By; Rev. Torli H. Krua
Universal Human Rights International (UHRI) commemorates American apartheid laws bicentennial (200 Years) April 21, 1821, to April 21, 2021, 200 and calls on President Biden to mitigate American apartheid now!
Start with an independent American Truth Commission President Biden or Issue Executive Order Designating Liberia for DED.
Governor Baker must issue emergency Covid-19 state-funded aid for undocumented immigrants & Liberian refugees denied work permits
Boston, Massachusetts-Two hundred years ago today, 86 American Settlers on board the ship Elizabeth, escorted by the U.S. Navy ship Cyanne landed at the port of Freetown, Sierra Leone in search of a suitable place to build an American Colony. Later, the U.S. Navy Ship Nautilus commanded by U.S. Navy Captain Robert Stockton coerced indigenous African Tribes to sell land for a settlement in what became Liberia. Only white governors ruled Liberia until 1842. Of the 4,571 emigrants who arrived in Liberia between 1820 and 1843, only 1,819—40%—were alive in 1843. American Apartheid was powered by law and enforced by the U.S. Navy. March 26, 1790, racist law that limited U.S. citizenship to only “white persons” was a crime against humanity. This law and all three racist laws are still ravaging the lives of non-white Americans within the borders of the United States in Indian Reservations and communities of color across America as well as Liberia.
On the 200th anniversary of American Apartheid, about 6,000 Liberian refugees are at serious risk of infection and death due to Covid-19. Since October 1, 2002, the federal government has denied Liberian refugees access to humanitarian assistance and permission to work, without any explanations or justifications. The health risks of these refugees put all of us at risk.
Congress passed a law in 1992 that allowed 52,968 Chinese nationals granted DED after the Tiananmen Square incident to adjust to permanent residency status. The Chinese are not alone. Congress also passed legislation that allowed 150,000 Nicaraguans, 5,000 Cubans, 200,000 El Salvadorans, and 50,000 Guatemalans to adjust to permanent residency status. If work permits were good for Chinese, Cubans, and El Salvadorans.
With great urgency, I ask President Biden, Honorable Williams and the Black and Latino Caucus, Governor Charlie Baker, and the Massachusetts Delegation to Congress to quickly perform these humanitarian interventions:
- The seed of racism was sown with acts of Congress. Although the racist laws are no longer on the books, the harm caused by those laws continues until they are mitigated. We call on President Biden to bow to the inevitable and appoint an independent American Truth Commission.
- President Biden must declassify the 1990 classified cable from Washington to the U.S. Embassy in Liberia secretly ordering staff to deny all Black Liberians visas but issue visas to Lebanese and Indians. Biden must order a full refund, with interest all “non-refundable” visa application fees in millions of dollars.
- Biden must implement a visa waiver for all Liberians.
- President Biden must also immediately issue an Executive Order designating Liberia for DED to work permits as well as extend work permits to all undocumented migrants as a Covid-19 public health preventive measure.
- Governor Baker must offer state-funded emergency, humanitarian financial aid to Liberian refugees who have been denied work permits since October 2002. Additionally, make emergency state financial Covid-19 aid available to organizations assisting undocumented immigrants and refugees without work permits like Universal Human Rights International (UHRI).
- For the benefit of our public health, the governor and the Legislature of the Commonwealth must issue a joint humanitarian alert, calling on religious groups and philanthropies to provide additional humanitarian assistance to all refugees denied work permits in Massachusetts as well as the organizations serving them as Covid-19 emergency aid.
Hon. Ben Swan (Retired), President of UHRI, and the Massachusetts Delegation to Congress have been advocating for Liberian Refugees unfairly denied work permits for decades. As a result, Congress passed the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act, which was signed into law by President Trump on December 20, 2019. On January 20, 2021, President Biden signed an Executive Order renewing work permits for certain Liberians. While these actions are welcomed, the reprieves exclude thousands of Liberians denied work permits since October 1, 2002. Designation of Liberia for DED would afford the Liberians the opportunity to work for the very first time, immediately ending the humanitarian crisis.
Liberia was an American colony created by an Act of Congress, appropriation of $100,000 from American taxpayers, and the authorization of the United States Navy to enforce American colonization. Ten (10) presidents of Liberia were African Americans. The Liberian flag is American-red, white, and blue with one white star. Liberia’s currency is the U.S. Dollar. As a U. S. colony, Article 1 of the Liberian Constitution of 1824 gave Liberians rights as Americans: “All persons born …in Liberia, shall be free and entitled to all the privileges, as are enjoyed by the citizens of the United States.” Even so, in 2021, Liberia is the fourth most denied country in the world, next to Cuba, Afghanistan, and Mauritania to be granted visas to the U.S.
The name, Liberia, our seal, our flag, our commercial district, Bushrod Island, our Capital City, Monrovia, and our corrupt system of governance (representative democracy) are all lies and deceptive plots of Liberia’s white supremacist slaveholding founding fathers, slave masters, and high ranking US Government Officials from all three branches of the US Government. Four (4) US Presidents, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, James Madison & Andrew Jackson helped designed our corrupt system to empower and enrich politicians.
In the words of the American Slave Masters who founded Liberia in partnership with the US Congress, “…the colonization of the free people of color, will render the slave who remains in America more obedient, more faithful, more honest, and, consequently, more useful to his master, is it proper to regard this happy consequence to both, as the sole object which the Society (ACS) hope to attain…” “… to get rid of a useless and pernicious, if not dangerous, portion of our population.”Speaker At Congress: Henry Clay.