Yesterday my friend Mary Susan asked me if I thought all the controversy surrounding Donald Trump was meant to distract the American public from something much more important.
I enjoy a good government conspiracy plot as much as the next girl, but at just two days into a Trump presidency, even I felt that we were seeing the worst unfold right before our eyes.
America had gone from ‘post racial’ to ‘post factual’ faster than you could say Hollywood divorce. Both Presidential candidates were embroiled in scandals worse than Watergate, and rumors abound of international tampering with election results. How much worse could things get?
Still, Mary Susan’s concerns kept me up late last night, scrolling and trolling social media for any nefarious plot to (further) undermine our way of life that I might have missed. At four thirty-five, I found it.
House Resolution 193 aka The American Sovereignty Restoration Act was introduced twenty one days ago by Representative Mike Rogers (R-AL). It is a detailed blueprint for withdrawing the United States from the United Nations and arguably the most dangerous piece of legislation written since the Fugitive Slave Act. This resolution, if passed, will (in part):
1. Allow the President to pull out of the United Nations (henceforth UN)
2. Evict the UN Headquarters from New York
3. Terminate US funding and participation in UN Peacekeeping efforts.
4. Repeal diplomatic immunity AND bar UN members from gaining diplomatic immunity in the future
5. Withdraw US from United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNSECO)
5. Withdraw US from the World Health Organization (WHO)
6. Repeal all UN Conventions and agreements
This piece of legislation has the potential to cause World War Three, yet only six websites are talking about it. Six websites. To put that in perspective, over twenty five articles on reparations were published within a week of Ta Nehisi Coates’ criticism of Senator Bernie Sanders. Thirty one articles were published (so far) this year on Kim Kardashian’s robbery. Twenty three articles were published about Kellyanne Conway’s inauguration coat. Yet this critical piece of legislation that is both an insult to our nation’s legacy and a threat to her future has been quietly referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs without so much as a peep from either liberal or conservative media sources.
The implications of The American Sovereignty Restoration Act are far reaching and pose a threat to all Americans-- from our soldiers who depend on humane treatment as prisoners of war as outlined in the Geneva Convention to artists whose intellectual property is protected by the Berne convention.
While one could posit that removing obligatory accountability on the part of the United States to adhering to international human rights, child labor, and environmental regulations could be good for big business, we must also ask ourselves: at what cost? Are we willing to go back to children dying of black lung in Appalachian coal mines? Are we willing to bring back biological warfare, which, as the Tuskegee Experiment proved, was often tested on our own citizens of color? How about the “higher standards of living, full employment, and socio-economic progress” laid out in Article nine of the United Nations charter? Is that no longer something we as Americans ascribe to?
Our country is far from perfect. As a black woman, I am personally and painfully aware of many of the ways America fails her most vulnerable on a daily basis. Yet I fervently believe that at its core, our nation's citizens agree on the ideals of freedom, peace, human dignity, and prosperity. Though we may disagree on best way to make these ideals a reality, though we may fail to ensure access to these ideals for all of our citizens, these principles remain our Northern Star, the light on the horizon that guides us towards home.
Following that light convinced President Franklin D. Roosevelt and twenty five other world leaders to take a collective stand against fascism in 1942 and form what would eventually become the United Nations.
Every man, woman, and child who believes in freedom and human rights depends on the United Nations and the international peace treaties it painstakingly upholds. For over seven decades, America has been an integral part of maintaining that peace. Now, with HR 193 before us and an uncertain future ahead, one cannot help but wonder:
Is this the way the world ends?
