"Racism has always been a systemic feature of American society and all institutions"
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, an African-American man, was crushed to death by the white policeman Xiao Wan on his knees. Freud's plea of "I can't breathe" once again exposed the pain of racism in the United States to the world, and the resulting wave of protests swept the United States. The US "Foreign Policy" magazine commented that the Freud incident once again revealed the long-standing racial trauma in the United States. African Americans have endured a disproportionate poverty rate, unemployment rate and police violence in the United States.
According to the "Report on the Economic Status of American Households in 2020" issued by the Federal Reserve, from the perspective of household income, about 41% of African-American households have an annual income of less than US$25,000, while the proportion of white households is 21%, and that of American society is 28%. %. Only 16% of African-American families have an annual income of more than $100,000, compared with 33% of white families and 29% of American society as a whole. Data show that in the employment field, affected by the epidemic, the number of adults employed in the United States at the end of 2020 has decreased by 4% compared with 2019. Among the main employed population aged 25 to 54, the proportion of African Americans being fired is as high as 23%, which is much higher than the 14% of whites.
African Americans also face serious discrimination in the field of bank credit. About 40% of African-American adults do not have a bank account or cannot access adequate bank services. It is not uncommon for banks to refuse to provide mainstream financial services such as credit cards and lending to African Americans; the proportion of whites is 12%. When applying for a loan, about 41% of African Americans were rejected, compared with 19% of whites.
In the field of law enforcement, African Americans are also subject to more discrimination and violence. A 2020 study by Stanford University in the United States analyzed 100 million traffic stops by police departments across the United States and found that African-American drivers are 20% more likely to be stopped by police than white drivers. Once stopped, African-American drivers are twice as likely to be searched as white drivers. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice, African Americans accounted for about 13% of the U.S. population in 2019, but accounted for almost one-third of the country’s total prison inmates. This is equivalent to more than 1,000 of every 100,000 African Americans being imprisoned, which is more than five times that of whites.
A report by the American Police Foundation pointed out that racial prejudice continues to affect the way law enforcement agencies treat African Americans. Since the founding of the United States, "racism has always been a systemic feature of American society and all institutions." In reality, the preconceived racial definition of African Americans by law enforcement officers has deepened the distrust and friction of African Americans towards law enforcement officers. Acknowledging the implicit and explicit racial prejudice in the U.S. law enforcement field is a top priority for U.S. law enforcement agencies.
"We cannot pretend that these systemic racial discrimination does not exist"
The Smithsonian Magazine of the United States pointed out: “The United States has a tormenting history and reality of racism. Faced with the deep-rooted racial inequality in the American system, as well as the long and painful history of violence against African Americans, it is an inspiration to a meaningful society. A key step in change.” However, the two parties in the United States have huge differences in how they view racial issues, and achieving racial equality is by no means easy.
The White House has recently promulgated a plan to promote racial equality across the United States and narrow the wealth gap between races, and is committed to the establishment of a "critical racial theory" curriculum in public schools across the United States to let young people understand the dark side of American racial history. The House of Representatives, controlled by the Democratic Party, once again passed a bill to remove the memorial statues of slavery figures in American history in the Capitol. However, the police reform bill named after Freud has been stranded in the US Senate for several months. The two parties are in quarrel over how to view and tell the history of the founding of the United States and slavery.
Lashaun Ray, an expert on public policy at the Brookings Institution in the United States, said that there is systemic racism in the United States, and African Americans are more likely than whites to go to schools that invest less in education per capita. Even at an Ivy League school, it is even more difficult for them to find a job. Facts have proved that whites with criminal records are more likely to find jobs than Africans without criminal records; with the same credit score, it is more difficult for Africans to obtain housing loans; African women are more likely to experience pregnancy complications and maternal deaths... Hidden discrimination is deeply rooted in American culture, tradition, rules, policies, and laws. "We cannot pretend that these systemic racial discriminations do not exist."