We are not shy about raising issues of racism – US envoy

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Workers rights protected: Al-Hajri

KUWAIT CITY, Aug 15: The American ambassador to the Kuwait, Alina Romanowski, said the United States is not shy of raising issues of racism, in order to make progress in this area, and in another context expressed her country’s interest in “human rights in Kuwait and the various challenges it faces,” reports Al-Anba daily. She said, “We welcome the initiatives, and we seek to build an environment of trust and mutual respect.” She noted, Kuwait will go to the polls to elect members to the National Assembly by the year end and “we hope that there will be broad participation by women and youth.’

In her opening speech to the dialogue session organized by the US embassy the day before yesterday, on race relations and civil mobility in the United States, under the title ‘Freedom and Justice for All’, Romanowski indicated that the weeks following the tragic accident that killed American citizen George Floyd, solidarity is witnessed in the US. She said, broad sectors of the American people with his cause, and protests pervaded the United States, due to the largest incident in its history, as it was carried out by about 26 million people from more than 2,000 cities, which resulted in a global movement with which people interacted, from more than 60 countries around the world.

She pointed out the US Constitution provides for the right of citizens to live in peace, and that their rights to be safe in their persons, homes, documents, and possessions and that it protects them from police attacks and irresponsible behaviors of some of them shall not be compromised. She explained that the United States, as a country governed by law, does its utmost to achieve justice. In the tragic case of George Floyd, and all similar cases, it examines ways to protect its citizens from various forms of hateful racism, which represent great economic and social challenges.

“We are not ashamed to raise issues of hateful racism, in order to achieve progress in such files, and states are definitely getting stronger the more their citizens exercise freedom of expression, and the higher rates of press freedom,” she added. She noted, that the United States, as a free and open country, proudly seeks to help other countries. It promotes the development and protection of freedoms, takes the issue of human rights seriously, and welcomes dialogue on issues of racial discrimination and equality, and this is one of the most important reasons for holding this session. The US jurist, Caroline Jefferson, reviewed the practice of apartheid in the United States, since its inception, especially to what the minorities of African origin are exposed. Jefferson explained that “there are many differences between the components of the American people, and what is happening is a complex matter, stressing that there is systematic social injustice against minorities, and racial injustice still exists.”

She pointed out that the United States is still struggling with racist perceptions and practices, explaining that the efforts made to preserve civil rights laws and the principles of the US Constitution are still in place, despite the US retreat in maintaining freedoms and equality. She indicated her country will witness presidential elections soon, hoping it will contribute to changing events.

For her part, professor of political science at the Kuwait University, Dr Hanan Al-Hajri, said the American society consisted of many sects of people since the establishment of the state. Despite the arrival of a black president to power, things have returned to what was previously mentioned after a white president took over. On what Kuwait is accused of spreading racism, Al-Hajri said that the comparison is illogical between what is happening in the United States in terms of apartheid and what is happening in Kuwait with some categories of foreign workers, who are exposed to injustice, noting that the spread of the coronavirus has unveiled the faults of the system. The sponsorship, for example, she described is as an unjust system, pointing out that the Kuwaiti government, for years, has been studying the abolition of this system.

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