WAKE UP IT’S AFRICA CALLING MUSIC, DIP AND RUN UNDER TO THE CLIP….

More than 15 million Africans were brought by force to the Americas during the transatlantic slave trade, described by the UN as “one of the darkest chapters in human history.”

Today, “vestiges” from that period continue to have an impact on the lives of their descendants, such as racial discrimination and higher rates of incarceration, according to one law professor from the United States:

CUT1_Gloria:
“We need to understand the economic force, the social force, how it has influenced education, how it influences politics and the way we live today. So,  now as globalization: that indeed was globalization, and we need to understand that the remnants of it still exist.”

MORE MUSIC HERE, THEN DIP UNDER NEXT LINK!

Hello and welcome to ‘UN and Africa,’ a podcast from the United Nations in New York.  I’m Dianne Penn.

Now, many of you were familiar with our weekly broadcast under the same name.

Well, starting this year, ‘UN and Africa’ will have a new format as a bi-monthly podcast with each episode taking one issue and looking at it in depth.

We hope you’ll be joining us!

Now, back to today’s episode which explores the status of people of African descent across the world.

This topic was the subject of a documentary film shown this month at UN Headquarters as part of the organization’s Remember Slavery programme and the International Decade for People of African Descent, which runs through 2024.

CUT 2_SFX_Music from the Film

Here’s a brief excerpt from   that documentary ‘Familiar Faces, Unexpected Places: A Global African Diaspora’ by American cultural anthropologist and filmmaker, Sheila S. Walker.

CUT3_Film: “Most of the people who laid the foundations of the modern Americas were of African origin.  Of the 6.5 million who crossed the Atlantic during the first 300 of the 500-year history of the modern Americas, only one million came from Europe: 5.5 million people were brought from Africa during the inhuman commerce in human lives known as the transatlantic slave trade.”

Gloria Browne-Marshall, a constitutional law professor and author here in New York, participated in a panel discussion as part of the film screening.

I spoke to Professor Browne-Marshall prior to the event and asked her why the UN needs to be concerned about the lives of people of African descent.

CUT 4_Gloria Interview         Duration: 14’09”

START: “Well, the UN is of course a representative forum and structure and the heads of states and nation states around the world, but we forget that those right now that are most economically powerful gained most of that power through the free labour of people of African descent ….

END: “…please, give due respect to the people who fought to make this country as equal as it is.”

BRING UP WAKE UP AFRICA MUSIC AGAIN, AND DIP UNDER.

That was Gloria Browne-Marshall: law professor, civil rights attorney, author and playwright.

She was at UN Headquarters this month to participate on a panel in connection with the UN’s Remember Slavery programme.

I’m Dianne Penn.

Thank you for tuning in to this edition of the ‘UN and Africa’ podcast

We hope you’ll join us again next time.

MUSIC OUTRO.

#rememberslavery

#blackhistorymonth