Racism Worldwide Archives | Anti-Racism & Anti-Defamation Alliance

The State Department’s silence on racism is deafening

on: September 19, 2018

The State Department’s silence on racism is deafening

The way in which America — for years a self-proclaimed role model for human rights — projects its values to the rest of the world has real, tangible effects on the global stage. In the age of Donald Trump, the US State Department has turned its back on the fight against racism and xenophobia. Even worse, the agency seeks to remove anti-racist language from international documents. The US government has a racism issue, and it is a dangerous problem with international implications.

In a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, six House Democrats said they are “extremely alarmed” the administration has remained silent regarding racism and xenophobia in international fora and has not condemned hate speech and incitement. They also noted that Andrew Veprek, the deputy assistant secretary for refugees and migration, rejected the notion that leaders have a “duty to condemn hate speech and incitement,” and, according to a report by CNN, Veprek sought changes to UN human rights documents that denounce racism as a threat to democracy.

“The drafters say ‘populism and nationalism’ as if these are dirty words,” Veprek wrote of one document. “There are millions of Americans who likely would describe themselves as adhering to these concepts. (Maybe even the President.) So are we looking to here condemn our fellow-citizens, those who pay our salaries?”

Further, Veprek took issue with language in a UN Human Rights Council resolution, which said national leaders have a duty to condemn hate speech. Veprek insisted that “‘duty to condemn’ goes too far. Our public figures can’t be obliged to police every intolerant thought out their (sic) at the risk of being condemned for intolerance themselves.”

Are today’s white kids less racist than their grandparents?

on: September 18, 2018

Are today’s white kids less racist than their grandparents?

In America’s children, we often see hope for a better future, especially when it comes to reducing racism.

Each new generation of white people, the thinking goes, will naturally and inevitably be more open-minded and tolerant than previous ones.

But do we have any reason to believe this? Should we have faith that today’s white kids will help make our society less racist and more equitable?

Previous research has had mixed findings. So in order to explore more fully what white kids think about race, I went straight to the source: white children themselves.

In my new book, “White Kids: Growing Up with Privilege in a Racially Divided America,” I explore how 36 white, affluent kids think and talk about race, racism, privilege and inequality in their everyday lives.

The limitations of survey data

Before beginning my research, I looked at what previous studies on the racial attitudes of young white people had found.

According to some researchers, we do have reason to be hopeful.

Using survey data, they found that young white people are expressing less prejudice than generations before them. For instance, white support for segregated schools – a traditional measure of racial prejudice – has dramatically decreased over a 50-year period. And surveys show that younger whites are less likely to express racial stereotypes than older whites.

But a second group of researchers disagreed. They found that whites today simply articulate racial prejudice in new ways.

For example, according to national survey data, high school seniors are increasingly expressing a form of prejudice that sociologist Tyrone Forman calls “racial apathy” – an “indifference toward societal, racial, and ethnic inequality and lack of engagement with race-related social issues.”

State Department: Allegations of racism ‘disgusting and false’

on: September 17, 2018

State Department: Allegations of racism ‘disgusting and false’

The State Department is hitting back against allegations that its staff lacks diversity, saying it the claims are “disgusting and false.”

“The assertion that [the State Department] is ‘racist’ is disgusting and false—a brazen attempt to create division for domestic political gain,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a tweet on Monday.

Nauert said the State Department is “among the most diverse of government agencies” and “empowers” those from diverse backgrounds.

“[The State Department] is dedicated to promoting human rights & dignity through our actions, policies & annual reports, including reports on Human Rights, Trafficking in Persons & Religious Freedom,” she added. She posted a link to the department’s 2017 report on global human rights.

Politico Magazine on Monday published an article by Uzra Zeya, a former State Department official, under the title “Trump Is Making American Diplomacy White Again.”

Zeya, who formerly served in multiple top positions at the State Department, denounced the department’s lack of diversity at the senior levels under Trump.

Three of the department’s most senior African-American career officials and the top-ranking Latino career officer were removed or resigned rom their positions after Trump came into office in 2017, Zeya wrote. They were replaced with white successors.

“In the months that followed, I observed top-performing minority diplomats be disinvited from the secretary’s senior staff meeting, relegated to FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] duty (well below their abilities), and passed over for bureau leadership roles and key ambassadorships,” she wrote.

A State Department spokesperson in a statement to The Hill said the report is “false” but did not dispute the numbers listed by Zeya.

“Our talented workforce is diverse and reflects our strength as a diplomatic corps,” the spokesperson said. “We are better equipped to tackle tough foreign policy challenges and advance American interests around the world with a diverse cadre of diplomats from all backgrounds.”

The State Department said in a statement to Politico that the percentage of African Americans, Hispanics and women hired as Foreign Service officers increased from 2016 to 2017.

“That’s an encouraging sign at the entry level, but it does not address reduced minority representation at the senior level,” Zeya wrote in the article.

Sixty-four percent of Trump’s ambassadorial nominees so far are white males, 7 percent more than the ambassadors appointed during the Obama administration, according to the American Foreign Service Association.

Trump has not yet named any African-American female ambassador.

The Senior Foreign Service is 88.8 percent white and more than two-thirds male, according to State Department data.

This story was updated at 12:59 p.m. to reflect the State Department was responding to reports regarding staff diversity.

Racism and antisemitism: examples and words matter

on: September 15, 2018

Racism and antisemitism: examples and words matter

It’s been a long, hot summer for the Labour Party in England as it struggled with allegations of antisemitism. The source of the problem was its reluctance to adopt examples of antisemitism contained in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition.

The reason for its reluctance was lest it impeded its freedom to criticise Israeli policy on Palestine. The problem is familiar when the right of free speech and the right to freedom from hateful discrimination clash. A similar problem came to the fore recently in Cyprus after publication of a voluntary glossary for journalists proposed by the Organisation for Cooperation and Security in Europe.

It was condemned by some Greek Cypriot journalists as contrary to free speech and a rewriting of history. But all it did was to identify a number of words that cause offence and suggest alternatives more conducive to improving community relations.

Decorum and civilised discourse are not inconsistent with freedom of speech. Besides freedom of expression is a qualified right: as a judge once remarked ‘you are not free to shout fire in a crowded theatre unless there is a fire.’

Anyway under human rights law a voluntary glossary of words for journalists cannot amount to an interference with the right of freedom of expression because journalists remain free not to adopt the alternatives proposed in the glossary.

The debate on antisemitism in the Labour Party was also about a voluntary glossary – this time of examples identified by the Holocaust Alliance as antisemitic. The clash was between freedom to criticise Israeli policy on Palestine on the one hand and antisemitism on the other. During the debate the Labour leader was branded a racist antisemite by the Israeli government and some members of the Jewish community, while people in-the-know have a diametrically opposite opinion of him. Jeremy Corbyn spent all his political life fighting racism and, with every respect to the former Chief Rabbi Lord Sachs, does not have an antisemitic bone in his body.

Antisemitism is defined as ‘a certain perception of Jews expressed as hatred toward Jews’ and includes the ‘targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity’.

Advocates fear for future of province’s anti-racism directorate

on: September 14, 2018

Advocates fear for future of province’s anti-racism directorate

What will happen to the province’s anti-racism directorate?

For many who work in anti-racism, this has been the question since June, when Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives won the provincial election with a majority government.

Community members who worked closely with the anti-racism directorate say they’ve received no answers from the government, which controversially moved the directorate to a new ministry and recently disbanded its subcommittees.

Longtime anti-racism advocates who lived through the Mike Harris years are now having flashbacks to 1995, when his Conservative government was elected to Queen’s Park — and promptly moved to eliminate what was then called the anti-racism secretariat, established just a few years earlier.

Two decades would pass before the anti-racism body was revived by the Liberal government in 2016, amid controversy over carding and debate over the acceptance of Syrian refugees. But less than two years into its mandate, the body, this time labelled a “directorate,” has fallen back into the hands of a Conservative government and community activists worry the province’s anti-racism efforts are once again doomed to fail.

“It just feels like 1995 all over again, where we take two steps forward only to go three or four steps backwards,” said Nigel Barriffe, president of the Urban Alliance on Race Relations. “What we see is a very hard, right-wing government that I don’t believe has any intention of honouring the commitment that the previous government has made towards the anti-racism directorate’s strategy.”

There are already early signs that changes are coming to the directorate, which had a number of subcommittees, including four community groups that consulted on issues of anti-Black racism, anti-Indigenous discrimination, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.

In early August, some members of the subcommittees told the Star they were contacted by staff and informed that their services would no longer be needed. “It was basically ‘Yep, your year is up, thank you very much,” said longtime Jewish rights advocate Bernie Farber, who co-chaired the anti-Semitism committee.

Violent discrimination putting LGBTI South Asians at risk, report finds

on: September 13, 2018

Violent discrimination putting LGBTI South Asians at risk, report finds

LGBTI individuals and others in South Asia are at an increased risk of HIV and health problems due to violence because of their sexuality or gender.

A new UN report details the impact of violence based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression (Sogie) on men who have sex with men (MSM) and transwomen.

The report details widespread discrimination and violence in families, schools, workplaces, and healthcare. It explores how this puts individuals at a heightened risk of HIV, health problems, and mental health problems.

‘While there are well-documented trends in some regions of the world, less is known about Sogie-based violence, HIV risk and mental health among sexual and gender minority groups in South Asia,’ explained Valerie Cliff from the United Nations Development Program.

The protection of women’s rights begins with childhood

on: September 13, 2018

The protection of women’s rights begins with childhood

To solve the crisis of violence against women we need to look to boys’ experience of childhood in South Africa.

Behaviour disorders that lead to violence in later life are already present at the age of 10. This is not to say that all boys who experience abuse become violent. But if we want to heal our communities we must turn our attention to cycles of abuse that begin at a very early age.

GroundUp reported on Wednesday that in Diepsloot, a township north of Johannesburg, sexual and gender-based violence is a pervasive issue.

In a 2014 survey, 76% of those questioned said they or someone close to them had been a victim of violence in the home or from an intimate partner. Domestic violence was the most prevalent problem, followed by rape and other forms of sexual violence (37%).

In a separate study from 2016 in Diepsloot, more than half of the men questioned said that they had either raped or beaten a woman during the past year.

The same study found a strong correlation between men’s own exposure to violence and their use of violence: “Men experiencing child abuse were five times as likely to use recent violence against women… The majority of men interviewed experienced at least one type of physical or sexual childhood abuse. More than one third had been raped or molested as a child.”

It is therefore crucial that the persistent nature of violence is recognised. If we want to improve safety of women, we must begin with the protection and safety of all children from harm as a matter of priority.

Poor mental, physical health linked to childhood violence

The 2017 Optimus Study on the prevalence of sexual abuse among children in South Africa found similar prevalences of lifetime experience of sexual abuse for girls and boys. The data shows that boys need as much protection as girls (though their needs are different) – but this is only slowly being recognised. Violence in families, whether against children or witnessed by children, has serious developmental consequences and may result in the intergenerational transmission of violent behaviour.

Jay Rodriguez: ‘Racism is a very serious issue, but the truth came out – I did nothing wrong’

on: September 13, 2018

Jay Rodriguez: ‘Racism is a very serious issue, but the truth came out – I did nothing wrong’

It is eight months since Jay Rodriguez’s world was turned upside down, on a bleak January afternoon when West Bromwich Albion were beating Brighton – their only Premier League victory under Alan Pardew.

During the second half, Rodriguez became involved in an altercation with Gaetan Bong, the Brighton defender. According to Rodriguez, he told the Cameroon international his “breath f—ing stinks”, pinching his nose with his fingers.

Bong had a different take, telling referee Martin Atkinson that Rodriguez told him “you’re black and you stink”, his incendiary claims escalating an apparently innocuous spat into a full-blown racism row.

After an arduous three-month investigation by the Football Association, which included lip-reading experts and Rodriguez paying up to £40,000 for a personal barrister, the charge was eventually found “not proven” in April.

For the West Brom forward, and indeed Bong, it represented an unsatisfactory conclusion to what remains a highly sensitive issue across sport. Rodriguez maintains he was innocent and is not asking for sympathy, yet he is clearly still frustrated after his ordeal.

“It was a difficult time, very difficult for myself and my family. I had to just keep myself focused on what I can affect, like I do with everything. The truth came out,” Rodriguez said, in his first major interview since the incident.

“Racism is a very serious issue, of course it is. If it was something I did then obviously you need to be fully punished. It’s a serious issue, not just in football but anywhere in life.

Cameroon Media Regulators Demand End to Hate Language Before Poll

on: September 12, 2018

Cameroon Media Regulators Demand End to Hate Language Before Poll

Media in Cameroon have accused the country’s National Communication Council (NCC) of censorship ahead of October’s presidential election after it issued a stern warning accusing the media of propagating hate language that can deepen fighting in the central African state.

One supposed offenders – Amplitude FM, a radio station in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde, which told potential voters to be ready for carnage that will spread all over the central African state should its president, Paul Biya, be reelected October 7. The broadcaster says that after 36 years as head of state, Biya should peacefully hand over power – and if he doesn’t – be forced to do so.

The radio station’s program in question is called Polimetre. Less than a month ago, its host, Dieudonne Mbah, anchored another political program called Polifocus that was suspended by Cameroon’s NCC, the country’s media regulator, for spreading hate language. He simply changed the name of the program.

Mbah says his program, like 12 others, was targeted because it takes a strong stance against Biya’s long stay in power. He says if he should be punished for asking people to vote for change, so, too, should other journalists for asking potential voters to take a tougher stand against those who oppose Biya.

“Some media houses like the state-run CRTV, television stations which are owned or backed by government ministers, seem untouched even when their journalists are known to have broken the same rules which other journalists and other media organs have been punished for, but they go unpunished. So I think that the NCC still needs to rise to that occasion where they can discipline any media houses irrespective of the name or irrespective of who owns it,” Mbah said.

Are you a well-meaning white parent who perpetuates racism?

on: September 12, 2018

Are you a well-meaning white parent who perpetuates racism?

I was having a mid-morning breakfast at Whole Foods in Jackson, Mississippi, when a young white mother I knew from around town walked up wearing workout clothes and pushing her youngest daughter in a stroller.

“I wanted to tell you that after I read the story you ran in your newspaper about Jackson’s school integration history, I decided to send my daughter to public school,” she said, referring to her kindergarten-age child. After tons of research, she had decided that her daughter could get a good education there – and it was the right thing to do. It didn’t surprise me; her family also attends an integrated church with a black pastor.

But her timing was auspicious. “You should read this,” I said, reaching into my tote bag for the new book, White Kids: Growing Up with Privilege in a Racially Divided America by Margaret A Hagerman, PhD, a sociologist at Mississippi State University. “She can help you avoid mistakes as a white parent in a majority-black school.” She looked excited to read it.

A few hours later, I was sitting with Hagerman in her office 110 miles north to talk about her book. The soft-spoken woman with long, straight hair and bangs emanates more of a cool co-ed vibe than that of an academic who, in her book and press appearances for it, is bringing the ethnographic heat about how affluent white families across the country are promulgating white supremacy in America – whether they intend to or not. After spending two years with 30 families in three interconnected midwestern communities, she reports that delusions of “colorblindness” provide cover for ongoing structural racism.

As our conversation began, I told Hagerman about the young mother back in Jackson.

What would you tell her to avoid the racist pitfalls you describe in your book?

I would absolutely be very supportive of her decision to send her children to integrated public schools. It’s an important first step, for sure. I would then draw from my own research about some of the white parents’ pitfalls that come with this territory—things like feeling the need to dominate the PTA meeting, or needing to be the leader, the one making decisions about what’s important in the school.

I would encourage a reciprocity by partnering with parents of all the kids at the schools to really understand some of the challenges she might not be aware of as a white person going into that school, the class differences and so forth. She should try to build meaningful friendships with other parents and recognize that even in integrated spaces we can see all kind of racial conflict. The work’s not done just because you send your kids to an integrated school.