Is America a racist nation?

July, 1999
There are many ways to measure this, but on the whole I would say the answer is yes. It is critically important to examine the areas in which racism has been and is being successfully combated as well as the areas in which much work needs doing. For that reason one should examine each and every aspect of what you consider 'the Nation' and evaluate the amount of racism in its operation. The single most important notion to keep in mind is that this country has been legally racist for most of its history. America has a burden to prove that reform of that racist default has been successful. Until such time as that is proven in every area of American life, the nation lives in the shadow of it's despicable past.

This page is meant to introduce the reader to examples of racism in action in various institutional manifestations such that they can assess the extent to which further work needs to be done. It is not designed to give aid and comfort to those who would throw up their hands and abandon hope of progress. Nor is it designed to assert that racism in America effectively overshadows every aspect of life for non-whites. Rather it is to pinpoint with specifics the generic assertion that all Americans agree upon "Racism still exists".

It doesn't help anyone to say 'racism still exists' if we don't know where, to what extent and what can be done about it.

This section is tedious and depressing, please forgive the obvious gaps, but it's no fun for me to look for trouble. (Editor, 7/99)
  • public institutions
  • religious celebration
  • housing?
  • administration of civil services
  • health care delivery
  • education
  • politics
  • the arts
  • media
  • the sciences

Is the constitution racist?

Originally yes by effect and by default but not likely by intent. It has been amended to be non-racial.

The Constitution provided for the purposes of representation several clauses which referred to the nature of slavery. In this, the Constitution acknowledged that enslaved Africans were not to be considered as 'men' with rights, rather as property. The Constitution did not by principle establish the subjection of the African, however it codified and acknowledged it as fact.

Is the American world view racial?

Yes. Americans by and large think of world populations in racial terms. Americans demonstrate little ability to consider non-Americans in non-American terms. This is clearly xenophobic but there are racial overtones. We have little difficulty, for example ascribing certain qualities observed in Japanese Americans to the Japanese and vice versa. The implication of this is that we are willing to consider and weight racial similarities of peoples over environmental, political, religious and ethnic concerns.

Is there a genocidal program against 'racial minorities' in America?

I don't believe it at all. Yet as conspiracy theories go, more people believe that than believe in UFOs. there are UFO shows on television all the time. the fact that Americans have more prisoners per capita than any other nation on the planet (roughly 1 out of every 250 Americans lives in jail) is a bold statement. on the one hand it says we don't shoot a lot of people on the streets, so as police states go, we have it rather cushy. On the other hand African American citizens are overrepresented in prison populations, just as they are overrepresented in lower economic strata. there is a well known inverse correlation between wealth and jail time. if you steal 1 million with a computer you do 6 months, if you steal 500 with a knife you do 18 months. but the mellow loathes quoting statistics. as Reagan said 'I don't want to lie to the American public, I'll leave that to others'.

in police action? the bottom line is that this question goes to the heart of the question of racist intent versus racist effect. the American justice system is non-racial and is not designed to hurt people or give different standing by race. but since it is comprised of Americans who are, as we have discussed, inadequately anti-racist, the effect of racist influence is not countered. in theory, and by law, the justice system of the united states of America should show no preference or deference to racial identity. but it does in fact treat African Americans and Latinos worse than it does whites. that is no accident, nor is it the fault of those African Americans and Latinos. it is the fault of those who administer the system. The question of whether or not America is racist then is partially determined by the racism of its systems of governance.