I. Why the Vote at the UNGA Matters: Beyond the Arithmetic of Power
History does not always announce itself with the fanfare it deserves. When President John
Dramani Mahama of Ghana rose before the United Nations General Assembly and moved
a resolution demanding a formal apology for centuries of transatlantic slavery and
reparations for Africans and the African diaspora, he did more than introduce a
diplomatic motion. He interrupted the silence induced by a deep sense of powerlessness.
He named a wound. He put the most powerful nations on earth on the record.
