We need to get the African Union (AU) and individual African governments involved in at least enquiring about the welfare of their Citizens in the US under the crises of COVID 19 and the concurrent economic as well as civil unrest crises. We also need them to take a stand against the brutalization at the hands of policing authorities of people of African descent. Each member country, and the body as a whole, must issue a broadly publicized communication to the United States government in this regard.

Even if these leaders feel they don’t have the moral authority, the people they represent have as much moral authority as any other group of people on Earth. Further, the institution of the AU has to uphold values with respect to protection and advancement of the lives of citizens of member states, regardless of the political status of some individual member state representatives. 

At the moment, our governments don’t seem able to even put together travel advisories or alerts for citizens when our safety as African Citizens or descendants is threatened in a Western country, which they always seem to assume to be superior and more advanced in civil society matters. Such advisories always seem to be issued as a sarcastic joke because of a double standard we have come to accept. If we don’t respect our right to life, who will?

Please think about the society we are leaving behind for our African children. Would you be happy if their humanity was denied by virtue of their being born to African parents? Would you want them to have to fall to the floor and not say a word whenever met by policing authority of another race? Would you want them to face the ultimate loss for disobeying this unjust and unwritten/unspoken rule?