CLARIFYING THE POLITICAL AND LEGAL STATUS OF 1,108 GENERATIONS OF MY FAMILY

1.       970 generations from 42,300 BC (haplogroup E-V38, which originated in the Horn of Africa) to 3,500 BC (beginning of Nekhen Confederation) during the Nilo-Sudanic period - 38,800 years: free people subject to natural law and totemic customs

 

2.       10 generations from 3,500 BC to 3,100 BC during Nekhen Confederation – 400 years: free people subject to natural law and totemic customs freely associated with members of the Nekhen Confederation

 

3.       113 generations from 3,100 BC to 1400 AD during the Migration Period from Nile Valley to Guinea Bissau – 4,500 years: free people subject to natural law and totemic customs Note: during this period, my family resisted various assaults, attacks and raids by various peoples and various states, especially the Mande peoples of the Mali and Kaabu Empires, as well as by Islamic jihads

 

4.       9 generations from 1400 AD to 1765 AD in Nhacra – 365 years: free people subject to natural law and Balanta customs Note: according to Balanta oral history and historians, my family recognized no leaders, chiefs, or kings and the head of the family household was the highest unit of sovereignty

 

5.       1765 - approximate date of the capture of B’rassa Nchabra, my great, great, great, great, great grandfather, in his homeland of Nhacra in present day Guinea Bissau: prisoner of war that was declared by the Papal Bull Dum Diversas in 1452

 

6.       1765-6 – arrival in Charleston, South Carolina: Balanta prisoner of war misclassified as “slave” by the Negro Law of South Carolina (1740): Section I declared “all Negroes and Indians (Free Indians in amity with this Government, Negroes, mulattoes and mestizos, who are now free excepted) to be slaves.” However, Section 4 stated that “The term Negro is confined to slave Africans (The ancient Berbers) and their descendants. It does not embrace the free inhabitants of Africa, such as the Egyptians, Moors, or the Negro Asiatics, such as Lascars.” Thus, by this statute, B’rassa Nchabra, who was a free inhabitant at the time of his capture and came from a family lineage and people that had never been enslaved and were not subjects of any political authority, was wrongfully enslaved in Charleston. Being so young and unable to speak English, he could not make a case in defense of his freedom.

 

7.       2 generations from 1766 to 1853 – 87 years: Balanta prisoner of war misclassified as “slave”;

 

8.       1853 to 1865 – twelve years: Jack Blake, B’rassa Nchabra’s son now in his sixties, is emancipated by his owner Catherine Hartsfield-Blake: emancipated Balanta prisoner of war note: Jack Blake’s son and grandchildren are not emancipated and are still Balanta prisoners of war misclassified as “slaves”

 

9.       1865 (passage of the 13th Amendment) to July 1868 (ratification of 14th Amendment) - 3 years: emancipated Balanta prisoner of war classified as “free person”

10.   4 to 6 generations from 1868 to present – 153 years: emancipated Balanta prisoner of war misclassified as “naturalized citizen” and colonized through fraudulent illegal forced assimilation and integration

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1949 Geneva Convention: Article 4 (1) defines prisoners of war as “Members of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict, as well as members of militias or volunteer corps forming part of such armed forces.” Article 5 states, “The present Convention shall apply to the persons referred to in Article 4 from the time they fall into the power of the enemy and until their final release and repatriation. Should doubt arise as to whether persons, having committed a belligerent act and having fallen into the hands of the enemy, belong to any of the categories enumerated in Article 4, such persons shall enjoy protection of the present Convention until such time as their status has been determined by a competent tribunal.”

The new Geneva Convention Protocol on Prisoners of War, which the United States has signed but not yet ratified and which went into force for some states on 7 December 1978, has provided in Articles 43 through 47 broader standards for prisoners of war, who come from irregular and guerilla units, than the terms of the 1949 Article 4. Article 45 of the 1978 Protocol states that a “person who takes part in hostilities and falls into the power of an adverse Party shall be presumed to be a prisoner of war… if he claims the status of war, or if he appears to be entitled to such status, or if the party on which he depends claims such status on his behalf.” Article Five of the 194

December 15, 1960: Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1541) provides all colonized people have the right to self-determination and that the 13th Amendment, ending slavery, had created an obligation in the law for the United States government to conduct a plebiscite and to assist in effectuating each of the following four choices: (1) US citizenship, (2) return to Africa, (3) emigration to another country and (4) the creation of a new African nation on American soil.

CHRONOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN INTERNATIONAL LAW PERTAINING TO THE AFRODESCENDANTS’ RIGHTS TO SELF DETERMINATION

 

August 1920 – Declaration of Rights of Negro Peoples of the World

September 25, 1926 – Slavery Convention

June 28, 1930 – Forced Labour Convention

June 26, 1945 Charter of the United Nations

December 10, 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights

January 12, 1951 - Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide

May 23, 1953 – Equal Remuneration Convention

April 26, 1954 – Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons

September 7, 1956 – Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery

June 25, 1958 – Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention

December 14, 1960 - The Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV)

December 14, 1960Convention against Discrimination in Education

December 15, 1960Principles which should guide Members in determining whether or not an obligation exists to transmit the information called for under Article 73 e of the Charter

December 14, 1962 – Permanent Sovereignty Ove Natural Resources

December 21, 1965 - International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

December 16, 1966 - International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

December 16, 1966 - International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

November 26, 1968 – Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity

December 11, 1969 – Declaration on social Progress and Development

October 24, 1970Declaration on Principles of International Law, Friendly Relations and Co-operation Among States in Accordance with the Charter of the United Nations

December 3, 1973 – Principles of international co-operation in the detection, arrest, extradition and punishment of persons guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity

November 10, 1975 – Declaration on the Use of Scientific and Technological Progress in the Interests of Peace and for the Benefit of Mankind

November 27, 1978 – Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice

November 25, 1981 – Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief

December 10, 1984 – Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

November 29, 1985 Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power

December 13, 1985 – Declaration on the Human Rights of Individuals who are not nationals of the country in which they live

December 4, 1986 – Declaration on the Right to Development

September 5, 1991 – Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention

December 18, 1992 – Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities

November 11, 1997 – Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights

July 17, 1998 – Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

December 9, 1998 – Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms

September 8, 2001 – Report of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance

November 2, 2001 – Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity

February 8, 2005 – Updated Set of Principles for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights Through Action to Combat Impunity

December 16, 2005Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law

September 13, 2007Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

 

Organization of American States

1981 Declaration of San Jose

Since 1863, the time of the Emancipation Proclamation in the United States of America, 151 new independent nations have been established.

March 17, 1861: Italy

July 1, 1867: Canada

January 18, 1871: Germany

May 9, 1877: Romania

March 3, 1878: Bulgaria

1896: Ethiopia

June 12, 1898: The Philippines

January 1, 1901: Australia

May 20, 1902: Cuba

November 3, 1903: Panama

June 7, 1905: Norway

September 26, 1907: New Zealand

May 31, 1910: South Africa

November 28, 1912: Albania

December 6, 1917: Finland

February 24, 1918: Estonia

November 11, 1918: Poland

December 1, 1918: Iceland

August 19, 1919: Afghanistan

December 6, 1921: Ireland

February 28, 1922: Egypt

October 29, 1923: Turkey

February 11, 1929: The Vatican City

September 23, 1932: Saudi Arabia

October 3, 1932: Iraq

November 22, 1943: Lebanon

August 15, 1945: North Korea

August 15, 1945: South Korea

August 17, 1945: Indonesia

September 2, 1945: Vietnam

April 17, 1946: Syria

May 25, 1946: Jordan

August 14, 1947: Pakistan

August 15, 1947: India

January 4, 1948: Burma

February 4, 1948: Sri Lanka

May 14, 1948: Israel

July 19, 1949: Laos

August 8, 1949: Bhutan

December 24, 1951: Libya

November 9, 1953: Cambodia

January 1, 1956: Sudan

March 2, 1956: Morocco

March 20, 1956: Tunisia

March 6, 1957: Ghana

August 31, 1957: Malaysia

October 2, 1958: Guinea

January 1, 1960: Cameroon

April 4, 1960: Senegal

May 27, 1960: Togo

June 30, 1960: Republic of the Congo

July 1, 1960: Somalia

July 26, 1960: Madagascar

August 1, 1960: Benin

August 3, 1960: Niger

August 5, 1960: Burkina Faso

August 7, 1960: Côte d'Ivoire

August 11, 1960: Chad

August 13, 1960: Central African Republic

August 15, 1960: Democratic Republic of the Congo

August 16, 1960: Cyprus

August 17, 1960: Gabon

September 22, 1960: Mali

October 1, 1960: Nigeria

November 28, 1960: Mauritania

April 27, 1961: Sierra Leone

June 19, 1961: Kuwait

January 1, 1962: Samoa

July 1, 1962: Burundi

July 1, 1962: Rwanda

July 5, 1962: Algeria

August 6, 1962: Jamaica

August 31, 1962: Trinidad and Tobago

October 9, 1962: Uganda

December 12, 1963: Kenya

April 26, 1964: Tanzania

July 6, 1964: Malawi

September 21, 1964: Malta

October 24, 1964: Zambia

February 18, 1965: The Gambia

July 26, 1965: The Maldives

August 9, 1965: Singapore

May 26, 1966: Guyana

September 30, 1966: Botswana

October 4, 1966: Lesotho

November 30, 1966: Barbados

January 31, 1968: Nauru

March 12, 1968: Mauritius

September 6, 1968: Swaziland

October 12, 1968: Equatorial Guinea

June 4, 1970: Tonga

October 10, 1970: Fiji

March 26, 1971: Bangladesh

August 15, 1971: Bahrain

September 3, 1971: Qatar

November 2, 1971: The United Arab Emirates

July 10, 1973: The Bahamas

September 24, 1973: Guinea-Bissau

February 7, 1974: Grenada

June 25, 1975: Mozambique

July 5, 1975: Cape Verde

July 6, 1975: Comoros

July 12, 1975: Sao Tome and Principe

September 16, 1975: Papua New Guinea

November 11, 1975: Angola

November 25, 1975: Suriname

June 29, 1976: Seychelles

June 27, 1977: Djibouti

July 7, 1978: The Solomon Islands

October 1, 1978: Tuvalu

November 3, 1978: Dominica

February 22, 1979: Saint Lucia

July 12, 1979: Kiribati

October 27, 1979: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

April 18, 1980: Zimbabwe

July 30, 1980: Vanuatu

January 11, 1981: Antigua and Barbuda

September 21, 1981: Belize

September 19, 1983: Saint Kitts and Nevis

January 1, 1984: Brunei

October 21, 1986: The Marshall Islands

November 3, 1986: The Federated States of Micronesia

March 11, 1990: Lithuania

March 21, 1990: Namibia

May 22, 1990: Yemen

April 9, 1991: Georgia

June 25, 1991: Croatia

June 25, 1991: Slovenia

August 21, 1991: Kyrgyzstan

August 24, 1991: Russia

August 25, 1991: Belarus

August 27, 1991: Moldova

August 30, 1991: Azerbaijan

September 1, 1991: Uzbekistan

September 6, 1991: Latvia

September 8, 1991: Macedonia

September 9, 1991: Tajikistan

September 21, 1991: Armenia

October 27, 1991: Turkmenistan

November 24, 1991: Ukraine

December 16, 1991: Kazakhstan

March 3, 1992: Bosnia and Herzegovina

January 1, 1993: The Czech Republic

January 1, 1993: Slovakia

May 24, 1993: Eritrea

October 1, 1994: Palau

May 20, 2002: East Timor

June 3, 2006: Montenegro

June 5, 2006: Serbia

February 17, 2008: Kosovo

July 9, 2011: South Sudan