Hands Up United: Protecting Afro-American Community from Human Rights Violations

This assignment discusses how Hands Up United, an American social activist organisation is raising its voice and working to ensure the protection of the Afro-American community and combat repression. It also talks about their programs like Books and Breakfast, Freedom Flix and It’s OK to Dream.

Running Head: HUMAN RIGHTS
Human Rights
Name of Student:
Name of University:
Author’s Note:

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Executive Summary:
The Western world, particularly the USA has seen a rise in atrocities and crimes against people
of the African-American community. Racist attitudes and hate crimes against people of this
community have affected the minds of people across the nation and the world. Schools,
Universities and public authorities are slowly becoming breeding grounds for racist sentiments,
causing rampant human rights violations. This assignment discusses how Hands Up United, an
American social activist organisation is raising its voice and working to ensure the protection of
the Afro-American community and combat repression.

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary:....................................................................................................................1
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Description:......................................................................................................................................4
The Issue:.....................................................................................................................................4
Current Human Rights Regime:..................................................................................................5
The Organisation:........................................................................................................................6
Books and Breakfast:...............................................................................................................7
Freedom Flix:...........................................................................................................................8
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................9
References:....................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction:
Human Rights are a set of universal laws set down by the United Nations that describe and
enforce the fundamental freedoms of all individuals or groups throughout the world. The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an extremely significant document
containing these laws, drafted by different by representatives of cultural backgrounds from all
regions of the world. These rights ensure the freedom and full rights of all people without any
distinction of colour, race, sex or any other form of distinction. Everyone is assured the right to
life, liberty and security and everyone is protected, under the law, from subject to torture,
inhuman and degrading treatment (Glickhouse, 2019). Furthermore everyone is protected from
being subjected to arbitrary arrest and all are equal under the protection of the law without any
discrimination on any grounds.
Despite so many fundamental laws, hate crimes against communities and races have been on a
rise in several western countries, especially in the USA. According to reports from the US’s
Department of Justice, 7175 hate crimes were reported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) in 2017, out of which 4131 alone were directed against the race or ethnicity of the victim.
Hands Up United is an American non-governmental social activist organization that was formed
after the notorious shooting of Michael Brown, an 18-year old African-American, by a white
police officer. The organization is working to ensure the protection of the Afro-American
community.

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Data released by the FBI comparing the hate crime data of 2016 and 2017 (US Justice dept, 2019)
Description:
The Issue:
A significant percentage of crimes committed around the world is directed against the
communities, races, ethnicities and nature of origin of the victims. As per Diane (2006), racism
is the conviction that individuals can only be ascribed features and skills on the grounds of their
race and that some race groups are superior to others. In times of conflict and war and even in
moments of financial downturn, racism and discrimination were used as mighty tools to
encourage fear or hate of others. These are collectively termed as ‘Hate Crimes’ as they are
committed as a result of an inherent hate towards the particular race or ethnicity of the victim,
and not necessarily or entirely because of the victim personally. These crimes are motivated by
prejudice as the perpetrator has a psychological abhorrence and targets the entire social

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community of the victim. Hate crimes are also often directed against religion, gender identity and
sexual orientation. The criminal activities include bullying, verbal abuse, harassment,abusive
letters and graffiti, property damage, physical assault, torture and even murder.
Delinquencies of hatred are perplexed. In 2007, nearly one hate crime occurred each hour,
according to the latest data available from the FBI– in total more than 7,600 incidents reported as
a result of bias. Moreover, in relation to the severe and hateful rhetoric on Hispanics, refugees
and foreigners over the past few months, several highly reputed hate crimes against Hispanics,
including several homicides, have lately been committed (Forsythe, 2017). Unfortunately people
have seen a disturbing rise in ideologically motivated violence against Jews and others in the
post-election elections of the first African American president, a profound financial and
accommodation crisis and the breakdown of the immigration scheme. Hate crimes are truly a
issue, unfortunately.
A large chunk of hate crimes around the world remain unreported and unidentified as only a
small number of victims report crimes motivated by hate and prejudice. This happens due to a
number of reasons like fear of not being taken seriously and a lack of trust in the police force.
Victims are often unsure whether they were subject to a crime or not (EUFRA, 2018). Moreover,
the police do not always register these complaints as a case of hate crime due to lack of evidence
or the inability, to identify the incident as a result of prejudice. Some even lack the interest or the
required aid, such as reporting forms for registering such crimes. Several people across the
European Union are still subject to hate crimes as people are still abused and harassed for their
ethnicity, colour, gender identity and religion. There are several laws imposing strict penalties
and punishment for motivation of and participation in bias and prejudice against certain

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communities. However, the results of these efforts can be fully understood when the rate of hate
crimes are analysed in comparison to those of previous years.
In recent times even issues like corruption has been categorized as a crime that infringes human
rights. Corruption compromises the capacity of States to fulfill their obligations in their
jurisdictions to support, respect and safeguard human freedoms of people. Human rights are
undivided, interdependent, multiplied and affecting all human rights— civil and political rights,
financial, social and cultural rights and the right to growth (Chandler, 2017). However, as a
matter of human rights, it has so far been mainly ignored. In 2015– and most particularly in this
respect SDG 16– by adopting the Sustainable Development Goals, there is a widening awareness
of the adverse effects of bribery on human rights within the UN framework (Chandler, 2017).
Current regime
The international regime is a sort of international institution, according to the already traditional
concept of' consense,' which Stephen Krasner offers, created by a set of values, standards,
guidelines and processes to take decisions and developed in a specific thematical field, to control
and guide their interaction as per Sullivan and Robinson (2018).
According to Sullivan and Robinson (2018), two basic questions can now be asked about global
regimes: what are the causes of them and what are its implications? In other words, why did
countries decide on it and how did they effect state behaviour? The answers in regards to human
rights are particularly crucial. Although an progressively complicated and active system has
evolved in this region over the last seven centuries, it does not seem to possess the "teeth" it
wants to affect the behavior of nations.

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Hate speeches are also included under the ambit of hate crimes as they propagate xenophobic,
racist and intolerant sentiments across the audience. Several nations have laws criminalizing hate
speeches such as the US and a number of European nations. On May 2019, the United Nations
passed a Strategy and Plan of Action regarding hate speeches. They stated that this strategy was
aimed to safeguard both the rights of freedom of speech and expression as well as the right to
life, liberty and property without any discrimination. Tackling hate speech is the responsibility of
governments, societies, private groups as well as individuals. Appropriate efforts must be made
to understand and address the root causes behind the delivery of hate speeches. The UN General
Secretary Antonio Guterres, at the launch of the United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on
Hate Speech, stated that ‘hateful and destructive views’ are being disseminated at an increasing
rate through digital and online media by extremists to radicalize unbiased minds and recruit
followers of hate (UN, 2019).
According to a report by The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism hate crimes in 30
major American cities have risen to 2,009 in 2018 from 1,836 in 2017 (9.4% increase), which is
the steepest escalation observed since 2015. The majority of the victims were, quite expectedly,
Jews, blacks people and people of the LGBTQ community. This came at a time when the country
observed an overall fall in crime rates in its cities. Different states in the US have different laws
pertaining to hate crimes making it difficult for the FBI to get a clear accumulative picture of the
crime statistics of the entire country. Around only twelve states in America have statutes
providing hate crime training in their police academies.
The recent shooting attack at the two mosques in New Zealand’s Christchurch, which left 50
worshippers dead and several more people injured is a stark reminder of the rising crimes against
communities and religions around the world. The perpetrator was clearly motivated by anti-

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immigrant and anti-Islamic sentiments and had a deep rooted sense of white-supremacy (UN,
2019). The rise of the immigrant issue around the world due to the destabilization of Iraq and
Syria has lead to anti-immigrant sentiments, leading to attacks on Muslim immigrants around the
world. This has also led to a wide range of political debates and actions.
The Organisation:
According to Gerstenfeld (2017), the prosecution of members of racial organisations, for
minority crime, was traditionally a bad record for State and local prosecution officials. As a
consequence, hate crimes were victims of civil rights charges against hate crimes perpetrators
relied upon by federal prosecutors. Federal prosecutions for these offences have reduced their
effect on the initiation of these actions, and have given the domestic government its complete
authority to address the issue of hate-motivated abuse.
There are a number of organizations around the world working to safeguard the rights and
protection of communities, which are subject to abuse, violence and discrimination. Hands Up
United is one such organization that is working for the protection and upliftment of the Afro-
American community in North America. Based in Ferguson, Missouri, it is a non-governmental
social activist organization that was formed in 2014 after the notorious attack in August, where
an 18 year old African American boy, Michael Brown Jr. was shot down by a white policeman
Darren Wilson. Brown was found with multiple gunshot wounds, which sparked great unrest in
the region, leading to protests. These protests were met with strong police action, which was in
turn criticized by global media and politicians. Wilson was acquitted by the US Department of
justice over the lack of evidence that Michael had surrenderd with the phrase “Hands Up, Don’t
Shoot”- which became the inspiration for the organisation’s name.

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The NGO strongly criticized the incident, along with the numerous crimes against black people
committed throughout the country every year. It shuns the racist and anti-African-American
sentiments being propagated and practiced I various private and public bodies in America.
Through its actions it expects to build a better world where black people can live without fear
and enjoy full rights and benefits as any other citizen (HandsUpUnited, 2019). As an activist
organization, Hands Up aims to voice the rights and demands of the Afro-American community
on political grounds, and believes that the community will achieve its liberation through self
determination and appropriate socio-political education. Through its various programs, Hands
Up is slowly working to achieve this goal:
Books and Breakfast: Books and Breakfast is program initiated to promote an environment that
encourages open dialogue and discussion on historical, social, political and educational issues.
The program includes breakfast along with learning and discussion on various topics that can
help to combat racism. The main motive behind this initiate is to increase literacy and awareness
levels among members and the public by providing positive images and relevant information.
This is vital to have a greater understanding of the society, social rights and the history of the
world in order to actively combat the different problems that affect the community on private
and public platforms. It is important to realise that these issues are not isolated matters but are
happening on an international level, and supporting and garnering connections from around the
world can help this fight for justice (HandsUpUnited, 2019). Over the last 2 years of its
functioning, Books and Breakfast has served over 10,000 meals and distributed over 20,000
books for studying.
Freedom Flix: This is an initiative taken to bring the community together with the help of
cinema. Hands Up aims to screen various films of national and international origin containing

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historical social and political themes which affect our daily lives. This program aims to initiate
discussion, radicalize individuals and groups and provides an opportunity to get educated about
the different repressive systems and their motives and how they affect the lives of the affected
communities (HandsUpUnited, 2019).
It’s OK to Dream: Victims of hate crimes can have long and repressive psychological effects
which can affect the entire community. Generalised terror, increased fear, lack of self esteem and
inability to aim high or dream are some of the common psychological effects that the victim and
his community feel. Children are often forced to relinquish the dreams they have when they are
faced with the harsher reality of their position in society. It’s OK to Dream is a program which
focuses on reinitiating the capacity to dream among the oppressed communities. It strives to
support the dreams of children and teenagers of the community in achieving their goals
(HandsUpUnited, 2019). Support is provided in the form of finances, education and whatever
resources is available to Hands Up.
Conclusion:
From this study it can be concluded that hate crimes or crimes against targeted communities is
one of the most significant problems and human rights issues the world is facing today. Several
countries are still seeing a rise in crimes motivated by prejudice xenophobia and racism. Data
shown by various countries shows a relatively steep rise in the rate of hate crimes. In fact, the
official statistical figures showcased by the different governments are often faulty as a large part
of hate crimes goes unreported due to a number of factors.
Hate speeches are one of the major reasons around the world responsible for the escalation of
racist and xenophobic sentiments. The United Nations passed a Strategy and Plan of Action on

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Hate Speech on May 2019 which is aimed to safeguard both the rights of freedom of speech and
expression as well as the right to life, liberty and property without any discrimination. The UN
General Secretary urged governments, societies, groups and individuals to collectively to combat
hate speech. Organisations like Hands Up United are working hard to curb hate crimes, protect
communities from atrocities and uplift their rights. Hands Up United’s plan is to educate the
society about social rights in order to claim their liberation through self determination.

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References:
EUFRA. (2018). Hate crime recording and data collection practice across the EU (1st ed., p. 3).
Luxembourg: European Union.
Glickhouse, R. (2019). 5 Things You Need to Know About Hate Crimes in America — ProPublica.
Retrieved 23 August 2019, from https://www.propublica.org/article/hate-endures-in-america-
and-with-it-our-effort-to-document-the-damage
HandsUpUnited. (2019). HandsUp United. Retrieved 23 August 2019, from
http://www.handsupunited.org/
UN. (2019). UNITED NATIONS STRATEGY AND PLAN OF ACTION ON HATE SPEECH.
Retrieved 23 August 2019, from https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/UN
%20Strategy%20and%20Plan%20of%20Action%20on%20Hate%20Speech%2018%20June
%20SYNOPSIS.pdf
UN. (2019). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Retrieved 23 August 2019, from
https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/index.html
US Justice dept. (2019). Hate Crime Statistics. Retrieved 23 August 2019, from
https://www.justice.gov/hatecrimes/hate-crime-statistics
Doane, A. (2006). What is racism? Racial discourse and racial politics. Critical Sociology, 32(2-3), 255-
274.
Forsythe, D. P. (2017). Human rights in international relations. Cambridge University Press.
Gerstenfeld, P. B. (2017). Hate Crime. The Wiley Handbook of Violence and Aggression, 1-13.

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Chandler, G. (2017). The evolution of the business and human rights debate. In Business and Human
Rights (pp. 22-32). Routledge.
Sullivan, R., & Robinson, M. (Eds.). (2017). Business and human rights: dilemmas and solutions.
Routledge.