We Charge Genocide
Encyclopedia
"We Charge Genocide: The Crime of Government Against the Negro People", often shorted to "We Charge Genocide", was a petition presented to the United Nations in 1951, arguing that the U.S. federal government, by its failure to act against lynching in the United States
, was guilty of genocide
under Article II of the UN Genocide Convention
.
On 17 December 1951, the petition was presented to the United Nations
on two separate venues: Paul Robeson
, concert singer and activist, together with people who signed the petition, handed the document to a UN official in New York
, while William L. Patterson
, executive director of the Civil Rights Congress
, delivered copies of the drafted petition to a UN delegation in Paris
.
The petition quoted the UN’s definition of genocide as “Any intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, racial, or religious group is genocide." and concludes that "the oppressed Negro citizens of the United States, segregated, discriminated against, and long the target of violence, suffer from genocide as the result of the consistent, conscious, unified policies of every branch of government. If the General Assembly acts as the conscience of mankind and therefore acts favorably on our petition, it will have served the cause of peace."
As evidence, the petition listed hundreds of wrongful executions and lynchings, referred to at least 10,000 undocumented cases, and also charged that U.S. had engaged in a conspiracy against African Americans' ability to vote through poll taxes and literacy tests.
The petition was signed by a handful of people, some of whom were family members of victims of lynching, including:
Lynching in the United States
Lynching, the practice of killing people by extrajudicial mob action, occurred in the United States chiefly from the late 18th century through the 1960s. Lynchings took place most frequently in the South from 1890 to the 1920s, with a peak in the annual toll in 1892.It is associated with...
, was guilty of genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
under Article II of the UN Genocide Convention
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1948 as General Assembly Resolution 260. The Convention entered into force on 12 January 1951. It defines genocide in legal terms, and is the culmination of...
.
On 17 December 1951, the petition was presented to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
on two separate venues: Paul Robeson
Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
, concert singer and activist, together with people who signed the petition, handed the document to a UN official in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, while William L. Patterson
William L. Patterson
William L. Patterson was a leader in the Communist Party USA and head of the International Labor Defense, a group that offered legal representation to communists, trade unionists, and African-Americans in cases involving issues of political or racial persecution...
, executive director of the Civil Rights Congress
Civil Rights Congress
The Civil Rights Congress was a civil rights organization formed in 1946 by a merger of the International Labor Defense and the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties. It became known for involvement in civil rights cases such as the Trenton Six and justice for Isaiah Nixon. The CRC...
, delivered copies of the drafted petition to a UN delegation in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
The petition quoted the UN’s definition of genocide as “Any intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, racial, or religious group is genocide." and concludes that "the oppressed Negro citizens of the United States, segregated, discriminated against, and long the target of violence, suffer from genocide as the result of the consistent, conscious, unified policies of every branch of government. If the General Assembly acts as the conscience of mankind and therefore acts favorably on our petition, it will have served the cause of peace."
As evidence, the petition listed hundreds of wrongful executions and lynchings, referred to at least 10,000 undocumented cases, and also charged that U.S. had engaged in a conspiracy against African Americans' ability to vote through poll taxes and literacy tests.
The petition was signed by a handful of people, some of whom were family members of victims of lynching, including:
- W. E. B. Du Bois, African American sociologist, historian and Pan-Africanist activists
- George W. Crockett, Jr., African American lawyer and politician
- Benjamin J. Davis, Jr.Benjamin J. DavisBenjamin J. "Ben" Davis , was an African-American lawyer and communist who was elected to the city council of New York City, representing Harlem, in 1943...
, African-American lawyer and communist New York councilman - Ferdinand Smith
- Oakley C. JohnsonOakley C. JohnsonOakley C. Johnson was an American socialist political activist and writer. A founding member of both the Communist Party of America and the Proletarian Party of America, Johnson is best remembered as a historian of the radical politics of that era.-Early years:Oakley Calvin Johnson was born on...
, Communist activist - Aubrey Grossman, labor and civil rights lawyer
- Claudia JonesClaudia JonesClaudia Cumberbatch Jones was a Trinidadian journalist, who applied her skills to becoming a political activist and black nationalist through Communisum....
, Communist and black nationalist activists - Rosalie McGee, the widow of Willie McGeeWillie McGee (convict)Willie McGee was an African American from Laurel, Mississippi, who was sentenced to death in 1945 for the rape of Willette Hawkins, a white housewife....
, who in 1951 was executed after being controversially convicted of rape - Josephine Grayson, the widow of Francis Grayson, one of the "Martinsville Seven", who in 1951 were executed in VirginiaVirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
after a much-publicized trial