ABSTRACT

In this chapter, the author focuses on three topics discussed at length during the 2001 US-Committee to Eliminate Racial Discrimination (CERD) review—the criminal justice system, freedom of speech, and indigenous rights—to analyze US government discursive strategies. The author draws from grounded theory to analyze several documents pertaining to the 2001 US-CERD review hearing and to identify the discourse deployed by the US government. The chapter addresses the legal mechanisms deployed by the government to legally limit the scope and full implementation of human rights treaties. It supports the argument that the US government is openly hostile towards international standards because they would empower people of color with additional rights and legitimize their demands for racial justice, especially since racial injustice within the realm of social, economic, and cultural rights are particularly contentious.