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New Report Reveals Racism Pervasive in Administration of Justice Worldwide
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Powell Won't Go to Racism Conference; Outright Ban Still Possible
Sunday, August 26, 2001
http://www.sltrib.com/08262001/nation_w/126232.htm
LOS ANGELES TIMES
WASHINGTON -- After weeks of deliberation, Secretary of State Colin
Powell has decided not to attend the U.N. conference on racism beginning in
Durban, South Africa, later this week.
Senior U.S. officials said Saturday that the Bush administration has not
yet determined whether to send a lower-level delegation from Washington, send
diplomats in the region or possibly boycott the conference altogether.
For Washington, the two most controversial issues are moves to equate
Zionism with racism and to make reparations for slavery.
The long-awaited decision is certain to evoke widespread disappointment
and anger, both at home and abroad, because the stakes in South Africa extend
far beyond those controversies, as the world debates whether to expand the
definition of what constitutes a basic human right.
The Powell decision underscores the volatility of that debate -- and the
reluctance by even democratic governments to break new ground.
The dilemma about whether to attend the conference has been an ironic one
for Powell, the nation's first black secretary of state, who has written and
spoken extensively about his own experiences with racism.
Some four decades ago, as a young Army lieutenant newly stationed in
Georgia, he repeatedly butted up against lingering discrimination.
"I could go into a department store and they would take my money, as long
as I did not try to use the men's room. I could walk along the street, as
long as I did not look at a white woman," he recalled in his autobiography My
American Journey.
Aides say the decision was an especially tough one for Powell, who has
openly and often said he wanted to attend.
In contrast, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, the first black
person to hold the other powerful foreign-policy job in the executive branch,
was a leading voice against sending Powell to Durban, according to U.S.
officials and representatives of human-rights groups who dealt with her.
Public pressure has been intense for weeks. The Congressional Black
Caucus and human-rights groups have besieged the White House and State
Department with appeals to send Powell.
"As a nation, we must be committed to end racism in all its forms. To do
that, we need to be part of the discussion, whether we agree with the final
[conference] declaration or not," said Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., who will
attend the conference in Durban as a member of the black caucus.
But the administration fears that the conference could spin out of
control on several fronts.
The most offensive issue is equating Zionism with racism or criticizing
Israel, President Bush said Friday.
"We will not participate in a conference that tries to isolate Israel and
denigrates Israel," Bush said at a Texas news conference.
Reparations for slavery, which existed legally in the United States from
1619 to 1865, is another hot-button issue. Several African countries, as well
as black Americans, have demanded compensation that would follow the model of
payments to Japanese-Americans interned in the United States during World War
II and to Jewish victims of the Holocaust.
But focusing on reparations for slavery is counterproductive, U.S.
officials say.
"Demands for financial reparations and a formal apology would do nothing
to address racism and discrimination today," State Department spokesman
Richard Boucher said.
That's a position consistent with Powell's personal outlook.
"My message to young African-Americans is to learn where you are and not
where you might have been born three centuries ago. The cultural gap is too
wide, the time past too long gone, for Africa to provide the only nourishment
to the soul or mind of African-Americans," he wrote in his autobiography.
© Copyright 2001, The Salt Lake Tribune
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