GOV'T REPORT: RACISM STILL IN U.S.
by Owen S OoodRacism is still at large in the United States, according to a new federal study, and it is visible in the differences between blacks and whites in income, incarceration rates and access to education and health care.
The study, released Thursday, is an analysis of U.S. compliance with an international treaty on eliminating racism. It finds the nation's laws comply with the treaty, but that American society does not fully embrace its spirit.
"We have not yet met the challenge of creating a colorblind society," said Harold Hongju Koh, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor. Though officially sanctioned segregation has been eliminated, "de facto segregation and persistent racial discrimination continue in parts of our society." Koch said.
"We think we've learned some lessons of how to deal with the realities of life in a multiracial, multiethnic setting," said Bill Lann Lee, assistant attorney general for civil rights. "Some of these lessons are lessons that we've learned the hard way." However, "In a sense, we're further ahead."
Lee was twice nominated for the job he now holds, but a Senate committee blocked his confirmation because opponents said he advocated racial hiring quotas when he was an attorney for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Clinton appointed Lee in 1997 while Congress was in recess.
The study was compiled by the State Department with assistance from other federal agencies for a fall 2001 U.N. conference in South Africa,
The report noted that while whites are a majority of Americans-- 196.1 million-they are a shrinking percentage of the population, falling from 75.7 percent in 1991 to 71.9 percent today.
During the same period, the country's Asian population increased by 46 percent to 10.9 million; the Hispanic population increased by 40 percent to 31.4 million; American Indians increased by 16 percent to 2.4 million; and the number of blacks rose by 14 percent to 34.9 million.
The report indicated the growing diversity has led to inflamed racial tension. But Koh said American race relations are nothing like the "virtually intractable" ethnic rivalries in the Balkans, Africa and elsewhere.
Morton Sklar, the executive director of the World Organization Against Torture USA, said the report minimized serious problems.
"I don't think it's fair to say we're far ahead of other nations," said Sklar, who called the report "disappointing." "It's totally unfair to downplay these problems by saying we're doing better than other nations."
Sklar's organzation released a separate report that said the United States is out of compliance with the U.N. treaty in areas such as affirmative action, racial profiling by police and administration of the death penalty. The group urged the United Nations to consider American-style racism a human rights problem.
The State Department report stopped short of declaring racism in America a human rights concern.
"No country or society is completely free of racism, discrimination or ethnocentrism," the report said.