Barbara Lee Lauds U.N. Move to Commemorate End of Slave Trade
(Oakland, CA) – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) praised the United Nations’ unanimous adoption yesterday of a resolution declaring March 25, 2007 a day for global commemoration of the two hundredth anniversary of the end of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
“This is an historic and important step for Africans throughout the Diaspora. The massive human and civil rights abuses of the slavery continue to affect and influence us all – regardless of race, religion, class, or nationality – and it is fitting that we recognize the end of that brutal practice,” Lee said on learning of the unanimous passage of the resolution.
On Monday, November 27th, Rep. Lee and 24 other Members of Congress sent a letter to the United States embassy to the United Nations stating their support of this historic effort. In 2001, Lee participated in the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance in Durban, South Africa. The U.N. resolution, introduced by the Ambassador from St. Vincent and the Grenadines on the behalf of CARICOM, recalled key provisions of the historic Durban Declaration.
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