Black All Over
Good Morning Tom, Sybil, and Jay.
Tom, international events have been in the news a lot recently… There is, of course, the ongoing carnage trouble spots like Afghanistan, Iraq, the Congo, Somalia and the Sudan…
There have been important developments in South America as well, especially the growing tensions between the border countries of Venezuela and Colombia over Venezuela’s alleged harboring of Colombian left-wing rebels…
As you know, Sybil, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez recently threatened to cut off his country’s oil supplies to the U.S., accusing the American government of using its alliance with Colombia to instigate the conflict and potentially start a war so that the Americans can finally get control of Venezuelan oil…
hmm…certainly not the first time America has been accused of instigating an international conflict to get more oil…
In any event, while many folks have heard of the outspoken Chavez and his oil-producing nation of Venezuela, I want to focus more on Colombia today, a country commonly known for its prominent role in the international drug trade…
But there is a lot more to know about this country … For example,…there are an estimated 5 to 10 million Afro-Colombians in the country, making up 21% of the population.
In fact, Colombia has the third largest Black population in the Western Hemisphere, following Brazil and the United States.
And unfortunately, just like Black folks in many other places, Afro-Colombians are going through some serious struggles…
While the country has recently tried to further stabilize itself with the election of a new president with ties to the U.S., its Afro-Colombian population has continued to suffer racism, exclusion from significant political power, and displacement as a result of the nation’s ongoing internal conflict.
Over 4 million Colombians have been internally displaced by violence and an estimated 700,000 refugees have fled to other countries… Few people realize that Colombia rivals the Sudan as the largest internally displaced population in the world…
Tom, the situation there is ugly…
You see, many Afro-Colombians are suffering and dying, and their leaders are being assassinated because they own rights to lands where multinational mining companies want to dig for gold, oil and other valuable resources…
Those who speak out are being threatened and targeted by brutal para-military groups that operate with impunity since the Colombian government is fully aware that these land owners are getting in the way of international commercial profits…
Dozens of Afro-Colombian leaders have already been murdered this year…
And people are being forced from land where their ancestors have lived for hundreds of years…
It’s very sad… and what our Afro-Colombian brothers and sisters need is our attention and our voice…
Especially since the United States has an emerging relationship with the new regime and has considerable influence on the country…
Many people who are outraged by the violence are pushing the United Nations, the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, the United States Congress, and the United States Department of State to pressure the Colombian government to protect the lives, rights and liberties of Afro-Colombians.
The Washington Office on Latin America, wants members of the U.S. Congress to move forward with House Resolution 1224 that promotes the protection and rights of Colombia’s Afro-Colombian population and Internally Displaced People.
Certainly, we should push for the same… You can locate and contact your representative at www.house.gov and tell them to get HR 1224 passed.
You can also find out more about the plight of Afro-Colombians at www.wola.org.
I’ll leave you with this quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that sums up why we should always be aware of and committed to the plight of our fellow man and our fellow black people in need of help around our world…
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Until Next Time, this is Stephanie in Love and Hope.
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