September 28, 1994 RE: Forthcoming visit to the U.S. of Mr. Maurice Glèlè-Ahanhanzo UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism Further to our conversation this morning, please be advised that IHRAAM feels it urgent that Mr. Glèlè-Ahanhanzo meet with a Member of its Directorate in order that he be fully informed of a current U.S. process of ethnocide being applied against that segment of the African-American people which has struggled for centuries to maintain its ethnic culture and language: the Gullah people, who live in the low country along the eastern seaboard of the US from the Carolinas to Florida, and comprise some 600,000 persons. Formed through the welding together of various African cultures and the Anglo-American culture in their original encounter during the process of African enslavement, the Gullah culture and language have been preserved for over some three centuries, due to the constant and largely successful effort of this seminal sector of the African-American minority to resist assimilation and Anglo-Saxonization. The Gullah culture and language represents the living, albeit endangered, root of contemporary African-American culture and language. Should the Gullah culture and language disappear forever, the crucial link between Africa and America that it provides to African-American cultural history will be lost, and with it the possibility of meaningful understanding of African-American culture for what it is: a unique African culture endemic to America, created and evolved on U.S. soil, whose life sap has invigorated and informed the myriad flowerings of African-American culture which have followed. Once this understanding is lost, what is to prevent African-Americans from being permanently assimilated into the lowest social echelons in America, with the vestigial aspects of their historic American culture disparaged as manifestations of behavioral ignorance or inadequacy, rather than acknowledged (and mourned) as traces of a lost identity? What is to prevent their deplorable socio-economic situation from being interpreted as solely due to racial discrimination, rather than as resulting from the submergence of a nationality by a dominant majority (and hence requiring minority rights to ensure cultural preservation and socio-economic development)? Today, due to the onslaught of official U.S. policies of assimilation, the Gullah are being forced to aban-don their culture and language, and in this process undergo ail the suffering and pain endured by any ethnic minority undergoing a process of forced rather than voluntary assimilation. Children are being devalued in schools for speaking the language of their ancestors, who have been U.S. citizens for gen-erations. Cultural practices are denigrated. Lands and territories traditionally inhabited by the Gullah are being encroached upon, particularly by an expanding tourist/resort industry, and communi-ties are being destroyed. Nonetheless, the on-going resistance of Gullah culture is evidenced by newly-emerging festivals celebrating Gullah culture that have attracted nation-wide African-American participation, the forthcoming publication of a dictionary and syllabus of the Gullah language for use in schools, etc. IHRAAM feels that, in his meeting with various African-American leaders, it would be extremely inappropriate for Mr. Glèlè-Ahanhanzo not to meet with people concerned with this threatened commu-nity which provides the historic focus of African-American culture. IHRAAM would be pleased to facilitate his meeting with Gullah spokespersons in South Carolina, through the intervention of its South East Regional Director in Columbia, S. C., Mr. Rashid Abdullah. Ideally, such a meeting could take place in Charleston, S.C., at Mr. G1&Ahanhanzo's convenience. However, failing such an unplanned stop on Mr. Glel-Ahanhanzo's itinerary; a film elaborating the situation and struggle of the Gullah people could be provided by the IHRAAM NE Regional Secretariat as a significant part of its deliberations with him, should a meeting with IHRAAM in New York be included in his schedule. We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience. On behalf of the IHRAAM Chair and Directorate, Director, Communications The UN Special Rapporteur met with the IHRAAM delegation on October 17, 1997, in New York City. RETURN TO GULLAH PAGE RETURN TO AFRICAN-AMERICAN PAGE RETURN TO HOME PAGE