Racism

Dear Friends,

We hear a lot about institutional racism in the United States, but it is primarily in connection with the racism against minorities in the United States.  Every time there is a terrorist attack somewhere in the world, I am reminded of how deep, broad and insidious racism is in the United States.  Of course a terrorist attack in the United States gets our full attention for days on end.  A terrorist attack in Europe also gets our full attention for days.  But as this cartoon I saw in the Minneapolis StarTribune this morning illustrates, terrorist attacks in other places (read places where the majority of the population is not white) get very little media coverage.

I was struck by this headline on the PRI website today (here), "Since Paris, there have been hundreds of terrorist attacks — many that have gone unnoticed".  Even the headline is rather racist, because I am quite sure those attacks were noticed where they occurred. The article shows a map of almost 20 major attacks and specifically lists 11 after the Paris attacks in November but before the Brussels attacks.  I am embarrassed to admit that I really did not know anything about these attacks other than the one in San Bernardino.

It is not just the media who demonstrate their racism by the coverage (or lack thereof) of terrorist attacks, it is our own politicians.  After the Brussels attacks, President Obama and all of the candidates for President in both parties made statements of solidarity with the people of Belgium.  I do not recall seeing any similar statements about the others on this list except for San Bernardino.

Only when we see all people as human, understand our similarities and celebrate our differences will the world be free of racism.  For now, a start would be to treat all terrorist attacks the same way we treat those against primarily white populations.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal