Rights Advocate Rev. Torli Krua Leads March: “Humanitarian Alarm: Over 6.000 Liberians At Risk In The US”
By Our Staff Writer
On the eve of Liberia’s 176th Independence anniversary next week, a group led by prominent Boston-based Liberian human rights advocate, Rev. Torli Krua is expected to converge on the United States Congress in Washington DC demanding for economic freedom and visa waiver.
What is known today as Liberia was founded by freed black slaves who returned from the US in the 1800s and declared this country independent on July 26, 1847, thus becoming the first independent black African Republic on the continent of Africa, after being managed by the American Colonization Society (ACS).
“We travel to Washington to demand Economic Freedom and US VISA WAIVER FOR ALL LIBERIANS TO STUDY, work and do business in America our colonial master without visa restrictions,” says Rev. Krua, who is head of the US-based Universal Human Rights International (UHRI).
Code named, Economic Freedom Day, Rev. Krua said the July 25th “event is on course” and the demonstrators will be lobbying for the inclusion of Liberia in the HR40 Bill for repatriations.
The human rights advocate is calling on Liberians back home to join in solidarity with their efforts in Washington next Tuesday in a formal debate between the Free Liberia Movement visa waiver team and Liberians opposed to this initiative.
Rev. Krua also wants Liberians to stage a massive peaceful rally in front of the United States Embassy in Monrovia at 12:00 midday July 25, 2023.
“People who can’t travel to Monrovia will be asked to gather at your local Radio Station and I am asking management to interrupt the normal broadcast in order to carry this historic event in Washington and Monrovia live for the benefit of all Liberians. It will be on Facebook live also but to show support for opportunities for all Liberian children and grandchildren to attain their Dreams and God-given potential I will call people to rally at their radio station carrying the news. First on history in Africa to ask a colonial minister for education and equal opportunities in America without visa restrictions!” Rev. Krua added.
Humanitarian Alarm: Over 6.000 Liberians at Risk In the US
At the same time, another campaign is being led by the head of the UHRI and the Young Africa Incorporated who are lobbying with members of the American Congress to ensure that thousands of Liberians residing in the US benefit from the Deferred Enforced Departure (DED).
“Prevail upon the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation and Governor Healey to take the lead in persuading President Biden to urgently issue an Executive Order designating Liberia for Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) work permits, giving all Liberian Refugees across America permission to work. Additionally, since the December 20, 2021 deadline has expired, we urge inclusion of all Liberians in the US as beneficiaries of the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act and a waiver of filing fees, consistent with Section 245(i),” says one communication addressed to Representative Bud L. Williams, 11th Hampden District House Chair, joint Committee on Racial Equity, Civil Rights, and Inclusion.
Economic Freedom Day: Visa Waiver Is Equal Opportunity For All Liberians
“Whereas, the American “Declaration of Independence” (July 4, 1776-August 2, 1776) began with a recognition of the inalienable rights of all human beings: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that their Creator endows them with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of happiness.” And,
Whereas, Article 1 of the 1824 Constitution of Liberia approved in Washington, DC is still in force. (Miscellaneous Article 1 of the Liberian Constitution of 1847 and Article 95 of the Liberian Constitution of 1986): “All persons born in Liberia are entitled to all privileges enjoyed by citizens of the United States of America. ” And, whereas the best strategy for sustainable development is the empowerment of all citizens through quality education, employment and business opportunities in the USA. And,
Whereas, Native Americans and Americans of all races and ethnicities born in America and their descendants have at all times since the American Declaration of Independence, had inalienable rights and entitlement to all privileges enjoyed by all citizens of the United States of America, And,
Whereas, the US Congress dominated by white supremacists and slaveholders, including James Monroe, maliciously, illegally, and unjustifiably, on March 26, 1790, codified officially sanctioned racism, a crime against humanity in the Nationality Law of 1790, restricting US citizenship to “Only white persons…” And,
Whereas, This act of racism, still unmitigated in 2023 is responsible for an ongoing harm, which was first envisioned, conceived, weaponized, and unleashed against Americans. Until this racist act of Congress is mitigated by a specific law to heal the wounds, racism remains an existential threat destined to destroy the United States of America, Alas, “United we stand. Divided we fall.”, And, Whereas, James Monroe, future president of the United States, at age 16, became a slaveholder when he inherited enslaved persons from his mother and father. Throughout his life and political career, James Monroe owned slaves and sold some of his slaves to pay his debts. In 1824, the capital city of the American colony of Liberia was named in honor of President James Monroe-Monrovia. Even so, in 1826, after Monrovia was named in his honor, two of Monroe’s slaves fled his brutality and ran away. James Monroe took an advertisement in a newspaper, The Central Gazette, on July 15, 1826, offering a $10 reward to return the slaves back to bondage. When President James Monroe died on Independence Day, July 4, 1831, the slaves he owned were still in bondage. The slaves and other properties owned by President James Monroe were passed on as an inheritance to his children. And,
Whereas, the blueprint, design, implementation, and founding of the American Colony of Liberia and the Society for Colonizing the Free Men Of Color of The United States were influenced and financed by the Government of the United States using American taxes, the
Whereas, Virginia Legislature’s unmitigated and ongoing harm caused by laws enacted to harm native Virginians of color, who were killed, tortured, and colonized in Africa, continues unabated, And,
Whereas, the Commonwealth of Virginia and James Monroe were the masterminds of the American Colonization of free African Americans in West Africa. And,
Whereas the Virginia Legislature resolved that “the executive be requested to correspond with the President of the United States, for the purpose of obtaining a territory on the coast of Africa, or at some other place, not within any of the states or territorial governments of the United States, to serve as an asylum for such persons of colour as are now free, and may desire the same, and for those who may hereafter be emancipated within this Commonwealth; and that the Senators and Representatives of this state in the Congress of the United States, be requested to exert their best efforts to aid the President of the United States in the attainment of the above objects (Carey 1832, 9). And force of the US Navy and high-ranking officials of the United States who were slaveholders, and who included individuals who served as heads of all three branches of the Government of the United States of America, albeit without any input from the citizens of the United States whose lives were being ravaged by the racist agenda.”