UN resolution urges reparations for slavery’s ‘historical wrongs’

 25 March 2026 UN Affairs

Applause erupted in the UN General Assembly Hall on Wednesday as Member States adopted a resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade the gravest crime against humanity. 

The resolution spearheaded by Ghana received 123 votes in favour.  Three countries – Argentina, Israel and the United States – voted against and 52 abstained.  

“Today, we come together in solemn solidarity to affirm truth and pursue a route to healing and reparative justice,” said Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama, speaking ahead of the vote on behalf of the 54-member African Group – the largest regional bloc at the UN. 

Where is the sense of urgency?

Words by Charles Brooks

In recent months, countless families have experienced debilitating blows to their personal economies affected by job layoffs, business closures, cuts to SNAP benefits, loss of health insurance, along with rising utility bills, and public transportation fares. 

There’s a number of polls and surveys revealing that people are particularly stressed about the costs of groceries, and housing. 

A poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research reveals that a vast majority of US adults are stressed about grocery costs, an AP-NORC poll finds | The Associated Press.   According to the poll, 64% of the lowest-income workers - those who have a household income of less than $30,000 a year — say the cost of groceries is a “major” stressor. That’s compared with about 4 in 10 with a household income of $100,000 or more.

Where is the sense of urgency? (updated March 2026)

words by Charles Brooks

In 2026, the police response to mental health episodes of behavioral disorder continues to be an issue across the country. 

The issue today comes under greater scrutiny, as headline after headline preface their stories of  911 calls…ending in death. 

In different cities across the country we find similar endings occurring in Massachusetts, in New York City, in Connecticut, in Anaheim, California, and in Fort Wayne, Michigan.  These are just a handful of the most recent examples as folks grapple with addressing the police response to mental health crises. 

In Baltimore City where mistrust of police remains high, the Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown decided not to bring charges against police officers involved in two of three cases of mental crisis related deaths. 

Back in June 2025, over a span of ten days, Bilal “BJ” Abdullah, Dontae Melton, Jr. and Pytorcarcha Brooks met with death while experiencing a mental crisis. 

The AG’s investigation into Brooks’ death is ongoing.   

In the months since the cases have largely receded from the headlines, the families of Bdullah and Melton have filed lawsuits, while the Baltimore City Council held not one but two hearings with another scheduled for April 2026 to address the police response to mental crisis. 

Meanwhile as these developments unfold, questions should be raised about what has changed in the months since the first Council hearing held back in August 2025. During that marathon hearing, the public learned that less than 1% of the 911 calls were actually diverted to 988, the response times extending well beyond the national standard of one hour. We also learned how few folks are even remotely aware of the 988 number, or the outdated computer aided dispatch system CAD prone to frequent outages.  

This is what the AG stated in their Melton report about the  CAD system, “...Subsequent investigation revealed that although BPD dispatch told the officers that requests for EMS had been sent, due to an extended malfunction with the city’s Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) system, the Baltimore City Fire Department (BCFD) never received the requests…”

Meanwhile there’s recent reporting indicating that the CAD failed 12 times in two years.  Baltimore's dispatch system failed 12 times in past two years.  

The lack of accountability, mounting unanswered questions, political misleadership, budget priorities, along with the publicized failures of the computer aided dispatch system should  trigger a different conversation about police response to mental illness in Baltimore City. 

A conversation that prioritizes meeting the needs of the mentally challenged. 

A look around the country shows examples of communities and neighborhoods addressing the police response to episodes of mental health crisis. 

Taking a legal approach by filing lawsuits in federal court or utilizing the electoral political arena by forcing a ballot measure to be voted on.  There’s also models of self determined actions serving as critical reminders that people have the right to take charge of their own affairs and resources, to participate in shaping policies and making decisions that directly affect their lives. 

In Los Angeles, there’s the Unarmed Model of Crisis Response (UMCR), in 

Eugene, Oregon, there’s CAHOOTS or the Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets. In Denver, there’s the Support Team Assisted Response (STAR). There's Black-led programs such as Anti Police-Terror Project (APTP)'s MH First program in Sacramento, and the Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective (BEAM). 

There’s clear evidence that the answers lie in the capacity to have community based, community directed discussions to generate demands and solutions, where a course of action is defined.  

It’s a conversation and discussion that will not only instill a renewed sense of urgency, but reflects a paradigm shift in the discourse on community control that extends beyond policing to redefine public safety. 

There is an opportunity to shift the discussion towards meeting the mental and behavioral needs in Baltimore City. 

Bilal “BJ” Abdullah Dontae Melton, Jr.

Press Release: Attorney General Brown Announces That No Charges Will Be Filed in the June 17, 2025 Fatal Police-Involved Shooting in Baltimore - News - Office of the Attorney General of Maryland

Independent Investigations Division Report: 25-IID-012 FINAL_Declination Report- 6.17.2025 Baltimore Police Involved Shooting (ABDULLAH).pdf

Family Attorney: http://instagram.com/reels/DSnNcoNEYxb/

Dontae Melton, Jr.

Press Release: Attorney General Brown Announces No Charges Will Be Filed in the June 24, 2025 Fatal Police-Involved In-Custody Death in the City of Baltimore - News - Office of the Attorney General of Maryland

Independent Investigations Division Report: 25-IID-013 FINAL_Declination Report Baltimore In-custody 6.24.25.pdf   

Instead of defeating China, Trump is accelerating its rise on the global stage

by Dr Ramzy Baroud

If you are not paying attention to the dramatic developments between China and the United States, you must understand that something consequential has just taken place.

The US government is backtracking—if not altogether retreating—from the trade war and broader escalation it launched against China. Unlike the hyped language and repeated threats by President Donald Trump to impose massive “reciprocal tariffs,” to “decouple” the US economy from China, and to correct “the greatest theft of wealth in the history of the world,” the retreat is happening in hushed tones and coded diplomatic language.

“I think both countries concluded that having an all-out global trade war between the United States and China would be deeply damaging to both sides and to the world,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on 25th February.

He called this new phase one of “strategic stability.”