Racial tensions have always been and remain one of the most pressing problems in the United States. Native tribes in America were the first victims of the widespread racism, though their place was soon taken by the black population of the states.
Even when the first black president in the US history took office in January 2009, racial discrimination remained one of the most burning problems of modern America. It’s hardly a surprise that numerous American human rights activists, observers, and experts have long been sounding the alarm regarding this. They argue that the legal immunity that police officers have been enjoying in dealing with Americans and the uncontrolled growth of racist attitudes may result in tragedy. One gets the impression that US authorities haven’t learned anything from the events of Ferguson and several other US cities. Therefore, the latest events in Dallas look like a logical development in a country where racism is an omnipresent reality. Moreover, this situation makes all the claims that the US is a modern-day “beacon of democracy” laughable at best.
A recent Reuters poll paints a particularly depressing picture of the US electorate’s opinions on race. It shows that there’s a common belief that one race is superior to another, and these views are being expressed in large numbers. In particular, the survey makes clear that it’s also not all that much harder to find racists among the general population, including those who want to see Clinton in the White House: all you have to do is ask.
However, these facts don’t sound surprising if we are to remember that white supremacists from California were among most ardent supporters of the idea that Hillary should have become the US Secretary of State, the Huffington Post notes.
The influential alternative media source CounterPunch would note that Clinton’s policies have indeed been unconscionably destructive for black Americans, and other people of color, since Hillary Clinton was a vocal advocate of her husband’s infamous 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act which disproportionately targeted people of color and led to the rise of the so-called mass incarceration.
Therefore, both Hillary and Bill Clinton are equally responsible for the largest increase in federal and state prison inmates of any president in American history, the so called “three strikes” law and a 50% increase in African American incarceration by the year 2000.
The CP article would state:
At the time, Hillary was traveling the country lauding the new bill as a critical piece of legislation to combat the “crime epidemic” and make America safe for middle class whites. In a blatant display of the sort of racism and white supremacy that could certainly endear her to Ku Klux Klan, Clinton referred to young black males targeted by the Crime bill as “superpredators,” at once dehumanizing a segment of the population disproportionately impacted by Clinton’s crime policies while also justifying the obviously racist nature of the bill itself.
Perhaps then it makes sense that Hillary Clinton was a “Goldwater Girl” – a backer of 1964 presidential candidate Barry Goldwater who stood in firm opposition to Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Act.
However, these and other similar facts about the racist views expressed by Hillary Clinton are being heavily downplayed, therefore the black population of the US falls victim yet again to the empty promises made by this presidential candidate under the guise of fostering equality. They are rolling out the red carpet to the White House for Hillary Clinton with their own hands, while ignorant of the fact that she will carry on the policy of lawlessness and racism in the United States. After all, African Americans handed over to Hillary Clinton a decisive victory in the South Carolina Democratic primary. She has also been actively supported by older representatives of the black population during the primary in New York, as it has been reported by AlterNet.
Perhaps African Americans, once facing the failure of their hopes to see the end of racial discrimination during two Obama’s terms, have decided to put their hopes in Clinton, despite her enduring racist views. Or maybe the news about the support that this presidential candidate enjoys among the black population of the US is just a falsification? Just like the votes Clinton allegedly received in Iowa and Arizona? Now more than 200,000 people are demanding a fair investigation into this “victory” in these and a number of other states.
In any case, the need to put an end to racial discrimination in the United States is long overdue and Americans must finally force so-called elected representatives to address the problem of racism’s growth, putting an end to xenophobia and extremism. These problems are presenting a very real threat to the well-being of the US population, therefore they should be dealt with immediately.
As for the US elections, no sane person would argue that a person that protects racial prejudices has a right to head the most “democratic” nation in the world. But such people would not be able to get away with these views if the African-American population of the US along with the rest of the American population opposed their rise to power rather than enabled it.
Martin Berger is a freelance journalist and geopolitical analyst, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”
