A Companion to Public Philosophy

9Africana Public Philosophy and Its Critique of Anti‐Black Propaganda

DALITSO RUWE

In 2013, in the wake of rising global reports of vigilante and police violence against Black people in North and South America, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution A/RES/68/237, “Proclamation of the International Decade for People of African Descent (PIDPAD).” (It was implemented on 1 January 2015 and is set to end on 31 December 2024. The theme of the Resolution is “People of African Descent: Recognition, justice, and development.” See Davila [2018, p. 157].) The PIDPAD seeks to focus on “designing, implementing and enforcing effective measures to eliminate the phenomenon popularly known as ‘racial profiling,’ eliminating institutionalized stereotypes concerning people of African descent” (United Nations Human Rights Council 2014, p. 7). Building on this Resolution, on June 17, 2020, the UN General Assembly, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, passed Resolution A/HRC/RES/43/1, meant to advocate for “the promotion and protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Africans and people of African descent against police brutality and other violations of human rights (A/HRC/43/L.50 2020, p. 1).

While recent U.N. proclamations are significant strides toward global policies that create accountability for more humane treatment of people of African descent, the study of anti‐Black stereotypes as generators of violence against people of African descent has a long history ...