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Civic groups slam US for 'abysmal' record on race
The United States is rife with racial discrimination and the authorities have an abysmal record on promoting equality, according to a report by a coalition of 250 civic groups published on Monday. The US Human Rights Network, which groups non-profit organizations, released its report to counter the findings of a US government report in April to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).
| In that case I suggest we drop the subject of racial discrimination and never mention it again. We've been obsessing on the subject since I was a pre-teen and if we haven't made any progress then we never will. To hell with it. |
The network said US minorities including African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics and Muslims face discrimination in a range of areas including voting, policing and education. Immigrants are often unfairly treated, as are women and children from ethnic minorities, it said. A disproportionate number of minorities are arrested, charged, prosecuted and convicted compared with whites, and minorities are over-represented in US prisons, said the report titled Turning a blind eye to injustice.
| I don't suppose it has anything at all to do with empirical cultural differences? It can't possibly be that 53 percent of the violent crime in the US is committed by 12 percent of the population? |
Schools in areas with high concentrations of minorities often lack adequate resources and, as a result, students score poorly in federally mandated examinations, it said. Minorities are unfairly victimized by racial profiling, a practice in which police can stop and frisk people based on their appearance. Muslims have been targeted particularly since the Sept. 11 attacks by Al Qaeda militants in 2001, it said.
| Where are the statistics on that? We're never seen them. |
The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) calls upon the US to improve its abysmal performance in these areas and to take immediate, robust action to bring the US into compliance with its obligations under this vital Convention, the report said.
Posted by: Fred 2007-12-11 |
