(RightWing.org) – Justin Hansford, Ph.D., is a law school professor at Howard University and the director of the historically black research facility’s Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center. His official bio notes that he’s a “leading scholar and activist” in critical race theory (CRT) and social movements. He was inspired by Malcolm X’s efforts to bring black people’s issues to the international stage and currently serves on the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD), where he recently called for discussions on racial issues in America.
Hansford recently attended the PFPAD’s second official session to discuss issues surrounding the United Nations’ 2014 resolution declaring 2015 to 2025 as the International Decade on People of African Descent. The session focused on “upholding” the “dignity and equality” of the so-called victims of slavery, the slave trade, and European colonialism.
Hansford has been a longtime advocate for reparations and presented what he called a “novel proposal” to session attendees for consideration. In short, the professor called for the creation of a mechanism to offer payouts to slave descendants to atone for their ancestors’ enslavement and oppression under Jim Crow laws.
Hansford said reparations owed to each individual should be determined on a case-by-case basis. However, he provided some clue into his thinking when he suggested that a $5 million payout for some wouldn’t be enough.
United Nations resolutions aren’t binding on member states, and Hansford’s goal doesn’t actually appear to involve leading an effort to call on the US government to make those payments.
Howard University’s new campus news site, The Dig, published an article about Hansford’s efforts to bring reparations and racial justice to the international stage shortly after the UN General Assembly voted to appoint him to the PFPAD for the 2022 to 2024 term. The professor believes bipartisan politics currently block any effort to establish payouts for slave descendants.
However, Hansford thinks he’s found a workaround, at least for now. He told The Dig the United Nations and other international human rights organizations and groups have a greater capacity to pressure non-governmental organizations (charities) than government entities to lead the charge to establish a framework for making reparations. In short, Hansford believes the PFPAD could leverage charitable giving for black Americans from churches, higher learning institutions, and private companies.
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