V. On Racial Discrimination
The United States is a multi-ethnic nation of immigrants, with minority
ethnic groups accounting for more than one-fourth of its population. But racial
discrimination has long been a chronic malady of American society.Black
Americans and other ethnic minorities are at the bottom of American society and
their living standards are much lower than that of whites. According to The
State of Black America 2005, the income level of African American families is
only one-tenth of that of white families, and the welfare enjoyed by black
Americans is only three-fourths of their white counterparts. In 2004, the
poverty rate was 24.7 percent for African Americans, 21.9 percent for Hispanics,
and 8.6 percent fornon-Hispanic whites. In New Orleans, 100,000 of its 500,000
population live in poverty, with the majority of them being black Americans. The
home ownership rate for blacks is 48.1 percent compared with 75.4 percent for
whites. The Washington Post reported on April 11, 2005 that in 2004, about 29
percent of African Americans who bought or refinanced homes ended up with
high-cost loans, compared with only about 10 percent of white Americans.
Statistics released by the Federal Reserve in September 2005 also indicated that
according to the 2004 mortgage data, the average incidence of higher-priced home
purchase loans was 32.4 percent among African-Americans, 20.3 percent among
Hispanic whites and 8.7 percent for non-Hispanic whites. The Los Angles Times
quoted on July 14, 2005 a report on the State of Black Los Angeles as saying
that black Americans were behind other ethnic groups in income, housing, medical
care and education. Blacks had the lowest median household income of 31,905
dollars, compared with whites at 53,978 dollars. Although just 10 percent of the
population, blacks were estimated to make up 30 percent or more ofthe homeless.
Minorities face discrimination in employment and occupation. According to a
report of the U.S. Department of Labor, in November 2005 the black unemployment
rate was 10.6 percent, compared with the white unemployment rate at 4.3 percent.
Black male earnings were 70 percent of white males, and black females earnings,
83 percent of their white counterparts. Ethnic minorities are often kept away
from high-end occupations. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
quoted a report as saying that the employment discrimination rate was 31 percent
for Asians and 26 percent for African Americans, and the discrimination against
Muslims doubled after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The China Press reported that
although Africans, Hispanics and Asians accounted for 57 percent of the work
force in New York City, only less than 19 percent of them have got senior
management positions, compared with whites who dominate 76 percent of them, or
even 97 percent of such positions in some government departments.
The rates of colored people without health insurance are higher than that of
whites. The uninsured rate was 19.7 percent for blacks and 32.7 percent for
Hispanics, that is to say nearly one of every three Hispanics in America had no
health insurance. The black life expectancy was six years less than that of
whites, and the mortality for black infants aging below one year doubled that
for such white infants. According to the Washington Post, 76.3 outof every
200,000 blacks were found infected with HIV/AIDS, eight times higher than
whites. Blacks account for more than half of allnew HIV/AIDS infections in
America and black women account for an astonishing 72 percent of all new cases
among women. More than 80,000 American blacks die annually due to lack of health
insurance, with the death rate of middle-aged black males twice that of the same
white group.
