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Commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Black July massacres

May 22, 2008

I am writing to call your attention to the tragic events of Black July in 1983. This is widely considered to be the start of the war in Sri Lanka, and remains the most devastating event in the collective memory of Tamils in America today.

On July 23, 1983 anti-Tamil riots led by Sinhala mobs took the lives of over 2,000 Tamils in Colombo and other areas. The attacks spread quickly throughout the island and lasted for ten days. The Sri Lankan government claimed that "angry rioters" carried out attacks in retaliation for a rebel attack on the Sri Lankan soldiers in the North of the island.

In addition to the deaths, 150,000 Tamils were displaced and thousands were injured. The extent of murder, torture, destruction of Tamil homes, businesses and property suggested that the pogrom was a planned, coordinated attack against the minority Tamils. To date, no one has been prosecuted or indicted for these attacks.

A report from the International Commission of Jurists declared, "The evidence points clearly to the conclusion that the violence of the Sinhala rioters on the Tamils (in July/August 1983) amounted to acts of genocide." A subsequent report from ICJ found, "Clearly this was not a spontaneous upsurge of communal hatred among the Sinhala people. It was a series of deliberate acts, executed in accordance with a concerted plan, conceived and organized well in advance."

The London Financial Times reported that Sri Lankan security forces stood by complacently, or actively participated in the attacks. Survivors reported that Sinhala mobs were armed with electoral lists in order to determine the addresses of Tamil homes and businesses. The immunity for the attackers that followed these massacres is a poignant indication of the Sri Lankan state's complicity.

For decades, the voices of the victims of Black July were silenced. I urge you to honor the victims and remember the survivors, by passing a Congressional resolution to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the violence of Black July. Only by remembering past "acts of genocide," can future atrocities be averted.