Racism in North America: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|State of race relations and racism in North America}}

{{multiple issues|{{original research|date=November 2009}}

{{cleanup rewrite|date=November 2014}}}}

'''Racism in North America''' and the state of [[race relations]] there are described in this article. Racism manifests itself in different ways and severities throughout [[North America]] depending on the country. Colonial processes shaped the continent culturally, demographically, religiously, economically, and linguistically. Racism was part of that process and is exemplified throughout North America today but varies regionally.

== Canada ==

{{Main|Racism in Canada}}

In a 2013 survey of 80 countries by the [[World Values Survey]], Canada was ranked among the most racially tolerant societies in the world.<ref name="MapOfRacistCountries2">{{cite news |date=May 15, 2013 |title=Map shows world's 'most racist' countries |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/05/15/a-fascinating-map-of-the-worlds-most-and-least-racially-tolerant-countries/ |url-status=bot: unknown |accessdate=April 30, 2017 |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20170430071325/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/05/15/a-fascinating-map-of-the-worlds-most-and-least-racially-tolerant-countries/ |archivedate=April 30, 2017}}</ref> In 2021, the [[Social Progress Index]] ranked Canada 6th in the world for overall [[wiktionary:tolerance|tolerance]] and inclusion.<ref name="CBC 20142">{{cite web |date=2014-04-03 |title=Canada ranks 7th on Social Progress Index - CBC News |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-ranks-7th-on-social-progress-index-1.2597225 |access-date=2022-03-05 |website=CBC}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Greene |first1=Michael |title=2021 Social Progress Index rankings |url=https://www.socialprogress.org/index/global/results |access-date=14 April 2022 |website=Global Index:Results |publisher=Social Progress Imperative}}</ref>

Canadian author and journalist [[Terry Glavin]] claims that white Canadians consider themselves to be mostly free of [[Racism|racial prejudice]],{{failed verification|date=May 2021}} perceiving the country to be a "more inclusive society" than its direct neighbor the [[United States]],<ref name="Glavin 2017">{{cite web |last=Glavin |first=Terry |date=2017-08-28 |title=Are white Canadians becoming conscious of their whiteness? |url=https://www.macleans.ca/society/are-white-canadians-getting-conscious-of-their-whiteness/ |access-date=2022-03-05 |website=Macleans.ca}}</ref> a notion that has come under criticism.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kassam |first=Ashifa |date=2016-07-12 |title=Canada is hailed for its tolerance but is it ready to confront its racism? |language=en-GB |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/12/canada-black-lives-matter-indigenous-people-muslims |url-status=live |access-date=2016-12-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190612154417/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/12/canada-black-lives-matter-indigenous-people-muslims |archive-date=June 12, 2019 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=No charges against Peel police in death of Jermaine Carby &#124; The Star |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2015/07/21/no-charges-against-peel-police-in-death-of-jermaine-carby.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200903105624/https://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2015/07/21/no-charges-against-peel-police-in-death-of-jermaine-carby.html |archive-date=September 3, 2020 |access-date=October 7, 2020 |website=thestar.com|date=21 July 2015 }}</ref> For instance, Galvin cites the treatment of the [[Aboriginal peoples in Canada|Aboriginal]] population in Canada as evidence of Canada's own racist tendencies.<ref>Terry Glavin, [https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/glavin-canadians-have-no-reason-to-be-smug-about-race "Canadians have no reason to be smug about race"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180704092855/http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/glavin-canadians-have-no-reason-to-be-smug-about-race|date=July 4, 2018}} (November 2014), ''The Ottawa Citizen''</ref> These perceptions of inclusion and "[[Color blindness (race)|colour-blindness]]" have also been challenged in recent years by scholars such as [[Constance Backhouse]] stating that white supremacy is still prevalent in the country's legal system, with blatant racism created and enforced through the law.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Backhouse |first=Constance |title=Colour-coded: A Legal History of Racism in Canada, 1900–1950 |publisher=The Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History |year=1999 |location=Toronto}}</ref> According to one commentator, Canadian "racism contributes to a self-perpetuating cycle of criminalization and imprisonment".<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 21, 2015 |title=The Skin I'm In: I've been interrogated by police more than 50 times—all because I'm black |url=https://torontolife.com/city/life/skin-im-ive-interrogated-police-50-times-im-black/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024073606/https://torontolife.com/city/life/skin-im-ive-interrogated-police-50-times-im-black/ |archive-date=October 24, 2018 |access-date=October 7, 2020}}</ref> In addition, throughout Canada's history there have been laws and regulations that have negatively affected a wide variety of races, religions, and groups of persons.<ref name="McGill">{{Cite web |title=McGill's 1926 Jewish ban {{!}} The McGill Daily |date=2 September 2018 |url=https://www.mcgilldaily.com/2018/09/mcgills-1926-jewish-ban/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812153422/https://www.mcgilldaily.com/2018/09/mcgills-1926-jewish-ban/ |archive-date=August 12, 2020 |access-date=2019-12-05 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="Canada 1885">''Statutes of Canada. An Act of Respecting and Regulating Chinese Immigration into Canada, 1885. Ottawa: SC 48–49 Victoria, Chapter 71''</ref><ref>{{cite hansard|title=Chinese Canadian Recognition and Restitution Act|house=House of Commons, Canada|date=2005-04-18|url=http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=1659497&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=38&Ses=1|page=1100}}</ref>

Canadian law uses the term "[[visible minority]]" to refer to [[people of colour]] (but not aboriginal Canadians), introduced by the [[Employment equity (Canada)|Employment Equity Act of 1995]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Employment Equity Act (1995, c. 44) |url=http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/E-5.401/50293.html/?noCookie |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070212153447/http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/E-5.401/50293.html/?noCookie |archivedate=February 12, 2007 }}</ref> However, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination stated this term may be considered objectionable by certain minorities and recommended an evaluation of this term. In response, the Canadian government made efforts to evaluate how this term is used in Canadian society through commissioning of scholars and open workshops.<ref>{{cite web|title=Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination|url=http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/A.67.18%20English.pdf|website=United Nations|publisher=United Nations: Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination|accessdate=4 March 2017}}</ref>

In 2020, Canadian university students attracted media attention by sharing on Instagram their experiences of racism on campuses.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Bowden|first=Olivia|date=10 September 2020|title=Canadian university students use Instagram to reveal racism on campuses|work=CBC|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-universities-racism-instagram-1.5716603|access-date=}}</ref> According to Ethnic and Racial studies,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bailey |first=Kerry A. |date=2016-05-27 |title=Racism within the Canadian university: Indigenous students' experiences |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01419870.2015.1081961 |journal=Ethnic and Racial Studies |language=en |volume=39 |issue=7 |pages=1261–1279 |doi=10.1080/01419870.2015.1081961 |hdl=11375/25398 |s2cid=146254374 |issn=0141-9870|hdl-access=free }}</ref> Henry and Tator argued that in context of the Canadian universities, they have denied the role of racism in Canadian society and are resistant in the decision of changes which hinders incorporation and equity for students who are aboriginal.

== Mexico ==

{{Main|Racism in Mexico}}

Racism in Mexico has a long history.<ref>"[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CEEDF1330F932A25755C0A963958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1 The World; Racism? Mexico's in Denial.]", The New York Times, June 11, 1995,</ref> Historically, Mexicans who were more genetically Spanish and thus lighter skin tones, had absolute control over dark-skinned Indigenous people. That is evidenced in the Spanish colonial ''[[casta]]'' system. Generally, [[white Mexicans]] have made up the majority of Mexico's [[upper class]] and as such often feel a sense of superiority over the [[Amerindian Mexican|Amerindian]] population, most of whom have a [[low income]]. In Mexico, people who are darker-skinned or of indigenous descent make up the majority of the working classes, and lighter-skinned Mexicans of Spanish descent typically make up the majority of the upper class. However, there are notable exceptions as most of the poor in rural [[Northern Mexico]] are white, and in Southern Mexico, particularly in the states of [[Yucatán]] and [[Chiapas]], Amerindians and [[Mestizos]] make up a large part of the upper class.<ref>"[http://articles.sfgate.com/2005-08-03/news/17384163_1_mexico-today-memin-pinguin-mexico-city Racism Rears Its Ugly Head in Mexico]", San Francisco Chronicle, August 3, 2005</ref>

In Mexico, the most common racism is used towards Mexican families, underlies multiple relational and individual conflicts. Most racist feelings in Mexico are sourced in differentiation from Indians although the indigenous people were inhabitants of the ancient territories before they were conquered by the Spaniards.

== Trinidad and Tobago ==

The island nation of [[Trinidad and Tobago]] is a place of tension between [[wikt:Afro-Caribbean|Afro-Caribbeans]] and [[Indo-Caribbeans]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO|url=https://www.un.org/WCAR/statements/trinE.htm|access-date=2020-11-10|website=www.un.org}}</ref> Around 39% of Trinidadians are of African descent, 40% are of Indian descent and a small population is of European descent. Africans usually live in urban areas, notably the [[East–West Corridor]], and Indians usually live in the rural areas surrounding the [[sugar cane]] plantations.

According to W. Chris Johnson,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Johnson |first=W. Chris |date=November 2014 |title=Guerrilla Ganja Gun Girls: Policing Black Revolutionaries from Notting Hill to Laventille: Policing Black Revolutionaries from Notting Hill to Laventille |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-0424.12094 |journal=Gender & History |language=en |volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=661–687 |doi=10.1111/1468-0424.12094|s2cid=143188389}}</ref> in 1973, a secret wing of Trinidad and Tobago's police administration went to war against an equally-shadowy group of youthful people called the National United Freedom Fighters. On September 13, 1973, Beverly Jones, a soldier of the NUFF was killed in a firefight with Trinidad and Tobago's force. Revolutionary young girls and women like Jennifer, Althea, and Beverley Jones battled gender violence and racism that assembled both with and against anti-imperialist movements in which black men in tradition "set the agenda and stole the show."

== United States==

{{Main|Racism in the United States}}

Racism in the United States has been a major issue ever since the [[colonial history of the United States|era of colonialism]] and [[slavery in the United States|slavery]]. There were 12.5 million individuals abducted from Africa and transported to the Americas via the transatlantic slave trade between 1525 and 1866. Only 10.7 million people made it through the terrifying two-month voyage.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade - Database |url=https://www.slavevoyages.org/voyage/database |access-date=2022-12-01 |website=www.slavevoyages.org}}</ref> Legally sanctioned racism imposed a heavy burden on [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]], [[African Americans]], [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Latino Americans]], Americans from less-developed parts of Europe, and [[Asian Americans]]. [[European Americans]] were privileged by law in matters of [[literacy in the United States|literacy]], [[immigration to the United States|immigration]], [[voting rights in the United States|voting rights]], [[citizenship of the United States|citizenship]], land acquisition, and [[United States criminal procedure|criminal procedure]] over periods of time which extended from the 17th century to the 1960s. However, numerous European ethnic groups, including [[American Jews|Jews]], [[Irish Americans|Irish]], [[Southern Europe|Southern European]] and [[Eastern Europe|Eastern European]] Americans, as well as immigrants from elsewhere, faced [[xenophobia|xenophobic]] exclusion and other forms of racism in [[society of the United States|American society]].

Major racially structured institutions included [[Slavery in the United States|slavery]], [[American Indian Wars|Indian Wars]], [[Indian reservation|Native American reservations]], [[Racial segregation in the United States|segregation]], [[American Indian boarding schools|residential schools]] (for Native Americans), and [[Internment of Japanese Americans|internment camps]] (for [[Japanese Americans]]). Formal racial discrimination was largely banned in the mid-20th century and came to be perceived as being socially unacceptable and/or morally repugnant as well, but racial politics remains a major phenomenon. Historical racism continues to be reflected in socio-economic inequality. Racial stratification continues to occur in employment, housing, education, lending, and government.

As in most countries, many people in the US continue to have [[prejudice]] against other races. In the view of a network of scores of US civil rights and human rights organizations, "[[Discrimination in the United States|Discrimination]] permeates all aspects of life in the United States, and it extends to all [[person of color|communities of color]]." Discrimination against African Americans and Latin Americans is widely acknowledged. Members of every major American ethnic and religious minority have perceived discrimination in their dealings with other minority racial and religious groups. Using [[US Department of Justice]] statistics to show social justice inequalities, the index found that blacks were more than twice as likely as whites to experience intimidation and violence during police encounters and were three times more likely to be detained upon arrest. It turned out to be three times more likely. It is said that in 2020, black people were 93% more likely to be victims of hate crime.<ref>Thomas P. Bonczar and Allen J Beck, Lifetime Likelihood of Going to State or Federal Prison, Bureau of Justice Statistics</ref>

The legal scholar Charles Lawrence, speaking about the American political elite, said that its "cultural belief system has influenced all of us; we are all racists."<ref>{{cite book|last1=D'Souza|first1=Dinesh|title=The End of Racism|date=1996|page=17}}</ref> The philosopher [[Cornel West]] has stated that "racism is an integral element within the very fabric of American culture and society. It is embedded in the country's first collective definition, enunciated in its subsequent laws, and imbued in its dominant way of life."<ref>{{cite book|last1=West|first1=Cornel|title=Prophesy Deliverance!: An Afro-American Revolutionary Christianity|date=2002|page=116}}</ref>

Since [[Puerto Rico]] is a territory, rather than a state, the island is entitled to receive only certain "fundamental" constitutional protections, which is a source of their differential treatment.<ref name=":ospher 02">{{Cite journal|last=Derieux|first=Adriel I. Cepeda|title=A Most Insular Minority: Reconsidering Judicial Deference to Unequal Treatment in Light of Puerto Rico's Political Process Failure|date=2010|journal=Columbia Law Review|volume=110|issue=3|pages=797–839|jstor=27806633}}</ref> Holding the status as residents of an incorporated territory, they are limited to certain rights, are unable to vote in federal elections, and are excluded from certain federal entitlements and welfare programs under the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]].<ref name=":ospher 02" /> Furthermore, they hold zero representation in all branches of [[federal government of the United States|federal government]], which proposes the application of a heightened judicial view under the equal protection doctrine.<ref name=":ospher 02" /> The [[US Supreme Court]] holds the view that the [[US Congress]] may treat Puerto Rico unequally as long as it does so on a rational basis for its actions.<ref name=":ospher 02" /> Federal courts have relied on that upholding and Puerto Rico's unincorporated territorial status and the resulting systematic inequality to deny plaintiff's equal protection lawsuits.<ref name=":ospher 02" />

==See also==

*[[Racism in South America]]

== References ==

{{Reflist}}

===Works cited===

{{Refbegin}}

* {{cite book

|last = Lai

|first = Daniel W. L.

|title = Encyclopedia of Canadian Social Work

|chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=StvfAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA65

|year = 2009

|publisher = [[Wilfrid Laurier University Press]]

|isbn = 978-1-55458-807-7

|editor-last = Turner

|editor-first = Francis J.

|page = 65

|chapter = Chinese Immigration

* {{cite book

|last1 = Melnyk

|first1 = George

|last2 = Seiler

|first2 = Tamara Palmer

|title = The Wild Rose Anthology of Alberta Prose

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=g3TpVzpupaUC

|year = 2003

|publisher = University of Calgary Press

|isbn = 978-1-55238-079-6

}}

* {{cite book

|last = Wilford

|first = Timothy

|title = Canada's Road to the Pacific War: Intelligence, Strategy, and the Far East Crisis

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yOfwDoJbaNIC

|date = 2011

|publisher = [[UBC Press]]

|isbn = 978-0-7748-2124-7

}}

{{Refend}}

{{Racism topics}}

{{Americas topic|Racism in}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Racism in North America| ]]

[[Category:Racism by region|North America]]