President Obama Should Have Attended UN Conference on Racism

Ron Walters

(April 21, 2009) - I’m missing something here. President Barack Obama just went to Europe and Iraq and made speeches saying that he would be deferential to Communist China, that he would meet without conditions with the leadership of Iran and that he wanted to open up a new relationship with the Islamic world.

Then he went to the Conference of the Americas in Trinidad and shook the hand of Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who has said some devilish things about America and the Bush administration. But the key issue that took over the conference was the American overture to talk to Cuba, in response to Raul Castro’s statement that he would talk with the U. S. and everything would be on the table.

Moreover, the Obama administration has said it wants to open up a new chapter in its relationship with the United Nations. To that end, it has appointed an African-American ambassador and put in its application for a seat on the Human Rights Commission.

Against this background, the decision of the Obama administration not to go to the United Nations Conference on Racism in Geneva, Switzerland April 20-24 would appear to be a powerful refutation of this relatively liberal approach to the international community it has established.

This is a conference on racism, which means that the interests of those who experienced racism around the world and especially in this country were involved in their representation at this forum. Not only are African Americans implicated as victims of racism because of their experiences in this country, they also are taxpayers and should be able to depend upon representation by their government to deal with this issue in such a forum. Then, of course, there’s the obvious point that an African-American president and an African-American U. N. Ambassador are involved in this decision not to send a representative.

No doubt, they would protest that they are following the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement in their position and, thus, their right to make such a decision. But its basis seems to be narrow and counter to the world-wide problem of racism.

The administration sent a delegation to Geneva in February to the preliminary meeting and left concerned about the fact that language equating Zionism with racism was carried forth from the Durban Conference of 2001 to this one. On that basis, they decided - like their counterpart, former Republican Secretary of State Colin Powell - not to send an official delegation.

In making this decision, Obama has made a political decision to privilege the interests of the Jewish community over that of Blacks, Asians, Hispanics and Native Americans. This cannot be perceived as change. This places such groups, who played a decisive role in his election, into the category of being expendable.

Now, I’m aware that the Jewish community voted 77 percent for Barack Obama, support him financially and are linked to the politics of the Middle East.

I’m also aware that the entire continent of Africa, where Obama’s father was from, experienced racism at the hands of their colonial masters, and still do so today.

Most importantly, there is the pregnant question in the Black community of whether having run a “race neutral” campaign, Obama will now run a “race neutral” administration, ignoring the interests of the Black community.

In that context, ignoring a high-profile conference on racism is a gamble that this is, indeed, an expendable issue, of intense concern only to a handful of activists in the Black community - that most Black people won’t even know that such a conference has taken place. Then, Black leaders, so entrenched in the politics of the economic issues, are likely to have given him a pass on this.

Congressional Black Caucus Chair Barbara Lee has voiced her regret that the Obama administration will not attend the conference. But I have also heard through Professor Michael Fauntroy of George Mason University that the CBC was denied in its effort to get support from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who told them not to go.

Otherwise, no ruckus has been made of this, so the Obama people could be right. You get the government you are willing to fight for.

Ron Walters is the distinguished leadership scholar, director of the African American Leadership Center and professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland, College Park. His latest book is: ‘The Price of Racial Reconciliation’ (University of Michigan Press).