# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Day 1 - Reckoning with Systemic Racism (3)

# data[].attributes.body
From Vanessa: Here in Oklahoma, the governor just signed a bill HB1775 to restrict the teaching of history so that one group does not make another group feel their racist structure and thereby feel bad. It’s a continuum.

# data[].attributes.body
From Yeismith: Hope is in the new citizenships, in the new youths. The legislation, in the case of Colombia, speaks of diversity in the first articles. The legislation is comprehensive and has always been there, but compliance with this legislation must be ensured. It is very important that all memory sites can unify efforts. Young people have awakened and generated awareness. It is time to make the words transcend to action.

# data[].attributes.body
from Vanessa Adams-Harris: The legislation keeps getting reimagined to do the same thing.

# data[].attributes.headline
(Regarding legislation)  the very mechanism that exists to protect us is used to perpetuate racism and exlusion. 

# data[].attributes.subject
(Regarding legislation)  the very mechanism that exists to protect us is used to perpetuate racism and exlusion. 

# data[].attributes.body
Gegê Leme Joseph

# data[].attributes.body
from Muthu: Similar to UK workers, Sri Lankan workers fought for their rights during the post-colonial period.

Right after the local elite gained power and independence was established, the citizenship law (1948) took away citizenship rights from the Tamil population, one million people at the time. As soon as independence was achieved, this community, which made up 99% of the working population and came from southern India, was excluded. In the new constitution, Buddhism was considered a state religion. This was a severe blow to the Tamil community.

In 1976, after the linguistic, cultural and social exclusion began to affect the idea of a separate state. In 1977, the Tamil peoples formed a political opposition party. In 1978, the campaign to have a separate state began and the fight for the own state began. In response, an attempt was made to eliminate Tamil history by setting fire to one of the most important libraries of the Tamil people in 1981. In '83, an amendment to the constitution made it clear that supporting the creation of a new state would be punishable by loss of employment. At that time, many Tamils ​​left the government. Basically, we are faced with a case of structural exclusion and cancellation of the right of expression. The Tamils ​​became a stateless population.

Later, this group was divided, giving Sri Lankan citizenship to only a part of them. I am one of the people considered stateless who managed to regain their citizenship in the 1980s, but many were never able to regain it.

Today, racism lives structurally in Sri Lanka. It has permeated politics, law and all layers of society.

# data[].attributes.body
from Yeismith:
For the Red Colombiana de Lugares de Memoria,  it is very important to talk about everything that is currently happening in Colombia. It is very important to comment, as has been said before, that racism is not just a current problem and that it has been increasing in recent years.

When talking about racism, we must also talk about what kind of economic system, education and culture we validate in our countries and contexts. That is, who do we consider as citizens? As indigenous peoples, we have been marginalized through systematic racism throughout history, despising our culture and systems.

In Colombia, for the political system based on extractism and the market, indigenous peoples have been considered as a hindrance to power. This year, 21 indigenous leaders have been assassinated. Last year, more than 800 leaders were killed for defending the land.

In the same way that violations have been committed against the land, violations have been committed against women, caregivers, and custodians of culture and speech.

Likewise, our rights are not implemented as they should from the constitution.

In Colombia, we can speak of an organized structure for the persecution of indigenous leaders. There is a right and a duty of the state to protect the victims of this conflict but the processes of racism are being perpetuated by the same authorities.

For us, the defense of life is the defense of the territory. Who takes care of nature takes care of life and takes care of the preservation of the world.

Even though we do nothing more than defend life in our territories, they are killing us.

# data[].attributes.body
from Shriley Gunn: Exactly in SA we had and fought against racial capitalism today we have capitalism which is racialized.

# data[].attributes.body
Bernadette French, Program Manager Human Rights, Justice and Security, Campaign for Good Governance – Sierra Leone
A vibrant human right defender and gender analyst with 14 years advocacy experience in human rights, transitional justice, Gender, Women’s rights and child protection, primary devoted to advocate for the adoption of policies, provision of effective response mechanisms whiles also intensifying outreach to ensure the prevention and protection of women and girls from all forms of sexual and gender based violence. She had developed a passion for writing poem as a way of narrating women’s experiences of sexual and gender based violence.

# data[].attributes.body
Muthulingam Periyasamy, Executive Director, Institute for Social Development / Tea Plantation Workers Museum – Sri Lanka
Mr. P. Muthulingam is the executive director of the Institute of Social Development & founder of Tea Plantation Workers Museum & Archive of Sri Lanka. He created this Museum to raise the voice of migrant tea workers who became victims of structural exclusion. He also advocates to policymakers to introduce acts that might eliminate the structural exclusion faced by the community.

# data[].attributes.body
Yeismith Armenta, Wiwa leader and member of the organization Golkushe Tayrona, Red Colombiana de Lugares de Memoria – Colombia