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Racial discrimination is the most serious human rights problem in the
United States, a problem that the United States has never resolved since
its founding. The United States, as a matter of fact, was notorious for
genocide against aboriginal Indians, trade of African blacks and black
slavery. In recent years, scandals of racial discrimination have occurred,
one after another.
On April 7, 2001, a white police officer shot to death an unarmed black
youth in Cincinnati, Ohio, as he was trying to run away after breaking
traffic rules. Black people in the city staged mass protests following
the death of Timothy Thomas, which culminated in a racial conflict. The
incident once again aroused worldwide attention to the problem of racial
discrimination in the United States. According to the Observer of Britain
published on April 15, 2001, Cincinnati is one of the eight large cities
in the United States where the problem of racial discrimination is most
serious. Even though the world is already in the 21st century, racial
segregation is still practiced by virtually all schools in the city. Timothy
Thomas was the fourth black person killed by white police in succession
from November 2000 to April 2001, and the 15th black suspect killed by
white police in the same city since 1995. It is beyond people's comprehension
that during the same period, killing of white suspects by the police never
occurred. According to the Associated Press, the mass protests in Cincinnati
matched those that broke out after the killing of Martin Luther King.
Racial discrimination is discernible everywhere in the United States.
The proportion of federal government posts taken by ethnic minority Americans
is much smaller than the proportion of their population in the national
total. According to an article in the July-August issue of the bimonthly
World Economic Review, of the 535 senators and Congress men and women,
those of Latin-American origin with voting rights number only 19, or 3.5
percent of the total, even though ethnic Latin-Americans account for 12.5
percent of the country's total population. Blacks account for 13 percent
of the American population, but are able to win only 5 percent of the
public posts through election. There are legal provisions to the effect
that colored people must account for a certain percentage in the police
force. The true fact, however, is that few black people are able to join
the police force and even fewer serve as senior police officers. Take
for example Cincinnati. Black people account for 43 percent of the local
population but, of the 1,000 members of the local police force, only 250
are blacks. None of the CEOs and presidents of the top 500 companies in
the Unites States are blacks. Blacks holding senior posts at Wall Street
investment companies are rare, if any.
Social conditions are bad for ethnic minority Americans. According to
the 2000 population census, blacks unable to enjoy medical insurance are
twice as many as whites. Only 17 percent of the black population are able
to finish higher education, in contrast to 28 percent for whites. The
unemployment rate was twice as high for blacks as for whites. Meanwhile,
blacks employed for menial service jobs are more than twice as many. Incomes
for the average white family averaged 44,366 US dollars in 1999. For an
average black family, however, the figure was 25,000 US dollars. According
to statistics provided by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Committee,
the number of employed ethnic minority Americans has increased by 36 percent
since 1990, but the number of charges against racial or ethnical harassment
at work-sites has doubled, averaging 9,000 a year. Of the five largest
dumps of harmful wastes, three are in residential areas inhabited mainly
by blacks and other ethnic minority Americans. Up to 60 percent of the
blacks and ethnic Latin-Americans are living in places where harmful wastes
are dumped.
Racial discrimination is frequently seen in America's judicature. Half
of the 2 million prison inmates are blacks, and ethnic Latin-Americans
account for 16 percent of the total. According to an investigative report
published by the United Nations, for the same crime the penalty meted
out against the colored can be twice or even thrice as severe as against
the white. Blacks sentenced to death for killing whites are four times
as many as whites given death penalty for killing blacks. The US Department
of Justice reported on March 12, 2001 that threats by the police with
force against blacks and ethnic Latin-Americans are twice as possible
as against whites.
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