Posts tagged : "Racism"

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: The United States is a diverse and multicultural society, accommodating people coming from a range of racial, cultural, religious and national backgrounds. In fact, multiculturalism is believed to be a historical tradition in the United States, and the blending of cultures and ethnic groups in America since it was discovered by the Europeans in the 17th and 18th centuries, has led to the country to become known as a “melting pot.” Americans see advantages in their country’s growing demographic diversity. According to a Pew Research Center study carried out in 2019, a majority of Americans, namely 57% of them, believe the fact that there’s a diverse composition of people from different ethnic and...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: The coming to power of Donald Trump has reignited the debate on immigration and multiculturalism in the United States. His stringent policies and the efforts to slash both legal and illegal immigration to the US have been at the forefront of controversy since he took office in January 2017, leading some to assert that Trump is heading “the most immigration-restrictive administration since the 1920s.” Immigration and race relations are expected to be major areas of focus in the 2020 election, once again highlighting a longstanding challenge the United States has been grappling with. In September 2019, the State Department announced that the US will only admit up to 18,000 refugees in the next...

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: Muslims have been part of the American society for nearly 400 years. Although there are rumors that Muslim sailors navigated their way to America as early as the 12th and 14th centuries, the first documented arrival of Muslims in America occurred in the 17th century, when slaves from different African nations were brought to what is now the United States. About 10 to 15 percent of these African slaves were said to be Muslims. They practiced their faith clandestinely and handed it over to their offspring. Between 1878 and 1924, large numbers of Muslim immigrants from the Middle East, particularly from Lebanon and the Greater Syria, arrived in the United States and settled in Ohio, Michigan, Iowa and the...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: The World Happiness Report published by the United Nations in March this year identified Norway as the world’s third happiest country. The Scandinavian nation is doing remarkably well when it comes to key variables that influence well-being, such as income, freedom, trust, life expectancy, social support and generosity. One of the wealthiest nations in the world, Norway offers free education, public pensions and universal health care to its residents and has made exemplary accomplishments in tackling inequality, unemployment and illiteracy. Norway is seen as a model in the developing world, including in Western Europe and North America, given the remarkable strides it has made in becoming an...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Democracy is on the decline. In 2018, the Freedom in the World report published by Freedom House recorded the 12th consecutive year of retreating global freedom. This included established democracies like the United States as well as authoritarian countries such as China and Russia. In the US, the situation is particularly worrying as a populist president appears to be damaging the country’s democracy through his divisive rhetoric, his contempt for the rule of law and his fiery attacks on the media and his critics. President Donald Trump’s incendiary language and his aggressive comments about immigrants, Muslims and Mexicans have emboldened white nationalists. Law enforcement authorities...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: The United States thrives on being a multicultural and diverse society that guarantees individual freedoms and rights to all its citizens. However, even though the brutal institution of slavery and the era of racial segregation are a thing of the past, there are indications that systemic racism hasn’t gone away and still haunts American society. In 1967, the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, known as the Kerner Commission, which was tasked by President Lyndon B. Johnson to probe the causes of the 1967 race riots and come up with recommendations for the future, concluded that the United States was “moving toward two societies, one black, one white — separate and unequal.” Almost...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: On March 15, 2019, New Zealand witnessed the deadliest mass shooting in its modern history. A 28-year-old Australian gunman opened fire on worshippers at the Al Noor Mosque in the Christchurch suburb of Riccarton, and went on with the shooting rampage at the Linwood Islamic Centre, killing 50 and injuring 50 others. He was driven by ideas of white supremacy, Islamophobia and far-right extremism. The victims came from all over the world and all walks of life — teachers, engineers, accountants, a three-year-old toddler born in New Zealand to Somali parents, Afghan, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indonesian, Indian and Egyptian natives, and Syrian refugees. According to the New Zealand police, the assailant...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Anti-black racism in the United States continues to be a problem over half a century since the abolition of Jim Crow laws. These laws enforced segregation between black and white Americans in public places. Although the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination in employment and banned race-based segregation, as well as sporadic efforts by successive US governments to tackle racial inequalities, racism still looms large in 21st-century America. Even if it is not a national trend, minorities in the US continue to receive discriminatory treatment from law enforcement officials and face major obstacles in securing housing, health care and quality education, as well as experiencing...

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: Islamophobia is a huge source of concern in the 21st century, featuring itself in forms like anti-Muslim hate speech, intolerance in neighbourhoods, socioeconomic inequalities and policies dictated by governments, which are not conducive to public good. A distinguished American academician says as long as some version of the "war on terror" project lingers, Islamophobia continues to be a prominent problem. Todd Green, an Associate Professor of Religion at Luther College and a recognised expert on Islamophobia says some world leaders have done a good job in vocally condemning anti-Muslim discrimination, even though their record in standing by the Muslims and minorities has been mixed. Prof Green, however,...

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: The foreign policy of Trump administration is similarly highly controversial and questionable. He finds himself in a new skirmish with another country every couple of days, while traveling internationally to expand the limits of the United States' influence and strength The different aspects of the U.S. President Donald Trump's presidency are being debated by the U.S. and international media these days intensely. CNN's Brian Stelter has recently talked about a "credibility crisis" Trump's White House is grappling with, saying that despite the pledges he made during the campaign season, he is telling lies to his constituency on a daily basis. For millions of Americans who voted for Trump in the 2016 polls,...

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: Jane Elliott is a distinguished American former third-grade school-teacher, anti-racism activist, feminist and educationalist. She is known for implementing an exercise called "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes" in a classroom of third-graders in Riceville, Iowa, to figure out how racist her students were and gauge the amount of racial prejudice towards otheres among her young pupils. The highly-controversial test created divisions among the townspeople and made her a national icon of fight against racism. She did the exercise one day after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and her initiative became the basis of much of what is now known as "diversity training". She introduced this method to firms in the U.S.,...