by Hazel Trice Edney

WASHINGTON (NNPA)�Often revered as the richest and most technologically advanced nation in the world, America is also being reviewed on the world stage for its historically racist public policies and some of the world�s grossest human rights behavior as global leaders and groups spotlight racism and intolerance at a major conference.

That is what�s happening as the United Nation�s World Conference Against Racism, Race Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR) begins in Durban, South Africa. The official conference begins Aug. 31. Activists, leaders and entertainers have been descending upon the city by the hundreds, some carrying petitions from over 200 prominent U.S. leaders and officials. Although the agenda has to do with racial hatred and institutionalized discrimination, the tone appears to be toward sending positive messages and ideas for change.

Activists and Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) were meeting at Final Call press time, seeking to officially bring their issues to the global stage during a session lasting several days leading up to the official Aug. 31 opening. The pre-conference meetings will culminate in a massive march to the conference site on opening day wherein leaders will bring what they call the Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action, which will articulate the international community�s agenda for ending the scourge of racism around the world.

Topics to be discussed during the eight-day conference could include white supremacy within America�s criminal justice system, viewed by civil rights advocates as a tool to continue near slave-like oppression through racially biased laws that pack prisons with people of color.

Racial profiling and targeting of Blacks and Latinos in America�s "war on drugs," and the disparate incarceration and executions of Black, Latino and poor people are topics certain to be discussed. Reparations for victims of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the lingering social and economic affects of centuries of racial oppression is a lightening rod that has dampened the spirit of western countries to attend the conference.

At Final Call press time, President Bush has vehemently refused to send a high level delegation to the conference. An official American delegation is seen as important to conference planners in measuring the level of respect afforded to WCAR, which has an ultimate goal of eliminating racism.

The Bush administration announced Aug. 26 that Secretary of State Colin Powell, America�s highest ranking Black representative, would not attend because of language in conference documents that the Bush administration considered offensive to the Jewish nation of Israel, an American ally.

President Bush had also disagreed with WCAR calls for reparations for slavery, but said that language was worked out to his satisfaction. The United States has been reluctant to participate in a discussion on reparations�even an apology for slavery�because the U.S. and other slave trade beneficiaries fear potential lawsuits.

The Bush threat to boycott the conference has persisted, despite the warning of Black community and civil rights leaders, including National Urban League President Hugh Price, who told Pres. Bush that to boycott the meeting "would be a severe blow to people of color in the U.S." and would "send a dreadful sign to the world."

The controversy regarding the U.S. presence at WCAR is the most recent in a number of global events in which the U.S. seems to be out of step with the international community. World opinion flared negatively when the Bush administration resisted attempts to create stronger environmental guidelines on greenhouse gas emissions at the Kyoto conference last March. Controversy was drawn to U.S. foreign policy again in July at Geneva�s conference when the Bush administration resisted calls for better watchdog standards on biological weapons.

Mr. Price and others had asked the President to send Mr. Powell, but days before the conference, organizers awaited word on who�if any�he would send.

"It�s for the country to decide what level of delegation they want to send. I think what�s important is participation and that they take part in the work of the conference," said Jose Luis Diaz, a spokesman for Mary Robinson, the United Nation�s high commissioner for human rights, prior to the Powell announcement.

"We hope this conference will be a breakthrough in the way that we look at racism and the way that we combat it around the world," Mr. Diaz said. "Of course, the higher the level of the delegation, I think that�s a measure of, perhaps, the level of importance that they afford to the conference."

As the planned protest before the conference calls attention to issues activists consider most important, it is clear that the racial sins of America will be scrutinized on the world stage whether Bush sends a delegation or not.

More than 200 American celebrities, civil-rights activists and legislators recently sent a petition to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, charging that the U. S. "war on drugs" is "rooted in racial bias" and asking him to make the charges an issue at the conference.

Among the 260 signers were NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, singer Harry Belafonte, actor Danny Glover, former New York Mayor David Dinkins, and three members of the Congressional Black Caucus, John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, Cynthia McKinney of Georgia and Eva Clayton of North Carolina, all Democrats.

Black Americans comprise 57 percent and Latinos account for 22 percent of those incarcerated in state prisons for drug felonies, the petition states. The petition said white youths are equally as apt to use and sell drugs, yet they are jailed far less frequently.

At the end of the conference on Sept. 7, these stats will not have changed. However, conference organizers hope a consensus among participants will at least send a message by adopting the draft declaration and a draft program of action developed to correct wrongs of the past.

These documents "will not be binding," Mr. Diaz said. "But, what comes out of these sorts of conferences is a demonstration of the will that the countries have to tackle with a specific problem. They undertake a moral obligation when they do subscribe to these declarations and resolutions. ... And people around the world will be holding them accountable for what they�ve undertaken and seeing if they stick to it."

A U.N. spokesman said Mr. Annan was awaiting official receipt of the petition and it was not yet known whether the drug issue would be discussed.

But, the idea is for the 30-35 heads of state, 160 foreign ministers and delegations from 194 countries to "hopefully come to some consensus" on what to do about these kinds of issues around the world, Mr. Diaz said, adding that the measure of success will be to "establish benchmarks" for progress.

But, Pres. Bush, has�in relation to WCAR�expressed more concern about harm to the people of Israel than about harm to America�s promise that "all men are created equal."

Pres. Bush had vowed not to send an official delegation if conference documents "pick on Israel" by using the term racism synonymously with Zionism, the national movement for the sovereign rule of the Jewish people in their homeland of Israel. Pres. Bush told reporters that he told South African President Thabo Mbeki that he would send no delegation if Arab nations insist on the Zionism is racism language.

The choice of South Africa to host WCAR is a poetic justice of sorts. The governments of Pres. Mbeki and former President Nelson Mandela have desired to quell violence, racial hatred and fear over the past decade since the release of Mr. Mandela from prison and the dismantling of the racially segregated Apartheid system, which crumbled with the help of economic sanctions from America.

Other world human rights violations to be discussed at WCAR are genocide, ethnic cleansing, discrimination against low-caste Hindus, prejudice in Western Europe against migrants and refugees, landlessness and discrimination against women.