Secretary of State Blinken Calls for UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Racism to Visit the U.S.

U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken took to Twitter late Tuesday evening to call for what looks like a United Nations investigation into racism in the United States. Not past racism or slavery, but “contemporary” racism.

Responsible nations must not shrink from scrutiny of their human rights record. Rather, they should be transparent with the intent to grow and do better. That is why I'm announcing a formal invitation for @UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism to visit the U.S.

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) July 14, 2021

This is an odd move. As Blinken tweets this announcement, late at night and not in a daytime press conference, communist Cuba is roiling under protest as its people demand freedom after 62 years of tyranny. Many of them are carrying the American flag as they march in defiance of the brutal regime. The United States should be speaking with moral clarity from its position as the world’s most powerful republic.

Instead, it’s asking the unelected head of a United Nations office over to do…what, exactly? That’s not clear.

The Special Rapporteur is Ms. E. Tendayi Achiume of Zambia. She’s part of the UN High Commission on Human Rights, a farcical committee whose current membership includes China, Cuba, and Venezuela. China is currently running slave labor in concentration camps in Xinjiang and threatening its neighbors. Venezuela is a human rights and economic basket case thanks to its socialist government. Cuba is a dictatorship that arrested independent journalist Dina Stars live on the air while she was speaking with a journalist in Spain.

Many questions arise from Blinken’s move. He undoubtedly is not acting alone. Who behind the scenes in the Biden White House is making this call, and to what end? The Biden administration doesn’t go more than a day or two without slamming its own country for sins of the past (without ever noting the Democratic Party committed them). Biden’s rhetoric against the proposed Texas election law is over-the-top, irresponsible, dishonest demagoguery.

Is the Biden White House angling for a UN call for reparations? Is it some kind of angle to go after the previous administration? Or generate some kind of statement on state election laws? What game is afoot?

Biden has yet, in six months in office, to act in the best interests of the United States. He is unlikely to change course with this surprise, late-night call for an obscure UN official to fly over for a meeting.