Think globally and act locally has never been more appropriate and resonant than it is today …the basic fight for equality and justice for the poor, the vulnerable, racial minorities, women, the disenfranchised and the occupied is still relevant throughout the world and in America. Although Human Rights Day has come and gone, the issue of basic human rights for all continues onward.
by Bryan K. Bullock

December 10th was Human Rights Day. This day provides activist and scholars with an opportunity to reflect upon the historic struggles for human rights in the past, and to plan and strategize on how to address the human rights battles of the present and the future.

The Black American Liberation Struggle, commonly called the Civil Rights Movement, was always more appropriately a human rights issue. Both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King saw the apartheid that existed in America at that time as being linked to the apartheid in South Africa, the fight of the Irish to be free frpm occupation, the Palestinian human rights issue and other movements by indigenous and oppressed people for basic dignity and equality. Dr. King’s famous (and powerful) speech voicing his opposition to the Vietnam War signaled his awareness that the second class citizenship of black people in America was a part of a global structure based upon imperialism, white supremacy and unfettered capitalism. Dr. King was condemned for his position on Vietnam by the mainstream media in America, but in true revolutionary fashion, he continued to be vocal and stand on his principles until the very day of his assassination.

Martin Luther King, Jr. – U.S.A. at War (Vietnam and Beyond)

Malcolm X called for African Americans to view themselves as members of a global black/brown majority as opposed to an American racial minority. In a speech in Ethiopia in 1964, he urged African nations to put aside their own differences and coalesce around common objectives for the good of Africans and the African Diaspora. He noted, “Our problem is your problem.” He went on to say, “Your problems will never be fully solved until and unless ours are solved.” Malcolm correctly noted, “It is not a Negro problem, nor an American problem. This is a world problem; a problem for humanity.” He sagely recognized that slavery, segregation and the second class citizenship of African Americans was an assault on the human dignity of black Americans, not just an issue of legal definition of citizenry and states rights. He linked the European colonialism in Africa, Asia and Latin America to the colonization of black communities, and the common threads of brutality and economic exploitation. He correctly believed that black and brown and colonized people the world over should stand together for common objectives.

The human rights agendas of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King seldom gets celebrated. They were human rights leaders and on this day they should be celebrated as such. Their words and ideas give us a foundation to build off of as we join the continuing fight for human rights around the world, in America and, here at home.

On this day, organizations in urban communities like my hometown of Gary, Indiana can join in the battle for transportation and environmental justice… that is, the right of human beings to have access to affordable, efficient and environmentally safe transportation. To have communities where one can find respectable, stable work that pays a living wage and to have quality, free, public schools. The billions of dollars in foreign military aid to countries like Saudi Arabia and Israel, could and should be spent in poor black and brown communities to build the infrastructure and the human capital of those who live there. These are also human rights issues. In the spirit of Malcolm and Martin, the poor, average, everyday citizens of this nation must be respected and the intellectual capital of the nation’s underbelly must be called upon to move the country forward. King’s call that anyone can serve and Malcolm’s own life story, clearly articulate the idea that all people, despite their circumstances, have the capacity to contribute to the world.

Dr. King’s opposition to militarism is no less urgent today than it was then. The insane amount of money this country spends to arm itself against nations that don’t intend to attack it, are…insane. The threat of war by the nations with the most military might and nuclear weapons against other nations, a sort of global bullying that knows no limits, creates enemies and global insecurity. The human rights of the people who live in the countries that America and NATO and their surrogates invade, are routinely denied, in fact their very humanity is denied if they are deemed to be a terrorist. The atrocities of Guantanamo Bay, which I have personally seen, and of Abu Gharib, the occupation and disease in Haiti, the countless killings of people in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Palestine, by imperial forces and the extreme conditions that still exist in many parts of Africa, which are the lasting effects of colonialism, are all human rights issues. The cold, mechanical killing by drones of people around the world speaks to a new, clinical level of militarism that anti-war and peace activists must rally against. The militarization of domestic policing and the rampant spying on U.S. citizens… and the possible indefinite detention of Americans, which was first test floated with the detention of Jose Padilla, must awaken and shock us to the threats to freedom in the land of the free. Just as King and Malcolm viewed the Black Liberation Struggle as an issue of human rights, civil rights and civil liberties lawyers and activists may need to realize that appealing to the Constitution may not be enough.

The human rights movement continues onward, in Palestine, where people face an inhumane, brutal military occupation, and who are deemed terrorists for having the gall to resist these conditions. The fight for human rights continues in Haiti where the country’s democratically elected president was kidnapped and finally returned, over the opposition of America’s first black president, at the same time that one of the nation’s dictators also returned. In the Congo, East Timor, Sudan and even in Europe and America, the struggle for human dignity continues just as they do in East St. Louis, Appalachia, South Central and Gary. Those who fight against imperialism abroad find commonality with those who fight against poverty, racism and the military and prison industrial complex. Think globally and act locally has never been more appropriate and resonant than it is today. The modes and methods have changed, but the basic fight for equality and justice for the poor, the vulnerable, racial minorities, women, the disenfranchised and the occupied is still relevant throughout the world and in America. Although Human Rights Day has come and gone, the issue of basic human rights for all continues onward.

Bryan K. Bullock is a lawyer. He was habeas counsel for detainees imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He practices employment discrimination and civil rights law and is a resident of Gary, IN.