Racism in the US

Résumé du document

America is usually considered as the country of «melting pot». This word is used to indicate the American assimilation of immigrate population in one homogeneous society. The initial differences disappear to gather in one nation. But one may wonder if this idealistic vision of the American society is not only a pipe dream that has never really existed. Nowadays, politicians and journalists use the expression «salad bowl». This concept draws a society where each community keeps living separately from one to another claiming its own culture. These two concepts of «melting pot» and «salad bowl» open the debate on the question of inter racial community and the way they stand alongside in the society. Races and the way they mix together in the society has always been a burning issue in the United States. The Black community never stop claiming its rights since two hundred years.

In June 1974, Boston judge Wendell Arthur Garrity required the utilization of buses to desegregate public school in the city. This decision launched an anti black movement in the city. Ten years after the Civil and the Voting Rights Acts, the United States were still a broke nation where the black community was not entirely assimilated in the society. In February 2012, the Trayvon Martin case raised the indignation of the African American society. A 28 years old Latino American shot dead a 17 years old Afro American after an altercation because he thought the young man had a suspicious behavior. The killer Zimmerman was found non guilty after 16 hours of deliberation. This event raised the question around racism and rights equality in the society.

Extraits

[...] Recently in 2003, a Wisconsin studied showed that after sending the same résumé, a white man had twice more chances to be called in for a job interview than a black man. Racism is a current day life reality. Bibliography - Racist America : Roots, Current realities and future reparations, Joe R Feagin, July 2000, Routledge - Racism : a short history, George M Frederickson, July 2003 Princeton University Press - Steven Gillon, The American Paradox: A History of the United States Since 1945 (Wadsworth Cengage, 3d. [...]

[...] This election also shows the discrimination of the election vote system. The «the winer takes all» system prevents the minorities vote to prevail. In 2005, Katrina transformed New Orleans in a devastated city. Bush administration never sent the humanitarian help the habitants were waiting for. Assuring the military security, the government refused to intervene. Polemic grew denouncing state disorganization, racism and disregard for the poor. Testimonies report unbelievable situations where blacks were victims of dead shots without any reasons. Blacks who stayed in the city were accused of being robbers. [...]

[...] But Racism and discrimination still had a prominent place in the American society. The relationship between African American an the police were relevant of that phenomena. Already in 1978 the black ecologic organization MOVE created by John Africa took by storm their headquarter for a raid. The incident lead to the death of a policeman and the arrest of 9 members of the group years later the police dropped an atomic bomb on their building leading to the death of their leader. [...]

[...] White policemen were accused of having change the proofs. The jury who was mainly composed of African Americans women, natural partisan of Simpson, declared him non guilty. Many people were convinced that the decision was more a racial defense than an objective one. After this case, relationships between African Americans and whites seemed to be disturbing in front of these perceptions' divergence of reality. After that, there was an attack on affirmative action. In 1995, California followed by Texas put an end to affirmative action for admissions to college. [...]

[...] The case became a racism issue and all the media picked up the story. Finally, Thomas was cleared by the Court. OJ Simpson was a racial divide. OJ Simpson case was followed as a soap opera by millions of people around the world. O.J. Simpson was a former football hero and actor who married a pretty blond «trophy wife». But the couple didn't enjoy happy days. Indeed, many times, the police had to intervene to stop Simpson from committed violence on his wife. [...]