From ... in Political History Social issues — Mar 21, 2025

Ending Racism Means Addressing Its Historic Legacies

Today marks the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the 60th anniversary of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. It is a day all governments should recommit to following international human rights law as a guide to ending structural racism once and for all. Racism, in particular anti-Black racism, is deeply embedded in governmental and societal systems and inextricably linked to ongoing legacies of colonialism, apartheid, and slavery. Governments and individuals in Europe, the United States, and elsewhere, who have benefitted and continue to benefit from racial oppression, have yet to acknowledge these ties or take action. Communities who suffered racial discrimination and other serious abuses rooted in these historic legacies have a right to reparations.

These legacies of colonialism, apartheid, and slavery have real and tangible impacts today. In the US state of Oklahoma, the last two living survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre have waited over 100 years for reparations. In the United Kingdom, Black people are seven times more likely than white people to die following police restraint. And the Indigenous Ovaherero and Nama peoples in Namibia have yet to see their land taken by German colonizers returned to them. Human Rights Watch provided ample analysis to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which is developing a general recommendation on reparations, about the need to redress historic racial injustices to fully address today’s racial inequality, inequity, and discrimination. Anti-rights and racist rhetoric are becoming more mainstream around the world. In some cases, the very foundation of anti-racism is being attacked.

The clearest example is the US Trump administration’s assault on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), which highlights broader backsliding of efforts to promote racial justice.

The alarming rise of hatred and racism should serve as a wakeup call to governments to take anti-racism seriously. Anti-racism should be mainstreamed in all policymaking to ensure equity, equality, and nondiscrimination. But for anti-racism to be genuine and have a lasting impact, governments should meaningfully redress the ongoing impacts of racism’s historic legacies.

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