Background:
· In US, there are about 7,000 to 10,000 hate crimes recorded by the FBI each year. Two-thirds are hate crimes involving race or ethnic origin; the remaining involving religion or sexual orientation.
· There are many different forms of racism in the world against many different racial groups.
· Racism is mostly directed to blacks in the US and Canada, less severe against Hispanic people.
· Racism against oriental people is generally not serious because of their high achievement.
· Explicit racism: whites are regarded as superior to other races, through enforcing stereotypes, and practising segregation and open discrimination.
· Hidden racism: racism assuming a more subtle form in recent times
o structural and economic racism: difficulty in getting jobs or treated unfairly by the police
o personal racism: lack of acceptance in intimate situations, such as intermarriage or friendship
· With the large amount of emigration in recent history, there is a greater mixture of races and subsequently racial awareness and racism increase.
· Effects: prejudice against other races, discrimination in employment and daily contact, segregation in residential areas, hate crimes against other races
o the phenomenon of “white flight”: white residents leaving increasingly black neighbourhoods. The neighbourhood soon becomes all black. The result is inferior schools providing poor education to blacks.
o unequal treatment by the police including racial profiling and higher arrest rates and charge rates
o more severe sentences handed down by the courts to blacks for the same crimes
o However, blacks account for 12% of the US population but half of murder victims, 95% killed by blacks.
o employment opportunities more limited
o There is a persistent black “underclass” while all immigrant groups gradually move up.
o many blacks suffer from a fatalistic attitude, unwilling to work hard, believing it won’t be rewarded
o cling to the status of victims: emphasizing the oppression and discrimination by the white establishment
o successful blacks are ignored as role models, otherwise the victim myth will be disproved: black students who do well in schools are ridiculed; successful blacks are not regarded as blacks
o use race as an excuse for own failures: committing crimes, producing kids but not raising them [70% of blacks in US are born to single mother holdholds], addicting to illegal drugs
o use the charge of racism to malign the enemies: blame white people (making whites feel guilty)
o use anger as a shield to escape taking responsibility: some rap music encourages violence, even the killing of cops; the objective is to rouse blacks to take up arms and physically fight the race war
o use the history of slavery to portrait blacks as victims in order to gain power
o gain material redistribution and more power through race-based advantages in studies and work
o seek large financial compensation to address past wrongs like slavery
o some express their anger by massive riots and destruction of property when triggered by minor incidents such as perceived police brutality towards minorities (the case of Rodney King in Los Angeles)
· to compensate for historical wrongs such as slavery or discrimination (“historical justice”)
· to give an advantage to disadvantaged minorities due to past “institutional discrimination”
· to ensure ethnic diversity in academic or working environments
· to train or employ ethnic minorities in order to achieve greater harmony with minorities
· It is an unfair system which encourages and permeates inferior performance.
· The policies increase the chance of lawsuits because of reverse discrimination or reverse racism.