The transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans remains one of the most horrific and traumatizing eras in human history. On today’s somber occasion of the UN’s International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, we acknowledge the enduring and systemic challenges faced by people of African descent and reaffirm our commitment to working in partnership with the international community to promote action against anti-Black racism, discrimination, and xenophobia here at home and around the world.
Racialized inequalities, discriminatory practices, racial injustice, and many other contemporary global challenges can be traced back to historical atrocities, including the transatlantic trade of enslaved Africans, exploitative colonial rule on the African continent, and the brutal dehumanization of Africans and their descendants over centuries. Systemic barriers to equal access to education, healthcare, employment, and political and civic participation and representation continue to undergird pervasive economic and social inequality around the world. Yet despite these enduring hardships, people of African descent have contributed immeasurably to shaping the United States and countries in the Western hemisphere and around the world. The United States will continue to work to ensure the human rights of all people are respected and protected.
