A group of more than twenty senior leaders in the United Nations, who report directly to Secretary-General António Guterres, and who are African or of African descent, have put their names to a personal statement published last week, expressing their outrage at pervasive and systemic racism, highlighting the need to ‘go beyond and do more’ than just offering condemnation. The editorial begins by evoking the death of George Floyd, the African-American man who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes. The letter cites the “deep trauma and inter-generational suffering” that has resulted from racial injustice, particularly against people of African descent, the opinion piece written in their personal capacity, declares that it is time to go further than simply condemning acts of racism, described as “a global scourge that has been perpetuated over centuries”.
To help us unpack all these we are joined by:
• Gabriel Crouser is an analyst at the South African Institute of Race Relations
• Stan Henkeman is the Executive Director at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation
