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Francis A. Boyle
Law Building
504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.
Champaign, IL 61820 USA
217-333-7954 (Voice)
217-244-1478 (Fax)
(personal comments only)
________________________________
From: Boyle, Francis
Sent: Monday, October 29, 2007 9:24 AM
To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'
Subject: CHIEF ILLINIWAK: RACIAL DISCRIMINATION!
CHIEF ILLINIWAK: RACIAL DISCRIMINATION!
by
Francis A. Boyle
Professor of Law
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Board of Directors, Amnesty International USA (1988-92)
Holder of 2 Basketball Season Tickets (Since About 1982)
In his letter of 16 July 1997 to Ms. Susan Gravenhorst, Chair of
the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, Professor Mort
Winston, Chair of the Board of Directors of Amnesty International USA
(AIUSA) and a prominent University of Illinois Alumnus, called "Chief"
Illiniwak a "human rights violation," condemned it in no uncertain
terms, and demanded the elimination of this racist mascot. Before he
joined the AIUSA Board, Professor Winston was the leading AIUSA expert
on, and activist against, racism and apartheid in South Africa prior to
the Mandela revolution. Professor Winston knows a human rights
violation when he sees one.
The same is true for me. In addition to serving four years as a
Member of the Board of Directors of Amnesty International USA, I was the
person who single-handedly convinced the ultra-conservative Faculty of
the University of Illinois College of Law to introduce a course on
International Human Rights Law into the Law School Curriculum as Law
370, and have taught this course for many years to about 30 students per
year. Illiniwak is indeed a human rights violation.
The United States government is a contracting party to the 1965
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination. Hence, this Racial Discrimination Convention is a
"treaty' and thus the "supreme Law of the Land" under the so-called
Supremacy Clause of Article VI of the United States Constitution:
Article VI
....
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United
States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made,
or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall
be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be
bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the
Contrary notwithstanding.
In other words, the Racial Discrimination Convention absolutely binds
the entirety of the State of Illinois, including therein the University
of Illinois.
Article 1(1) of the Racial Discrimination Convention defines the
term "racial discrimination" as follows: "In this Convention the term
'racial discrimination' shall mean any distinction, exclusion,
restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent or national or
ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing
the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human
rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social,
cultural or any other field of public life." (Emphasis added.)
Obviously, Illiniwak is a "distinction" on the multiple bases of "race,"
and "colour," and "descent." Illiniwak definitely has the "effect of
nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an
equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the
political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life"
for Native American Students, Faculty, Staff and Community Members here
at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. In accordance with
the terms of this Racial Discrimination Convention to which the United
States is a party, Illiniwak constitutes "racial discrimination" by the
University of Illinois against Native Americans.
Article 2, paragraph 1 of the Racial Discrimination Convention
provides as follows:
Article 2
1. States Parties condemn racial discrimination
and undertake to pursue by all appropriate means and without delay a
policy of eliminating racial discrimination in all its forms, and
promoting understanding among all races, and to this end:
(a) Each State Party undertakes
to engage in no act or practice of racial discrimination against
persons, groups of persons or institutions and to ensure that all public
authorities and public institutions, national and local, shall act in
conformity with this obligation;
(b) Each State Party undertakes
not to sponsor, defend or support racial discrimination by any persons
or organizations;
(c) Each State Party shall take
effective measures to review governmental, national and local policies,
and to amend, rescind or nullify any laws and regulations which have the
effect of creating or perpetuating racial discrimination wherever it
exists;
(d) Each State Party shall
prohibit and bring to an end, by all appropriate means, including
legislation as required by circumstances, racial discrimination by any
persons, group or organization;
(e) Each State Party undertakes
to encourage, where appropriate, integrationist multi-racial
organizations and movements and other means of eliminating barriers
between races, and to discourage anything which tends to strengthen
racial division. [Emphasis added.]
Clearly, Illiniwak places the United States of America in breach of
these most solemn obligations under Article 2 of the Racial
Discrimination Convention. Illiniwak contravenes Racial Discrimination
Convention Article 2. The conclusion is inexorable that to be in
accordance with the terms of the Racial Discrimination Convention, the
University of Illinois must eliminate Illiniwak.
Article 4 of the Racial Discrimination Convention clearly
requires the Government of the United States of America to eliminate
Illiniwak in no uncertain terms:
Article 4
States Parties condemn all propaganda and all
organizations which are based on ideas or theories of superiority of one
race or group of persons of one colour or ethnic origin, or which
attempt to justify or promote racial hatred and discrimination in any
form, and undertake to adopt immediate and positive measures designed to
eradicate all incitement to, or acts of, such discrimination, and to
this end, with due regard to the principles embodied in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and the rights expressly set forth in
article 5 of this Convention, inter alia:
(a) Shall declare an offence punishable by law
all dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority or hatred,
incitement to racial discrimination, as well as all acts of violence or
incitement to such acts against any race or group of persons of another
colour or ethnic origin, and also the provision of any assistance to
racist activities, including the financing thereof;
(b) Shall declare illegal and prohibit
organizations, and also organized and all other propaganda activities,
which promote and incite racial discrimination, and shall recognize
participation in such organizations or activities as an offence
punishable by law;
(c) Shall not permit public authorities or
public institutions, national or local, to promote or incite racial
discrimination. [Emphasis added.]
Notice in particular the requirement of Article 4(c) of the
Racial Discrimination Convention: "Shall not permit public authorities
or public institutions, national or local, to promote or incite racial
discrimination." To the contrary, the University of Illinois
deliberately promotes and incites racial discrimination against Native
Americans by means of Illiniwak for the quite mercenary purpose of
making money!
Article 5 of the Racial Discrimination Convention expressly
requires the United States government "to prohibit and to eliminate
racial discrimination in all its forms and to guarantee the right of
everyone, without distinction as to race, colour, or national or ethnic
origin, to equality before the law, notably in the enjoyment of the
following rights..." (Emphasis added.) The conclusion is inexorable
that Illiniwak contravenes Article 5 of the Racial Discrimination
Convention.
Furthermore, Illiniwak also contravenes Article 6 of the Racial
Discrimination Convention:
Article 6
States Parties shall assure to everyone within
their jurisdiction effective protection and remedies through the
competent national tribunals and other State institutions against any
acts of racial discrimination which violate his human rights and
fundamental freedoms contrary to this Convention, as well as the right
to seek from such tribunals just and adequate reparation or satisfaction
for any damage suffered as a result of such discrimination.
Finally, Illiniwak contravenes Article 7 of the Racial
Discrimination Convention:
Article 7
States Parties undertake to adopt immediate and
effective measures, particularly in the fields of teaching, education,
culture and information, with a view to combating prejudices which lead
to racial discrimination and to promoting understanding, tolerance and
friendship among nations and racial or ethnical groups, as well as to
propagating the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United
Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations
Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,
and this Convention.
The conclusion is inexorable that to be in accordance with the terms of
the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination the University of Illinois--a Public Institution--must
eliminate Illiniwak.
As can be seen from the above analysis, the International
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
expressly incorporates by reference the 1948 Universal Declaration of
Human Rights (UDHR). No point would be served here by detailing all the
provisions of the UDHR that are currently being violated by Illiniwak.
But in particular, I wish to draw to your attention UDHR Articles 1 and
2:
Article 1
All human beings are born free and equal in
dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and
should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and
freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind,
such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other
opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
(Emphasis added.)
The United States government has been in the vanguard of the
worldwide movement to establish that these fundamental provisions of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, inter alia, constitute customary
international law. Customary international law is part of the common
law of the United States of America and the common law of all the States
of the Union. Customary international law applies to and binds the
State of Illinois and the University of Illinois.
Clearly, by means of Illiniwak the University of Illinois
refuses to act towards Native Americans "in a spirit of brotherhood" in
violation of UDHR Article 1. Similarly, Illiniwak constitutes a
"distinction" on the prohibited grounds of race, colour and religion,
inter alia, in gross violation of UDHR Article 2. In other words,
Illiniwak violates these most fundamental protections of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, inter alia, and thus violates customary
international law and therefore the common law of both the United States
and the State of Illinois.
I wish to end this Memorandum by joining those eloquent and
powerful words addressed to Trustee Susan Gravenhorst by Professor Mort
Winston, Chair of the Board of Directors of Amnesty International, my
fellow AIUSA Board Colleague and Comrade-in-Arms in the long but
successful struggle against racism and apartheid in South Africa:
In your present position as Chair of the Board of
Trustees, you can steer university policy on this issue towards the
greater good. I urge you to do so. UIUC's sport's fans and the
marching band can find another mascot. Have a contest. Pick an animal
or some culturally neutral symbol. Show some moral leadership so that
perhaps the professional sports teams that also dishonor American
Indians by debasing their cultural symbols will one day follow suit.
But above all stop pretending that keeping "Chief Illiniwek" alive is
somehow "honoring" the Native Americans who once roamed the plains where
the University of Illinois now stands. In short, "Do the Right Thing --
Get Rid of the Chief!"
F.A.B.
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