Polarisation and inequality in the United States fuel hate and crime, expert warns
The United States is at a critical juncture in the fight against racism and racial discrimination, said the UN Special Rapporteur* on contemporary forms of racism, discrimination, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance.
At the end of a two-week visit, Ashwini K.P. attested to deep political polarisation and volatility, as well as economic uncertainty, extreme income and wealth inequality, and severe damage to the fabric of American society.
This combination of factors is creating fertile ground for hate crimes and hate speech, she warned.
She travelled to several states across the country and spoke with members of racially marginalised groups who reported multiple manifestations of systemic racism, including disenfranchisement, homelessness, environmental racism, racially discriminatory food systems, inequitable health care, and discriminatory systems of immigration governance.
"Throughout my visit it became abundantly clear that many continue to face persistent, multifaceted and mutually reinforcing forms of systemic racism and racial discrimination," she said.
Government measures fail to produce results
Ashwini said that government initiatives to address this long-standing scourge have yet to translate into significant improvements in the lived experiences of those most excluded, and "do not adequately address white supremacy, underlying power imbalances and the historical factors that underpin contemporary forms of racism and racial discrimination".
In this regard, she referred with concern to the limits of the federal government's power to address racial discrimination and the apparent aversion to racial equality of many actors on the right.
"I have watched with deep concern the coordinated backlash against racial justice initiatives. I am concerned about gaps in the Federal Government's commitment to key international racial justice standards, in particular the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action," she said.
The rapporteur noted that many of the people she spoke with assured her that they have to fight to realise their basic rights and that they often suffer rejection for those gains.
"Such tug-of-war over the rights of those belonging to certain racial and ethnic groups is incompatible with strong domestic protection of the inalienable rights enshrined in international human rights norms ratified by the United States," she emphasised.
Stereotypes and scapegoating
She warned of stereotyping and scapegoating of people from some communities, including blacks, Latinos, immigrants, Asians, Jews, Muslims and Arabs.
Ashwini said that some people fear for their safety and the future of their communities. "One person aptly illustrated the current climate as 'a powder keg, where we don't know what will explode next'," she said.
The expert felt that the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and many others, as well as the racially disparate impact of COVID-19 and the large-scale racial justice protests in 2020 brought some of the realities of persistent systemic racism into the American consciousness, leading to a strong commitment to racial justice and initiatives designed by the Biden-Harris administration to improve racial equity.
However, she insisted that multifaceted and mutually reinforcing manifestations of systemic racism endure, as she witnessed in every state she visited.
"These forms of racism impacted those from racially marginalised groups at every stage of their lives, historically, systematically and institutionally," Ashwini noted.
White supremacy must be addressed effectively
At such a critical time, she added, it is vital that the US government, including federal and state authorities, "urgently address pervasive hatred and stay the course to eliminate systemic racism and racial discrimination".
That goal, she said, will require "significantly greater investment in comprehensive improvements in the political, public, and civic participation of those from racially marginalised groups, and new actions to increase the civility of the political and social climate".
Ashwini also stressed the urgency for anti-racism efforts in the United States to build on effectively addressing white supremacy, underlying power imbalances and historical drivers of racism and racial discrimination.
* The Special Rapporteurs are part of what are known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name for the Council's independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that deal with specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent of any government or organisation and serve in their individual capacity.