America: A Country of Particular Concern

By Frank Ofili

Let me begin by saying this: I come not as an enemy of the United States, but as a concerned observer — the same role the United States has generously played for the rest of the world for decades.

And so today, in the spirit of mutual accountability, I would like to announce — reluctantly, solemnly, and with just a hint of irony — that the United States of America has earned designation as a Country of Particular Concern.

Now, I know what you are thinking.
“A country of particular concern? America? The land of freedom, democracy, and 24-hour news panels?”

Yes. That America.

Let us begin with security — the most basic duty of any state. In the United States, mass killings from gun violence occur so frequently that they barely interrupt normal programming. Schools conduct active-shooter drills the way other countries practice fire drills. Children are taught how to hide before they are taught how to vote. And yet, any suggestion that this might be a problem is treated as a radical attack on liberty itself.

We move on to racial discrimination, a subject America knows well — having practiced it, documented it, apologized for it, commemorated it, and then, remarkably, continued it. Black Americans remain statistically over-policed, under-protected, and perpetually advised to be patient, as progress is always just one election away.

Then there is gender equality. After more than 250 years of democracy, the world’s oldest modern republic has yet to elect a woman as President. This is not for lack of qualified women, of course — merely a national tradition of deciding that leadership looks better in a dark suit with a familiar voice.

On the international stage, America’s record is… energetic. Bombing sovereign states, invading others, and occasionally abducting foreign leaders has been justified under many noble banners: freedom, security, stability — and when those fail, national interest. The cases of Panama’s Manuel Noriega and the ever-looming specter of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro remind us that sovereignty, like international law, is flexible when enforced selectively.

Which brings us neatly to the United Nations. America helped build it, fund it, and host it — and then perfected the art of ignoring it. The UN Charter is respected when convenient, disregarded when inconvenient, and vetoed when particularly annoying.

In Gaza, the world watches as unimaginable suffering unfolds, while the United States provides unwavering political and military support to Israel — accompanied by carefully worded expressions of concern that somehow never translate into restraint. This is diplomacy by contradiction: lament the tragedy, fuel the machinery, repeat.

Domestically again, immigration enforcement has become theater. ICE raids are conducted with militarized efficiency against migrants whose greatest crime is survival, while the economic and foreign policies that helped create displacement remain untouched — safely abstract, safely offshore.

And finally, there is governance itself. Executive actions increasingly stretch the limits of Congressional oversight, raising the question of whether separation of powers still functions as a principle — or merely as a historical suggestion.

So yes, with affection and alarm in equal measure, I say this:

America, you are a country of particular concern.

Not because you are uniquely evil — but because you are uniquely powerful, uniquely influential, and uniquely convinced of your own moral exemption.

The good news?
Countries of particular concern can reform. They can listen. They can change.

But first, they must endure the discomfort of being evaluated by the same standards they impose on others.

And perhaps — just perhaps — take the report seriously.

Thank you.