too
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Today let us recommit solving problem rather than perpetuating recognizing intersection other forms oppression sexism ableism homophobia tackling shared challenges climate change food insecurity through lens justice equality anti-racism sharing best practices elevating good ideas amplifying unheard voices acknowledging history running making proud brave freedom fighters paved way generations come thank you Mr President