It won’t be too much of an exaggeration to state that racism in the United States is a fundamental problem. The situation didn’t improve even with the coming to power of the first black president in the US history, Barack Obama. A well known American analyst Kevin Burt is convinced that certain figures in the US political establishment are taking advantage of the “divide and conquer” tactics in order to create a split in the US society. It comes as no surprise that such actions lead to the radicalization of ethnic minorities, which results in the string of unprovoked murders of black US citizens by white police officers. No wonder that each time a murder case like this happens African American prefer to take their anger to the streets to protest police brutality.
According to a number of American media sources, last year’s election campaign increased the tensions that exist within the US. It has recently been reported that hate crimes in the US metropolitan areas rose by more than 20%, fueled by inflamed passions during the presidential campaign and more willingness for victims to step forward. This was was the conclusion made by a California researcher Brian Levin. Levin collected data as director of the nonpartisan Center for the Study of the Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, where he is a professor of criminal justice. Among US cities, New York reported the greatest number of hate crimes at 380, a 24% increase from 2015, while Washington, DC, had the largest percentage increase at 62% to 107 incidents.
One cannot help to notice an ever increasing number of articles on the beginning of a “racial war” in the United Space. White race supremacists have been particularly active in undermining the traditional values that can be found in American universities. It’s been noted that radical organizations have engaged in significant outreach efforts in various colleges and university campuses to convince students to join their fringe cause. The flurry of activity includes putting up racist and anti-Semitic posters and fliers, affixing stickers, creating chalk messages and sending faxes and sending emails to students. Since around the beginning of the current academic year, white supremacy groups have attempted to proselytize on U.S. college campuses a total of 107 times — and 65 times since January, according to a report by the Anti-Defamation League.
An ethical scandal with a racist background has been reported by AP in one of the American schools. It’s been noted that posters that advertised slave auctions drawn by by five graders have been removed from the wall of an elementary school hallway after some parents questioned the assignment.
It goes without saying that racism cannot and should not be taken lightly, since discrimination against the African-American population of the United States can manifest itself in various forms and instances. It’s been noted time and time against that African-Americans are far more likely to be wrongfully convicted of crimes such as murder, sexual assault and drug activity than whites due to factors including racial bias and official misconduct.
To make the matters worse, racial minorities are often subjected to all sorts of discrimination in prisons, like, for instance, slave labor. It’s been noted by the prominent alternative media source AlterNet that just recently some 60 thousand detained immigrants awaiting court dates were forced to work for 1 dollar per day or for free, on threat of solitary confinement by private prison companies.
The New Republic reports that Ben Carson, the new Housing and Urban Development secretary, thought slaves were immigrants who came to America in search of a better life, while noting that the fact that Carson is unable to tell the difference between voluntary immigration and enslaved men and women being brought to toil in America against their will should be shocking. However, such statements should hardly surprise anyone against the background of Trump’s recent anti-Muslim remarks, like the one where stated that assimilation of Muslims is going to be pretty difficult in Western countries.
The growing concern of the US population over the growing racial tensions is being noted by the Gallup Institute, that notes that 42% of Americans say they personally worry a “great deal” about race relations in the United States, up seven percentage points from 2016 and a record high in Gallup’s 17-year trend. This is the third straight year worries about this issue have increased by a significant margin. It shouldn’t go unnoticed that the political success of President Donald Trump — whose comments on racial matters, including his recent feud with John Lewis, have sparked outrage among some black leaders, only makes this trend far worse.
Grete Mautner is an indepenent researcher and journalist from Germany, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”
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