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tweakabelle -> RE: Is America a racist country ? (3/29/2011 8:32:12 PM)
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I'm not sure that questions framed like: "Is country X racist?" are helpful. There are a few overtly racist countries - like apartheid era South Africa - but in most Western countries, racism seems to be, on the whole, a diminishing force compared to say, 50 years ago.
If the US is anything like my country, Australia, you will find that the vast majority of ppl aren't racist and oppose racism strongly. Yet there is a core of racism and racists that proves hard to eradicate.
A feature of racism here is that it can vary enormously depending on which particular communities are involved. Aboriginal and Arab/Muslim communities suffer far more vitriol than say, Greeks or Vietnamese. Aborigines excepted, it seems to be a case of last lot off the boat cops it worst.
Or to look at that more positively, initial hostility dissipates as people get to know each other and (for example) the first generation of Australian born Vietnamese grow up speaking English and attending schools with other local born children. Again, anti-Aboriginal racism is an exception to this.
So perhaps better questions might be; To what extent does racism influence policy? Is there real integration (in housing, education, employment etc)? Do overtly racist candidates attract widespread support when they run for election? Are any of the mainstream political parties racist or present dog whistle calls to racists to attract their votes?
In most of Australia, it is no longer acceptable to be overtly racist in social gatherings. So a lot of racism is coded: issues like immigration, border security, anti-terrorism, distribution of services can attract racist elements who use these issues to peddle their filth.
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