Hello ! My name is Tatiana Sazonova, faculty of foreign languages, department of Regional Studies and International Relationships, RIMO, A-301 For any information Im always available at sazonchik@hotbox.ru . My part of our project is dedicated to the black population in the US and the modern social situation where this minority group claims to be discriminaned against. The US government has assimilated Afro-American national group entirely through generosity a well-funded state can master. Its far cry from past policy when negroes on this land were heavily oppressed. But still a certain discrimination on both interpersonal and government levels proceeds.
Introduction
For years politicians, historians and common pious people have been involved in the debates concerning multicultural societies. They were trying to work out a particular behavioural line, thinking of the best way to prevent culture wars. In fact, I tend to consider American culture as the most vivid example of a huge heterogenious society. America''s demographic profile is becoming increasingly diverse in its race and ethnic makeup. At least this is the perception one gets when looking at national statistics. This diversity of races and ethnicities implies certain inevitable problems: misunderstandings because of different cultural backgrounds and worlds perception, scornful attitude to other people based on cultural avertion, and as the last and the most frightening demonstration of cultural clashes- racism and racial discrimination. Racism and racial discrimination in different spheres of life in contemporary America are the guidelines Im going to dwell on here. The combat against such humiliating manifestations is still going on and as I see it the situation proved itself to be only partially successful. Racism and racial discrimination here started to obtain more vague forms, difficult to define at once but the question of white supremacy still stays the dominant concept of treating racially different immigrants outside the country as well as the minorities inside American society. Racism in the USA is not about particular incidents, its more rather a systemic process profoundly integrated in society . There are still certain 3 major and the most numerous groups of citizens which claim to be discriminated against :
1) Afro-Americans
2) Asians
3) Hispanics
AFRO-AMERICANS
The struggle for civil rights is one of the great chapters in the history of Afro - American democracy, because it has brought millions of them closer to becoming fully equal citizens. No one, however, would claim that the struggle is over, or that African Americans today enjoy full equality. The legacy of centuries of discrimination still takes a toll, and the debate today is not over whether blacks should be able to vote or to attend the schools of their choice, but what additional measures, such as affirmative action, should be taken to promote their progress. The answers are neither simple nor clear, but the fact that they are being asked and debated is a key element in the continuing vitality of the democratic process.
Afro-American history in the USA is a winding road from inevitable severe struggle for civil rights to the embodiment of prosperity for a former immigrant in some rare cases. In most cases they are rejected to be full members of the American society. Its more rather a wavy evolution (than a gradual one) started in riots and marches and finished in more or less democratic attitude towards this distinct national group. During a long process of acquaring equal civil rights and the same respect for this ethnic minority, Afro-Americans have been and still are facing a stark choice-to submit offence or to engage in daily law breaking. This ongoing struggle has got to be one of the longest running and least recognized campaigns of civil disobedience this country has ever known.
As I see it, Americans are still living in an unofficially segregated society where the line between white and black in education, medical care, standard of living is distinctly visible.If we consider closely some recent scandals in the USA well probably see how racial discrimination is implemented on governmental level .
Firstly, in 2001 the refusal of the United States to participate in the UN conference on racism has angered most black activists and leaders in this country. They saw it as nothing more than a slap in their faces. Their argument was that even if the language used to describe Israels policy of Zionism was too harsh(which the US cited as the reason for their non-attendance), the American government should have more consideration for their own citizens than those of Israel. As a result, Collin Powell got quite a few slaps in the face himself from the black leaders. The unofficial rumor around Washington was that Powell did want to attend and did make quite an issue out of it but the administration ordered him to follow its decision. Secondly, there exist a reparation theory in the USA, the argument of which is that the government, having profited from unpaid, forced slave labor must compensate the laborers descendants. But not only Russia suffers from slow sluggish law implementation, knowing the speed with which various political American committees work, it might take years before any descendant of a slave sees a single cent. Besides, the majority of American white population is against the reparation theory. Most whites see it as a non-issue simply because slavery has been outlawed by the 13th amendment of the Constitution and there is not a single slave or a slave-holder left alive.
On the personal communication level the racial discrimination is more obvious: take for instance the complete reluctance of whites to live in one neighbourhood with the Afro Americans, even if the share of blacks is rather small. When blacks move in the area in any significant numbers, whites are rapidly trying to move out - and that is the particular reason why there are completely black areas in huge cities where whites prefer not to go anyway.
Various factors influence the development and incandesence of racism inside the country, but it is impossible to deny the very existance of the discrimination problem. Something should be done shortly, otherwise the situation can go out of control. The struggle for racial justice today and in the future requires deliberate, consistent and constant action within society itself on personal communication level and governmental as well. The realities we are facing in contemporary America are rather far from representing racial-ethnic justice. Such partial rejection of multiculturalism and favoring racial supremacies in a multicultural society may have disastrous consequences. The US government should try to initiate constructive dialogue among ethnical minorities and governmental structures and organizations in order to implement measures with a view to correcting the problem and the damage resulting from it.
The government is to work on national level in cooperation with other relevant regional and even international organizations and programmes to strengthen national mechanisms to promote and protect the human rights. The main target of the State to my mind is to facilitate the participation of minoroties in all political, economic, social and cultural aspects of society and in the advancement and economic development of the country, and to promote a greater knowledge and respect for their heritage and culture. In my opinion, these measures taken up rapidly together with statutory control can bring palpable relief in the racist tension.
In America, where the problem first arose on a large scale, the political parties and some pressure groups have attempted to float the idea that one type of foreign-born Americans is as good as another. This is mainly an American standard and, the argument goes, the nation should glory in its diversity, not perceive it as a cause for conflict. today every person in any heterogenious society can become extremely successful To my mind, today every person in any heterogenious society should be given full potential to become successful, no matter who were his ancestors and regardless his social position . This can be made possible first of all through political action, the development of which has been pushed up by efforts of different distinguished people. So generations experience not only changes in the physical landscape, but profound differences in attitudes towards many of the issues that lie at the heart of a democratic society.
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