From: Rev. Torli H. Krua
Monrovia, Liberia
Subject: Bicentennial Of Harm & Secrecy-America Must Come Clean!
Dear Ambassador McCarthy,
Thank you for expressing your concerns about endemic corruption in Liberia. While it’s true many Liberian politicians elected by Liberian voters tend to be corrupt, Liberia’s systemic corruption rises above and beyond individual corrupt practices and has rendered citizens of Liberia powerless to effect change.
Unlike many ordinary Liberians, you, in your role as the American Ambassador to Liberia, can do more to end or minimize corruption in Liberia by mitigating the harm of US racism and two centuries of secrecy and coverup.
Here are three reasons why: Firstly, it was officially sanctioned racist laws of March 26, 1790, enacted by the Government of the United States, the March 3, 1819 act of the US Congress that authorized the force of the US Navy, and the appropriation of American taxes ($100,000) that created Liberia and its corrupt system of governance.
Secondly, since its creation, it’s the Government of the United States and American taxes that continue to sustain the corrupt system in Liberia. Finally, nearly all the top opposition and ruling party politicians in Liberia are citizens of the United States and or American persons with green cards, giving the United States more leverage in curtailing the actions of the masterminds of corruption in Liberia. Yes, you are tired of Liberian corruption but Liberians are also tired of American injustice, racism, financial and ongoing colonization that continue to ravage the lives of poor Liberians.
“You reap what you sow” is a saying that is most appropriate in this case. The Government of the United States is the leading “International Partner” that sustains the Government of Liberia. If anyone needs to be frustrated and angry, it’s the Liberian people and American taxpayers, not the US Government because the US Government envisioned, designed, and created the corrupt system of governance in Liberia and has not only sustained it for two centuries but also lied about its role as Liberia’s colonial master for 200 years. The Bicentennial is time for truth and justice!
Most people think Liberia was never colonized by any country because the US Government has lied to the world that it didn’t colonize Liberia. The truth is Liberia was created by an act of the US Congress, not for democracy but to fulfill American domestic and foreign policy objectives. Liberia will never become something it wasn’t designed to be except it experiences rebirth. A bitter ball can’t become orange or bear oranges after a century in existence.
The US law that created Liberia also appropriated $100,000 American taxes and authorized the force of the US Navy to facilitate the American colony. It all started on March 26, 1790, when the Congress of the United States passed the first Apartheid law in modern history, making the skin color (only white persons) of a human being the requirement for US citizenship. President George Washington, a slave master who owned hundreds of slaves and never freed a single slave in his lifetime, signed the first racist law. This law disenfranchised many Americans and unleashed unmitigated harm that is still ongoing in squalid impoverished communities unfit for human habitation-home to descendants of disenfranchised Americans; Indian Reservations in America and West Point, Monrovia, Liberia.
So Liberia was not founded by “freed American slaves”, nor was it founded by the American Colonization Society of slave masters. Without the act of Congress, American taxes, and the force of the US Navy, there was going to be no Liberia! Our country was founded by the United States Government in partnership with white supremacists and brutal slave masters who were also high-ranking US Government officials, including 4 US presidents who were all brutal slave masters (James Monroe, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Andrew Jackson).
That is why Liberia doesn’t have a single monument honoring a single abolitionist who died fighting to end slavery. Liberians blindly honor only brutal white slave masters as our heroes; US President James Monroe-Monrovia-US Chief Justice Marshall-Marshall Territory- Speaker Henry Clay-Clay-Ashland-US Associate Justice Bushrod Washington-Bushrod Island!
Yes, corruption exists in Liberia but most of the top Liberian ruling and opposition politicians involved in corruption are American citizens and/or American persons with permanent residency! Do American taxpayers know the excessive salaries Liberian politicians make and deposit in American banks? Rhode Island with a $10 billion budget pays lawmakers a $15,000 yearly salary. Compare that to Liberia with a $550 million budget and lawmakers used to make $15,000 per month! Why? The US Government turns a blind eye because they are the “International Partners” that keep the mojo running. If America truly desires to stamp out corruption, it would be easy but America must begin at home because “charity begins at home.”
America must first tell the truth that Liberia and its corruption were designed by America. Furthermore, the creation and colonization of Liberia by the USA was illegal, evidenced by Opinion #229 of Attorney General William Wirt signed on October 14, 1819. Let’s start with the truth!
One truth Liberians don’t know is the fact that over 22 million citizens from 40 countries with no ties to America enter the USA yearly without visas under the American Visa Waiver Program. On the other hand, the US Embassy in Monrovia collects millions of dollars from poor Liberian visa applicants only to deny them visas. Liberians don’t know that in 1990, the US State Department sent a secret order to the Embassy staffers ordering them to unjustifiably deny all Liberians visas. Let’s declassify that 1990 secret and illegal order. On the other hand, millions of people from American territories like Guam, Samoa, and Puerto Rico enter the US to work, advance their education and engage in business activities but Liberians are unlawfully denied. Why not Liberians?
With an impending potentially deadly winter and even deadlier Covid-19 Pandemic, the Biden Administration is yet to grant access to humanitarian assistance or work permits to over 6,000 Liberian Refugees in the USA but the Biden Administration just allocated $6.3 billion dollars for Afghan resettlement in the USA and waived all green card fees. Afghans don’t even speak English and are not ready to work. With the current labor shortage, it makes no sense to deny Liberians work permits. At the same time, unemployed Liberian beneficiaries of the Liberian Refugee Fairness Act signed by President Trump are required to pay $1225 filing fees, even though Section 245(i) of the US Immigration and Nationality Act exempts all refugees from paying filing fees.
America airlifted Afghans when the government collapsed and the Taliban took over. When Taylor took over Liberia and the government collapsed, the State Department in Washington sent a secret cable ordering US Embassy staffers to deny all Liberians visas, while ordering visas to be granted to Lebanese and Indians.
Without suspending the issuance of visas or announcing that Liberians were not welcomed in the USA, the Embassy staffers deceived Liberians to go through the motion of a fake interview, when in fact it was already decided they were going to be denied visas. Even Apartheid South Africa notified Blacks they were not welcomed in certain areas but America made Liberians with immediate relatives in the USA risk their lives. Many of the Liberians died when their relatives had apartments, food, and shelter to save their lives.
On Veterans November 11, 2021, a Liberian veteran died in the United States and the grief-stricken mother and family members were denied visas to travel for the funeral. The mother claimed she had traveled to the USA four times and returned, only to be denied. Most of the religious nonprofits sending missionaries to Liberia, a Black African country, only recruited and sent only white missionaries for over a hundred years.
The Baptist Mid Missions in Tappita, for example, have never had a single Black missionary in nearly a century. The whites lived in segregated communities and built segregated schools for whites and Blacks, in violation of American laws. Most American NGOs working in Liberia were founded by whites and are led by white people only. The level of racism practiced in Liberia by the US Embassy, American religious and charitable nonprofits with tax exemption is illegal under American laws.
To conclude, I am grateful for nearly three decades of your commitment to helping Liberians succeed. Together, let’s work for the healing and uniting of the United States of America. Thanks for your kind consideration of these requests.
Sincerely Yours,
Rev. Torli H. Krua
Attachments:
- Massachusetts Delegation Letter Seeking Work Permits for Liberians on 2003
- Copy Liberian Constitution of 1824 “All Liberians are entitled to all rights of Americans.”
- Copy Act of Congress March 26, 1790 “Only White Persons” can be citizens
- Copy Act of March 3, 1819, Creating an American colony, $100,000 appropriation & US Navy authorization
- Opinion of the Attorney General #229 American Colonization was illegal and America must pay damages for illegal colonization
- Equal Protection- many Liberians still without work permits,