We Charge Genocide - Legacy

Legacy

The document has been credited with popularizing the term "genocide" among Blacks. After renewed interest generated by Malcom X and the Black Panther Party, "We Charge Genocide" was republished in 1970 by International Publishers. Allegations of genocide were renewed in relation to the disproportionate effects of crack cocaine and HIV/AIDS in the United States. The National Black United Front petitioned the United Nations in 1996–1997, directly citing "We Charge Genocide" and using the same slogan. Their petition begins:

Declaration of Genocide by the U.S. Government Against the Black Population in the United States.
Whereas, we the undersigned people of African ancestry understand that the proliferation of the distribution and sale of crack cocaine...has reached epidemic proportions, causing serious harm to the African community in the United States. Therefore, we understand that this harm can only be described as acts of genocide by the United States government through its Central Intelligence Agency.
In addition to acts of genocide perpetuated through the CIA and in this recent revelation, acts of genocide can also be attributed to the Government's use of taxpayers' resources to wage war on a segment of the U.S. population. This is evidenced by the following: (1) cutting back on welfare; (2) privatization of public housing and land grab schemes; (3) privatization of public education; (4) racist immigration policies; (5) privatization of basic health care; (6) building prisons and the expanding incarceration of millions of African and Latino youth.

Mass incarceration is another American phenomenon sometimes connected to the word "genocide." Disproportionate application of the death penalty has been cited, as it was in the 1946–1951 era by the CRC. The term has generally not used, by the United Nations, anthropologists, or mass media to refer to the internal affairs of Western states after 1945.

The petition also represented one of the first high-profile uses of the modern concept of "racism", framed in relation to the eugenic ideology of the reviled Nazis.

"We Charge Genocide" was used as an example of how the Genocide Convention could be used against the United States. The convention remained unpopular with the United States government and was not ratified until 1986.