UD LAW PROFESSOR PARTICIPATING IN U.N. CONFERENCE ON RACISM
IS DISTURBED BY POLITICAL MANEUVERS OF EUROPEAN UNION

DAYTON, Ohio -- As the U.N. conference on racism winds down, at least one participant is distraught over what she calls a "steadfast refusal" by the European Union to accept its role in the slave trade of centuries past.

 The European Union has adopted an "aggressive, surprising position," saying it will not allow certain words to be included in a U.N. document that is to outline reparations on slavery, said Vernellia Randall, an expert on racism and health care, in a phone interview Wednesday from Durban, South Africa, where the conference is being held.

 European delegates said earlier this week that they "profoundly regret" colonization and slavery, but refuse to accept the words "apology" or "crimes against humanity" within the document, called "Injustices of the Past and the Way Forward."

 Negotiations will continue through Friday, the last day of the conference. The goal is agreement on how European nations are to atone for the centuries-old slave trade and colonization of African nations.

 Randall, a University of Dayton law professor, is especially disheartened by two other words the Europeans refuse to acknowledge -- "race" and "racial."

"They have agreed to the concepts of ethnic, cultural, national, linguistic and religious minorities but not to the concept of racial minorities," said Randall, the granddaughter of a Mississippi slave. "It's a blatant and cruel insult to people of color."

 Randall, her voice cracking with pain, added: "They forced my ancestors onto their ships, took away their language, their clothing, their culture. It feels like the same thing all over again.

 "The Europeans are saying, 'We don't like what our ancestors did to your ancestors, but we're not going to apologize for it.' It's a slap in the face to the families of slaves who must bear the emotional, spiritual and economic scars of slavery!" she said.

 The E.U. said it disavows the words "race" and "racial" based on the universally accepted axiom that there is only one biological race, Randall explained.

 "Nobody's arguing that there is more than one biological race," Randall said. "But it's widely accepted that race is socially constructed. Countries are socially constructed -- the U.S. is a social construct, but no one would argue that it didn't exit."

 In the paper Randall presented at the conference Sept. 5, she discussed the ways in which the world's poor minorities are used as "guinea pigs in medical research behind the shield of beneficent research." Key to her premise that racial discrimination exists in health care is the generally held belief of race as a social construct.

 Sometimes, scientists and researchers "abuse their professional codes of conduct and cause harm to populations that look different than themselves," said Randall, a former public health nurse who served as a reviewer for the White House health care reform drive in the early 1990s. "I find this very unsettling -- and it's happening throughout the Third World."

 Adding insult to injury for the African nations this week, Randall said, is the media's "almost complete avoidance of the E.U's actions.

 "I don't know if all of the media coverage is being used on the United States and Israel walkout or what," she said. "But no one seems interested in exposing this side of the conference. I find that appalling!"

 On Monday the U.S. and Israel delegations left the conference to protest attacks against Israel by Arab states and pro-Palestinian groups, a move many people said would unravel the conference.

The World Conference Against Racism was organized to focus on practical steps to eradicate racism, including measures of prevention, education and protection. Participants also hoped to develop effective remedies for the victims of racism and racial discrimination.

Instead, the conference may be a window into the world and just how far apart its human inhabitants are when talk turns to racism, Randall said.

 "I -- like many, many others here -- am deeply disappointed in this conference," Randall said. "It's been a great deal of stress and very little progress. I don't see any good coming from it. And that saddens me."

For media interviews, contact Vernellia Randall on her cell phone at 011-27-82-858-2074. The conference Web site is at http://www.igc.org/igc/gateway/arn/worldconf/.