美国根深蒂固的种族歧视问题凸显“美式人权”的虚伪  

中国人权研究会  

2019年7月

The Deep-Rooted Racial Discrimination in the US Highlights Its Hypocrisy on Human Rights  

China Society for Human Rights Studies  

July 2019

美国是一个多种族国家，历史上欧洲殖民扩张和非洲奴隶贸易，以及近代以来大量移民人口的不断进入，形成了当今美国的种族结构和种族关系。

The United States is a multi-racial country. Its present racial structure and race relations have their historical roots in European colonial expansion and African slave trade, and the influx of immigrants in modern times.

根据2010年人口普查数据，美国总人口约为3.08亿。美国官方根据肤色、血统、来源地等对种族进行分类：白人占总人口比例的72.4%，其中非拉美裔白人占总人口比例为63.7%；非洲裔占总人口的比例为12.6%；亚裔占总人口的比例为4.8%；原住民占总人口的比例约为1.1%；其他种族占总人口比例为6.2%；混合种族约占总人口比例的2.9%。非拉美裔白人被视作美国的主体种族，而包含拉美裔白人在内的1.12亿其他族裔都被称为少数种族。

The 2010 census showed that the US had a total population of 308 million. Based on their color, blood lineage, and places of origin, the US administration divides the population into: whites, 72.4 percent of the total population, including 63.7 percent non-Hispanic whites; African Americans, 12.6 percent; Asians, 4.8 percent; native Americans, 1.1 percent; other races, 6.2 percent; and mixed races, 2.9 percent. The non-Hispanic whites are deemed to be the majority racial group in the US, while the other 112 million people including the white Hispanic and Latino Americans are called minorities.

种族是美国重要的社会类别区分。美国学者托马斯·索维尔在其《美国种族简史》一书中指出，“肤色在决定美国人的命运方面，显然具有举足轻重的作用。”基于这种区分，美国不同种族之间逐步形成了一套在群体地位和群体权力上的层级系统。作为主体种族的欧洲裔白人对国家权力的根本性控制，以及对其他所有种族群体系统性的歧视，是美国种族层级系统的核心特征。美国的种族歧视事实上就是欧洲裔白人对所有其他少数种族的歧视。种族歧视既是这套种族层级系统的形成原因，也是这套种族层级系统的维持机制。

Races are an important marker of US social division of category. Thomas Sowell, a US scholar, writes in his Ethnic America: A History, "Color has obviously played a major role in determining the fate of many Americans..." It is such differences that give rise to a hierarchy formed among different races that defines the status and power of each group. The fundamental control of state power by the European whites, the dominant race, and their systematic discrimination against all other races are the conspicuous feature of the American racial hierarchy. Racial discrimination in the US is in essence the discrimination of the European whites against all other racial minorities. Racial discrimination is the root cause and the supporting mechanism of the American racial hierarchy.

一、美国种族歧视的种种表现

I. Forms of Racial Discrimination in the US

联合国《消除一切形式种族歧视国际公约》要求各缔约国采取积极行动，禁止并消除一切形式种族歧视，保证人人在法律上一律平等，不分种族、肤色或民族或人种得以平等享受公民权利、政治权利和经济、社会及文化权利。作为这一国际公约的缔约国，美国国内的种族歧视问题与此要求都相去甚远。美国种族歧视体现在现实生活的方方面面，其中特别突出地体现在执法司法领域、经济领域、社会领域。

The UN "International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination" requires all state parties to take active measures to prohibit and eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms, and to guarantee the right of everyone to equality before the law, civil rights, political rights, and economic, social and cultural rights without distinction as to race, color, or national or ethnic origin. The United States, a signatory to the Convention, has failed miserably in meeting these requirements. Racial discrimination in the US is found in every aspect of people's lives, particularly in law enforcement, the judiciary, the economy and society.

（一）执法司法领域中的种族歧视

1. Racial discrimination in law enforcement and the judiciary

法律面前人人平等是国际人权宪章的基本原则。虽然美国的政治理念和法律制度也明确承认这一原则，但现实中美国的执法司法实践却与之背道而驰，相关领域中的种族歧视现象呈变本加厉之势，少数种族的基本人权被肆意践踏。

Equality before the law for everyone is a basic principle in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; it is also recognized in America's political philosophy and legal system. In reality, however, many practices of US law enforcement and the judiciary run counter to this principle, with racial discrimination worsening in certain areas and the basic human rights of racial minorities willfully violated.

最为引人关注的是警察滥用职权枪杀非洲裔事件频繁发生。2014年，美国密苏里州弗格森镇手无寸铁的18岁非洲裔青年迈克尔·布朗遭白人警察6枪射杀。2015年，明尼苏达州24岁非洲裔男子贾马尔·克拉克在戴着手铐被制服的情况下被警察开枪杀害。美国联邦统计数据分析显示，非洲裔青年男性被警察射杀的风险比白人青年男性高21倍，15岁至19岁的非洲裔男性被射杀率高达百万分之31.17，而同年龄段的白人男性被射杀率仅为百万分之1.47。据“警察暴力地图”网站统计，2013年美国至少有301名非洲裔遭警察枪杀，2014年为320人，2015年为351人，2016年为309人，2017年为282人，2018年为260人。《纽约时报》网站2018年6月7日报道，截至2017年，在舆论广泛关注的15起警察枪杀非洲裔案件中，只有一名警察被判入狱。

One of the most visible of these is the frequent shooting and killing of African Americans by the police in acts of abuse of power. In 2014, 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was unarmed and barehanded, was shot by a white police officer six times and killed in Ferguson, Missouri. In 2015, 24-year-old Jamar Clark was shot and killed by police when he was already handcuffed and subdued. US federal government statistics show that young African American males are 21 times more likely to be shot and killed by police than young white males. For African American males between 15 and 19 years old, the chance of getting shot and killed by police is 31.17 per million, while the figure for white males of the same age group stands at 1.47 per million. According to the Mapping Police Violence website, in 2013 at least 301 African Americans were shot and killed by the police; the figures were 320 in 2014, 351 in 2015, 309 in 2016, 282 in 2017, and 260 in 2018. A report on The New York Times website from June 7, 2018 says that by 2017, only one police officer had been sentenced to jail in 15 cases involving the killing of African Americans that had attracted wide public attention.

警察在面对不同种族时所采取的差异性应对方式体现了执法中的双重标准。2016年2月17日，非洲裔男子加斯顿在经历严重车祸神志恍惚的状态下被辛辛那提三名警察开枪击毙，警方的解释是他试图去取腰带上挂的枪，但事后证明那是一枝假枪。而仅在此前一天，一名白人男子甚至用这种假枪对准辛辛那提的警察，警方却没有开枪，毫发无损地将其逮捕后仅以威胁警方的罪名进行起诉。《纽约每日新闻》网站评论称，这两个相似事件的不同结果突出表明了警察对待非洲裔和白人态度完全不同，在美国的确存在着种族上的双重标准。上述事件并非孤例。《华盛顿邮报》网站2016年12月6日报道，28岁的白人韦尔奇携带半自动步枪进入华盛顿西北部一家餐厅，之后放下武器从餐厅走出，背向警察双手举起，警察没有开枪。与此形成鲜明对照的是，2016年9月16日，在俄克拉荷马州塔尔萨市，手无寸铁的非洲裔男子克拉彻在高举双手背向警察的情况下被白人警察开枪击毙，他在被杀之前还遭遇了警方的电击。

The double standards of US police are very much reflected in the ways that law enforcement handles different ethnic groups. On February 17, 2016 Paul Gaston, an African American who had just crashed his car and was confused about his surroundings, was shot and killed by three police officers in Cincinnati. The police said that Gaston was reaching for a gun that was later proven to be a fake. Just a day earlier, the Cincinnati police chose not to open fire at a white male who had pointed the same kind of fake gun at the police, but instead arrested him without a scratch and charged him with threatening the police. An article on the New York Daily News website commented that the different results of two similar incidents provides clear evidence of the great disparity in police treatment of African Americans and white people, and that double standards on ethnicity do exist in the US. The incidents referred to above are not isolated cases. A report on The Washington Post website from December 6, 2016 says that Edgar Maddison Welch, a 28-year-old white male, entered a restaurant in Northwest Washington with a semiautomatic rifle. Welch surrendered and walked out of the place with his back facing the police, unarmed and with his hands up. Police did not shoot him. In sharp contrast, on September 16, 2016 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Terence Crutcher, an unarmed 40-year-old African American who had his hands up and his back turned to the police, was killed by white police officers who tasered him before shooting him.

美国执法领域存在着根深蒂固的种族偏见。首先，非洲裔的被捕率远高于美国其他种族。全国至少有1581个警察局非洲裔被捕率高于其他种族3倍，超过70个警察局非洲裔被捕率高出其他种族10倍以上，最高的甚至达到26倍之多。其次，警察在执法中偏袒白人。全国各地警察部门的数据统计显示，在实施“零容忍”街头执法策略地区，警察逮捕的对象主要为贫困社区中的非洲裔，而对富裕白人社区的同样行为则视而不见。再次，警察还针对少数种族实施圈套执法。在缉毒行动中，美国酒精、烟草、火器和爆炸物管理局使用执法圈套锁定的犯罪嫌疑人中，91%是少数族裔。美国民权联盟的报告揭示，非洲裔和白人吸食大麻的比例相当，但是前者因携带大麻被捕的可能性是后者的4倍。

Law enforcement in the US is rife with racial discrimination. First, African Americans are much more likely to be arrested by police than any other ethnic group. Statistics from 1,581 police stations showed that African Americans were three times more likely to be arrested than people from other ethnic groups; data from at least 70 police stations showed that African Americans were ten times more likely to be arrested than people from other ethnic groups, and some of these stations had arrested 26 times more African Americans.

Second, the police are in favor of white people in law enforcement. Data from police departments across the country show that in areas which practice "zero tolerance" in street-level law enforcement, police mainly arrested African Americans from poor neighborhoods while turning a blind eye to similar acts in affluent white neighborhoods. 

Third, police use entrapment strategies against minority groups. Of all the anti-narcotic operations by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, 91 percent of the suspects detained using entrapment strategies are racial minorities. A report of the American Civil Liberties Union says that Marijuana use is roughly equal among Blacks and Whites, yet Blacks are four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession.

美国司法领域中存在系统性的种族歧视。美国公共宗教研究所的调查显示，51%的美国人认为非洲裔和其他少数族裔在刑事司法体系中与白人相比受到了不平等对待，78%的非洲裔美国人认为他们在刑事司法体系中受到不平等对待。非洲裔男性的被监禁率比白人男性高5.9倍，非洲裔女性的被监禁率比白人女性高2.1倍；非洲裔仅占美国总人口的约13%，却占联邦和各州囚犯总数的36%。美国量刑委员会研究发现，针对同样罪行，非洲裔男性犯人刑期平均比白人男性犯人高出19.1%。全国免罪记录中心对1989年至2016年10月相关案例分析后得出结论，非洲裔美国人比白人更容易被错误判定为犯有谋杀罪、性侵犯、非法毒品活动等罪行。在1900名被宣判有罪但后来被改判无罪的被告人中，47%是非洲裔美国人。美国哈佛大学法学院教授安妮特·戈登说：“非洲裔还不是完全意义上的公民。非洲裔尤其是年轻非洲裔被假定为罪犯，隔离在充分享有公民权的边界之外。”

The United States Sentencing Commission found that on average the terms for African American males were 19.1 percent longer than those for white males. The National Registry of Exonerations, analyzing relevant cases from 1989 to October 2016, concluded that African Americans are more likely to be wrongfully convicted of murder, sexual assault, and drug-related crimes than white persons. Of the 1,900 defendants in known exoneration cases, 47 percent are African Americans. 

Annette Gordon-Reed, professor of American Legal History at Harvard University, once said that African Americans are not yet full citizens. Blacks, especially young African Americans, are presumed criminals and in practice they are denied full citizenship.

联合国严重关切美国执法司法领域的种族歧视问题。联合国人权理事会非洲裔问题专家工作组2016年的调查报告指出，美国政府未能履行保护非洲裔权利的责任，制度性和结构性种族主义的持续存在，对非洲裔美国人的公民权利、政治权利和经济、社会及文化权利造成了负面的影响。报告重点批评了警察暴力以及刑事司法系统中的种族歧视行为，而这些行为大多被免予刑事处罚。“警察枪杀非洲裔及其带来的心理创伤使人联想起过去私刑处死的种族恐怖主义行为。对国家暴力行为免予刑罚已经造成了当前的人权危机，必须作为紧急事项予以处理。”报告称，警察对手无寸铁的非洲裔的杀戮，只是司法体系中普遍存在的种族偏见的冰山一角。

The UN is gravely concerned about racial discrimination in law enforcement and the judiciary of the US. In its 2016 report, the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent of the UN Human Rights Council pointed out that the American government has failed to fulfill its duty of protecting the rights of African Americans, and that continued institutional and structural racism adversely affects African Americans' civil rights, political rights, and economic, social and cultural rights. The report criticized police violence and racial discrimination in the criminal justice system, pointing out that most of such acts go unpunished. According to the report, "Contemporary police killings and the trauma that they create are reminiscent of the past racial terror of lynching. Impunity for state violence has resulted in the current human rights crisis and must be addressed as a matter of urgency." The report also found that the killing of unarmed African Americans by the police is only the tip of the iceberg in what is pervasive racial bias in the judiciary system.

（二）经济领域中的种族歧视

2. Racial discrimination in the economic sector

由于种族歧视的客观存在，少数种族在就业、职业发展、工资收入、经济状况等方面处于全方位的劣势地位。经济领域中的种族歧视相对隐性，但其对于少数种族命运的影响却是决定性的。

Racial discrimination places racial minorities in a disadvantaged position in employment, career development, earnings, and general economic conditions. Racial discrimination in the economic sector tends to be implicit, but has a decisive impact on the life of racial minorities.

少数种族在就业市场中处于不利地位。从美国劳工统计局历年的统计数据来看，非洲裔和拉美裔的失业率远高于白人，且就业率上的种族差异并没有因经济形势的变化而发生改变。非洲裔的失业率通常为白人的两倍左右；拉美裔失业率通常比白人高出40%左右。

Racial minorities are disadvantaged in the job market. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) from past years, people of African and Latin American ancestry have a much higher unemployment rate than those of Caucasian ancestry, and the racial differences as manifested in the employment rate have not changed with the changing economic situation. African Americans have an unemployment rate twice as high as white people, and Latinos about 40 percent higher than white people.

少数种族面临薪酬歧视。美国劳工统计局2010年至2018年的数据显示，非洲裔全职工作的周薪中位值平均比白人低近30%，拉美裔全职工作的周薪中位值平均比白人低近40%。《今日美国报》网站2014年10月9日报道，美国经济研究所的研究显示，同等工作职位中亚裔的收入明显低于白人，例如在计算机编程和软件开发等高科技职位中，亚裔的年收入与白人之间的差距平均高达8146美元。

Racial minorities face wage discrimination. According to the BLS data from 2010 to 2018, in terms of the median weekly earnings for full-time employees, African Americans had average wages about 30 percent lower than those of white people, and those of Latinos about 40 percent lower. An October 9, 2014 report on the USA Today website stated that in the same high-skilled positions such as computer programmers and software developers, Asians make US$8,146 less than whites per year.

少数种族贫困状况严重，社会保障堪忧。美国有线电视新闻网2015年报道，种族之间的收入不平等进一步扩大，白人拥有的财富是非洲裔的12倍，是拉美裔的近11倍。美国经济政策研究所2017年2月13日发布的报告显示，大部分非洲裔和拉美裔劳动人口家庭的养老金账户中没有任何资产。超过四分之一的非洲裔家庭的净资产为零或负数。美国4500万贫困人口中28.1%为拉美裔。在美国1450万贫困儿童中，有37%为拉美裔。26%的非洲裔人口处于贫困之中，12%的非洲裔生活在极度贫困之中。与在美国整体人口中所占比例相比，非洲裔无家可归者的比例高出3倍。近60%的收容所居住者是少数种族。紧急避难所中5岁以下的非洲裔儿童是白人同类群体的29倍。

Racial minorities live in poverty and lack access to social welfare. According to a 2015 report by Cable News Network (CNN), the income gap between various ethnicities had widened further – the wealth possessed by white people was 12 times higher than that of African Americans and nearly 11 times higher than that of Latinos. According to research published by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) on February 13, 2017, more than one in four black households have zero or negative net worth. Latinos made up 28.1 percent of the 45 million living in poverty among the total US population. 37 percent of 14.5 million children living in poverty were of Latin American ancestry. Some 26 percent of African Americans were living in poverty and 12 percent in extreme poverty. The proportion of those of African ancestry among all homeless people in the US was about four times the percentage of African Americans to the total population of the US. About 60 percent of shelter residents were racial minorities. In emergency shelter sites, the number of children of African ancestry under age five was 28 times higher than their counterparts of Caucasian ancestry.

（三）社会生活中的种族歧视

3. Racial discrimination in the social area

少数种族在教育机构中遭受普遍的歧视与欺凌。美国教育部2013年至2014年民权数据显示，遭受离校停课处分的280万学生中，有110万是非洲裔学生，非洲裔学生遭受离校停课处分的可能性是白人学生的3.8倍。研究显示，亚裔学生在校遭欺凌多于其他族裔，54%的亚裔青少年表示曾在校园遭遇欺凌，非洲裔、拉美裔的这一比例分别为38.4%和34.3%，亚裔学生在网络上受到嘲讽或辱骂的比例是其他族裔的3倍。

Racial minorities experience discrimination and bullying in educational institutions. According to civil rights data from the Department of Education for 2013 and 2014, of 2.8 million students who were suspended from school, 1.1 million were African Americans, and the likelihood of suspension for students of African ancestry was 2.8 times higher than that of white students. 

A study reveals that students of Asian ancestry are bullied at school more than those of other ethnicities. Some 54 percent teenagers of Asian ancestry reported that they had been bullied at school, while the proportions were 38.4 percent for those of African ancestry and 34.3 percent for those of Latin American ancestry. The likelihood of students of Asian ancestry being bullied on the internet is three times that of other ethnicities.

工商业机构歧视少数种族事件频发。《赫芬顿邮报》网站2013年10月23日报道，非洲裔大学生特雷因·克里斯汀在巴尼百货公司购买了一条价值350美元的皮带，店员怀疑交易涉嫌欺诈并报警，他在出示了购买凭证和身份证件的情况下，依然被警察戴上手铐带到当地警局讯问。其辩护律师说：“他唯一的罪行就是身为一个年轻的非洲裔。”《洛杉矶时报》网站2018年5月27日报道，联邦消费者金融保护局的数据显示，在所有贷款类型中，非洲裔申请人被拒绝的比例是非拉美裔白人的2倍以上。非洲裔和拉美裔还被收取更高的贷款利率，他们通常要承担比平均利率高出1.5个百分点的年利率。

Racial discrimination occurs frequently in commercial and industrial establishments. According to an October 23, 2013 report by The Huffington Post, Trayon Christian, a college student of African ancestry, bought a US$350 belt at Barneys in New York City, yet was suspected of fraud, handcuffed and arrested by police for interrogation even though he had shown the purchase receipt and his ID. His attorney Michael Palillo said, "His only crime is being a young black man." According to a May 27, 2018 report by the Los Angeles Times, data from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) showed that black applicants were rejected at more than double the rate of non-Hispanic white applicants on all types of loans; black and Hispanic applicants were subject to annual percentage rates (APRs) that were at least 1.5 percentage points above the "average prime offer rate" for loans of a similar type. 

工作场所中的种族歧视和种族隔离现象明显。一项研究显示，58个被调查行业中有19个呈现出明显的种族隔离倾向。WFAA网站2018年12月11日报道，美国卓达飞机座椅制造公司的一名非洲裔员工，对公司存在种族歧视的工作环境提起诉讼。白人员工对他使用种族歧视性语言，称他为“黑猴子”。他在向公司举报后遭到报复，两位白人女同事竟将绞索放在他的工作台上。

Racial discrimination and racial segregation in the workplace has been explicit. A study revealed that obvious racial segregation was found in 19 of 58 industries investigated. According to a December 11, 2018 report by WFAA.com, an African American employee from Zodiac Seats US sued his employer for racial discrimination and hostile work environment, saying that his white coworkers called him "a black monkey", and two female whites even left a noose in his workplace as retaliation after he had reported their use of racial slurs.

非洲裔在日常生活中面临各种隐性和显性歧视。《今日美国报》2016年报道，在西雅图和波士顿等城市的调查显示，在使用优步软件叫车时，非洲裔乘客等待时间要比白人乘客大约长30%，且预约被取消率比白人乘客高出一倍。英国《金融时报》2016年11月16日报道，哈佛大学商学院的一项实验研究证明，生活中处处体现出对非洲裔美国人的隐形歧视。研究者在使用虚拟个人资料订房时发现，预订者的姓名明显像是非洲裔美国人的，其预订被接受的可能性要低16%。使用虚拟简历来应聘工作的，非洲裔姓名的简历得到面试的几率要显著低于内容一样但使用被认为可能是白人姓名的简历。

African Americans have experienced various forms of implicit and explicit racial discrimination. According to an October 31, 2016 report by USA Today, research targeting Seattle and Boston on Uber taxi booking revealed that African Americans waited 30 percent longer than white people for Uber rides, and their appointments were canceled by drivers twice as frequently as those of the latter. According to a November 16, 2016 report by the Financial Times, an experiment conducted by Harvard Business School proved that implicit discrimination against African Americans is universal. When requesting accommodation, applicants with distinctively African-American names were 16 percent less likely to have their bookings accepted. This study also revealed that when the name used on a resume was distinctively African-American, job applicants were significantly less likely to get an interview than when identical applications with names that could be perceived as white.

（四）对印第安人等原住民的种族歧视

4. Racial discrimination against Native Americans and other indigenous peoples

原住民经济状况堪忧，健康问题突出。英国《每日邮报》2011年2月15日报道，2011年的统计数据显示，主要由印第安人聚居的南达科他州齐巴克县有超过六成居民生活在贫困线以下，冬季失业率高达90%。2013年，时任联合国人权理事会原住民权利问题特别报告员詹姆斯·安娜亚的报告指出，美国原住民的贫困率是全国贫困率的两倍，原住民的寿命比全国平均水平低5.2岁。

Indigenous people experienced serious economic and health problems. According to a February 15, 2011 report in the Daily Mail, statistics showed that more than 60 percent of the residents of Ziebach County in South Dakota, a community mainly composed of Native Americans, lived on or below the poverty line, and unemployment rates hit 90 percent in the winter. In 2013, James Anaya, the then UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, pointed out that indigenous peoples in the US had a poverty rate twice as high as the national average, and that their average life expectancy was 5.2 years shorter than the national mean.

原住民妇女权利保障问题突出。2013年2月13日，时任联合国人权理事会原住民权利问题特别报告员詹姆斯·安娜亚指出，美国原住民妇女遭到非原住民暴力侵害的案件多发。美国司法部估计，原住民妇女遭受暴力侵害的比例是全国平均值的两倍多，原住民妇女遭受强暴的比例高达三分之一，80%的强奸案嫌犯不是原住民。联合国消除种族歧视委员会对美国第七次至第九次合并履约报告的审议要求美国防止和打击对原住民妇女的暴力行为，从法律上和实际上保障所有原住民妇女暴力受害者享有诉诸司法和得到赔偿的权利。

Conspicuous problems exist in protecting the rights of indigenous women. On February 13, 2013, James Anaya pointed out that violence against indigenous women by non-indigenous residents was commonplace. According to an estimate by the US Department of Justice, the ratio of indigenous women who had been victims of violence was more than double the national average. As many as one third of indigenous women had suffered violence, and 80 percent of rape suspects were not indigenous people. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in reviewing the United States' 7th-9th combined report on implementing the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, demanded that the country prevent and fight violence against indigenous women, and ensure that all indigenous women victims of violence have access to justice and compensation.

（五）对穆斯林群体的种族歧视

5. Racial discrimination against Muslims

美国政府对穆斯林群体大肆进行监控活动。2011年12月1日，美国公民自由联合会称，美国联邦调查局违反联邦法律，利用其广泛的网络越权秘密地收集穆斯林和一些其他组织的情报。皮尤研究中心的报告显示，52%的美国穆斯林认为受到政府监视，28%的穆斯林认为曾有过被视为嫌疑犯的经历，21%的穆斯林声称他们在机场过安检时被单独检查。一项民意调查表明，超过半数的美国穆斯林认为政府的反恐政策单独针对他们增加监控和检查。

The US government carried out large-scale surveillance on Muslims. On December 1, 2011, the American Civil Liberties Union asserted that the FBI, in violation of federal laws, used its pervasive unauthorized internet access to secretly collect intelligence on Muslims and some other organizations. A report by the Pew Research Center showed that 52 percent of US Muslims thought they were under government surveillance, 28 percent of Muslims claimed they had the experience of being mistaken for suspects, and 21 percent of Muslims said that they had to go through separate security checks at airports. A poll suggested that more than half of American Muslims believed that the government's counter-terrorism policies involved additional surveillance and checks targeted solely against them.

穆斯林群体遭遇日趋严重的歧视。2017年1月27日，美国政府发布一项行政命令，禁止伊朗、伊拉克、利比亚、索马里、苏丹、叙利亚和也门等7个国家的公民进入美国。由于禁令所涉国家均以穆斯林人口为主，因此该行政令也被普遍解读为“穆斯林禁令”。这一禁令在美国国内和世界各地都引发了广泛抗议。皮尤研究中心2017年初的一项调查显示，75%的美国成年穆斯林表示美国社会存在大量对穆斯林的歧视，69%的普通公众也持相同观点。50%的穆斯林表示，近年来在美国做一名穆斯林变得更加困难。

Muslims suffered increasingly severe discrimination. On January 27, 2017, the US government issued an administrative order, banning citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering its territory. In view of the fact that Muslims form the majority of the population in all those countries, the order was widely interpreted as a "Muslim ban", and it sparked widespread protests in the US and many other places across the world. In a survey by the Pew Research Center in early 2017, 75 percent of adult Muslims in America believed that discrimination against Muslims was pervasive in the country, while 69 percent of the general public held the same view. Half of Muslims felt that it had become more and more difficult to be a Muslim in the US in recent years.

宗教歧视明显上升，侮辱和攻击穆斯林的事件增多。穆斯林人口不到美国总人口的1%，但是联邦政府调查的宗教歧视案件中，14%涉及穆斯林；在职场宗教歧视案件中，25%涉及穆斯林。2012年9月，美国一名导演拍摄并在互联网上播放侮辱伊斯兰教先知的电影，引发全球穆斯林的抗议浪潮。皮尤研究中心对美国联邦调查局仇恨犯罪统计数据的分析显示，2015年至2016年，美国针对穆斯林的攻击事件数量显著增长，超过了2001年“9·11”事件后的峰值。英国《卫报》网站2018年10月22日报道，在2018年美国中期选举中，反穆斯林言论大幅上升。调查显示，针对穆斯林的阴谋论日益进入政治主流，“超过三分之一的候选人声称穆斯林天生暴力或构成迫在眉睫的威胁”，“将近三分之一的候选人呼吁剥夺穆斯林的基本权利或宣称伊斯兰教不是宗教”。

Religious discrimination is on the rise as events involving insults and attacks against Muslims increased in number. Muslims make up less than one percent of the US population, but 14 percent of the religious discrimination cases investigated by the federal government have involved Muslims, as have one quarter of the religious discrimination cases in workplaces. In September 2012, an American director shot a film insulting the Islamic prophet and released it online, evoking waves of protest by Muslims across the globe. According to a Pew Research Center analysis of the FBI statistics on hate crime, attacks against Muslims in America grew significantly in number from 2015 to 2016, exceeding the peak level following the 9/11 attacks in 2001. According to an October 22, 2018 article on the website of The Guardian, the US midterm elections that year had seen a dramatic rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric. A report showed that conspiracy theories targeting Muslims had increasingly entered the political mainstream. More than a third of the candidates claimed that Muslims are inherently violent or pose an imminent threat, and just under a third of the candidates called for Muslims to be denied basic rights or declared that Islam is not a religion, the report found.

（六）对移民群体的种族歧视

6. Racial discrimination against immigrants

美国政府污蔑和暴力对待移民。《华盛顿邮报》2018年11月26日报道，美国当局多次在美国与墨西哥边境使用催泪瓦斯，阻止来自中美洲的移民，导致多人受伤。2018年11月28日，联合国人权理事会任意拘留问题工作组主席兼报告员、人权与国际团结问题独立专家、健康权问题特别报告员、住房权问题特别报告员、“人权卫士”问题特别报告员、移民人权问题特别报告员、当代形式种族歧视问题特别报告员、酷刑问题特别报告员、贩运人口问题特别报告员、消除对妇女歧视问题工作组主席发表联合声明，批评美国政府高层违反国际人权标准、发表种族主义和排外主义言论并采取相关行动，对移民和难民进行污名化，将其视为罪犯和“传染病”，从而助长不容忍、种族仇恨和排外情绪，营造对非白人充满敌意的社会环境等。

The US government used slanders and violence against immigrants. The Washington Post reported on November 26, 2018 that the US authorities fired tear gas on multiple occasions at the US border with Mexico to stop immigrants from Central America, causing many injuries. On November 28, 2018, UN experts including Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children and Chair of the Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice, jointly issued letters to voice their concerns about the racist and xenophobic languages and practices used by US authorities, which fly in the face of international human rights standards. The letters said that the official response in that country stigmatises migrants and refugees, equating them with crime and epidemics, which also fuels a climate of intolerance, racial hatred and xenophobia against those perceived as non-white, creating hostile emotional environments.

移民政策致使儿童与父母骨肉分离。《纽约时报》网站2018年5月12日报道，美国政府2018年4月开始实施“零容忍”政策，边境执法人员在逮捕非法入境者时，强制将其未成年子女另行安置，导致至少2000名儿童被迫与家人分离。该政策在美国国内及国际社会遭致潮水般的严厉批评与抗议。

Immigration policies separating children from parents. The New York Times website reported on May 12, 2018 that the US government introduced a new "zero tolerance" policy, calling for criminal prosecution of everyone who enters the country illegally, in April. Minor children must be taken from the parents who are in custody in the process. As a result, more than 2,000 migrant children have been separated from their parents. This policy had drawn waves of strong criticism and protests from the US society and the international community. 

寻求庇护的妇女、儿童惨遭虐待和性侵。英国《独立报》网站2018年5月23日报道，美国边境执法人员虐待寻求庇护儿童的案件数量惊人增长。有116起虐待寻求庇护儿童的事件被披露，涉事人员被指控对5至17岁的儿童进行身体、性或心理上的虐待。美国移民委员会网站2018年8月30日报道，亚特兰大移民拘留中心卫生条件糟糕，被拘留的移民经常受到“关禁闭”和“单独囚禁”等惩罚。《纽约时报》网站2018年11月12日报道，得克萨斯州边境巡逻队的执法人员埃斯特班·曼扎纳雷遇到3名寻求庇护的女性移民，其中有2名未成年人。他将3人驱赶到距边境16英里的一个树林，在那里性侵了一名女孩，毒打了另外两人，之后把流血不止的她们扔在了灌木丛中。检方提供的信息显示，得克萨斯州南部过去4年至少有10人被边境执法人员绑架、强奸或谋杀。美国有线电视新闻网2018年12月26日报道，7岁的危地马拉女孩杰奎琳·卡奥12月8日在被美国海关及边境保卫局拘留后不到48小时死亡。12月24日平安夜，又一名8岁的危地马拉男孩费利佩·阿隆佐-戈麦斯在该机构监管下死亡。

Women and children seeking asylum suffered from abuses and sexual assaults. The website of The Independent on May 23, 2018 said there has been a startling increase in the number of instances where US Border Patrol officers have abused children seeking shelter in the United States. It quoted a previous disclosure from the American Civil Liberties Union that detailed 116 incidents where officers were alleged to have physically, sexually, or psychologically abused children between the ages of five and 17. According to a report on the American Immigration Council website on August 30, the Atlanta City Detention Center, used by the US authorities to hold individuals in immigration proceedings, were found to have problems such as unsanitary environment and rampant use of lockdown and isolation. The New York Times website reported on November 12, 2018 that Esteban Manzanares, a Border Patrol agent in Texas, drove three women, including two teenagers, who crossed border to seek shelter, to an isolated, wooded area 16 miles outside the border city. There he sexually assaulted one girl and viciously attacked two others and left them, finally, to bleed in the brush. The report said that over the past four years, at least 10 people in South Texas have been victims of murder, kidnapping or rape by Border Patrol agents. According to a report by the CNN on December 26, 2018, Jakelin Caal Maquin, a 7-year-old girl from Guatemala, died December 8 in the custody of US Customs and Border Protection, fewer than 48 hours after CBP detained her. Another 8-year-old Guatemalan boy, Felipe Alonzo-Gomez, died late Christmas Eve in the agency's custody.

联合国机构严厉谴责美国移民政策。2018年6月2日，联合国人权与国际团结问题独立专家依照联合国人权理事会第35/3号决议提交报告指出，美国政府奉行民粹主义，使用带有种族主义和仇外色彩的措辞污蔑和诋毁移民，并将儿童与其寻求庇护的父母强行分开，上述行径严重危及移民的生命权、尊严和自由权等多项人权。联合国消除种族歧视委员会第九十三届会议报告，以及联合国当代形式种族歧视问题特别报告员根据联合国大会决议撰写的报告指出，美国社会长期存在白人至上、煽动种族歧视和仇恨言论等现象。美国政府未能明确拒绝和遏制有关种族主义暴力事件和示威，包括总统在内的政府高官宣扬仇外的民族民粹主义言论，利用纸质媒体和社交媒体发表种族主义和仇外言论。

Strong condemnation of the US immigration policies from UN institutions. A report of the UN Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity, submitted in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 35/3, criticized the populism and the racist and xenophobic languages to describe immigrants used by the US administration as well as practices to separate children from their parents. It said these practices had imperiled the immigrants' human rights, including their rights to life, dignity and liberty (UN document A/73/206). According to the report of the ninety-third session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance prepared pursuant to a UN General Assembly resolution, the phenomena of promoting white supremacy and inciting racial discrimination and hatred have long existed in American society. The United States failed to unequivocally reject and contain racist violent events and demonstrations. High-level politicians and public officials, including the President, propagated nationalist and populist remarks, and published racist and xenophobic statements on print and social media (UN documents A/73/18, A/73/312, A/73/305). 

二、美国种族歧视的社会后果

II．Social Impact of Racial Discrimination in the US

美国种族歧视问题造成了严重的社会后果，它导致种族关系持续恶化，仇恨犯罪不断增加，社会撕裂日益严重。

Racial discrimination has a detrimental social impact in the US. It has led to worsening race relations, growing hate crimes, and increasing societal breakdown.

（一）种族关系持续恶化

1. Worsening race relations

2014年是美国《民权法案》颁布50周年，皮尤中心对美国种族关系现状的调查显示，仅有45%的受访者认为美国在种族平等方面取得了进步。皮尤中心2015年8月发布的数据显示，50%的美国人认为种族主义是美国社会的严重问题；60%的美国人认为国家需要继续努力促进种族平等，比一年前高出14个百分点。美国全国广播公司2016年的民意调查显示，77%的美国民众认为存在针对非洲裔的种族歧视问题，其中52%的人认为这种歧视非常严重。皮尤研究中心网站2018年2月22日报道，2017年的一项调查显示，81%的非洲裔认为种族歧视仍是当今社会的严重问题，比8年前增长37个百分点。美国全国广播公司新闻网2018年5月29日报道，一项问卷调查显示，64%的受访者认为种族主义是美国的一个重大社会问题，45%的受访者认为美国的种族关系在恶化，30%的受访者认为种族问题是当今美国社会分裂的最大根源。

The year 2014 marked the 50th anniversary of the promulgation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. A survey by the Pew Research Center on current US race relations revealed that 45 percent of respondents thought that the US had made progress in racial equality. Statistics released by the Pew Research Center in August 2015 showed that 50 percent of Americans thought that racism was a serious social problem in the US, and 60 percent – 14 percentage points higher than the previous year – thought that the government should make more effort to promote racial equality. A National Broadcasting Company (NBC) poll in 2016 found 77 percent of the US public confirming the existence of racial discrimination against African-Americans, and 52 percent of them calling it a very serious problem. Pewresearch.org reported on February 22, 2018 that in 2017, about eight in ten African Americans (81 percent) said racism is a big problem in society today, an increase of 37 percentage points compared with 2009.

NBC News reported on May 29, 2018 that a poll shows that 64 percent of its respondents said racism remains a major problem in American society; 45 percent believed race relations in the US are getting worse; and 30 percent thought race is the biggest source of division in America today.

（二）种族仇恨犯罪增多

2. Growing racial hate crimes

种族仇恨团体数量快速增长。美国南方贫困问题法律中心数据显示，美国国内的仇恨团体数量在1999年为457个，到2000年增长到602个，在2010年前后突破1000个，其中不乏“三K党、新纳粹、光头党、反穆斯林团体”等种族仇恨团体。在2017年弗吉尼亚州夏洛茨维尔的白人至上主义者游行中，就出现了这些种族仇恨团体的身影。

The number of racial hate groups keeps growing. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there were 457 hate groups in the US in 1999, 602 in 2000, and 1,000 by 2010. Among these were the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, Skinhead, and anti-Muslim groups. Their members were present at the white-supremacist demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.

种族仇恨犯罪数量居高不下。根据美国联邦调查局仇恨犯罪年度统计报告，2010年至2015年美国仇恨犯罪数量年均在6000起左右。这些仇恨犯罪中，60%左右的案件涉及种族歧视因素，20%左右涉及宗教歧视因素。《洛杉矶时报》网站2018年11月13日报道，联邦调查局发布的报告显示，2017年美国的仇恨犯罪创2001年以来的最大年度涨幅，上升超过17%。在7175起仇恨犯罪案件中，约60%的犯罪涉种族歧视，近50%的受害者是非洲裔。

The number of racial hate crimes remains high. According to the FBI yearly statistics for hate crimes, an annual average of 6,000 hate crimes were reported from 2010 to 2015. About 60 percent of such crimes involved racial discrimination and 20 percent involved religious discrimination. Latimes.com reported on November 13, 2018 that according to a report released by the FBI, hate crimes in the US rose by more than 17 percent in 2017 – the biggest annual increase since 2001. Among the 7,175 documented hate crimes in 2017, about 60 percent were motivated by racial discrimination and close to 50 percent victims were African Americans.

恶性种族仇恨犯罪案件时有发生。2014年4月，73岁的白人至上主义分子弗雷泽·格伦·克洛斯在堪萨斯城犹太人机构附近枪杀3人。他在被拘捕后大喊“希特勒万岁”显示其反犹太人立场。2015年，21岁的白人男子戴伦·鲁夫在南卡罗来纳州查尔斯顿一个非洲裔美国人的教堂内枪杀了包括牧师在内的9人，并在行凶时大喊：“你们必须滚出去！”2018年10月27日，46岁的白人男子罗伯特·鲍尔斯携带步枪、手枪等武器，闯入位于宾夕法尼亚州匹兹堡市的犹太人教堂，高喊反犹太主义极端口号，向正在教堂内礼拜的教徒进行了20分钟的扫射，致11人死亡、6人受伤。这是美国历史上犹太人社区遭受的最为致命的攻击。

Vicious hate crimes are frequent. In April 2014, Frazier Glenn Cross, a 73-year-old white supremacist, shot dead three people at two Jewish sites in Kansas City. He shouted "Heil Hitler" when arrested. In 2015, 21-year-old white man Dylann Roof shot dead nine people including the pastor inside an African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina. He shouted "You have to go" as he fired at his victims. On October 27, 2018, Robert Bowers, a 46-year-old white male, entered the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with an assault rifle and three handguns, and opened fire for 20 minutes during a Shabbat religious service while shouting anti-Semitic phrases, leaving 11 dead and 6 injured. This was the worst incident of anti-Semitic violence in recent US history.

（三）社会撕裂日益严重

3. Increasing societal breakdown

美国社会对种族歧视问题的认识存在严重分歧。美国公共宗教研究所2016年的调查表明，64%的非洲裔认为社区内存在警察施虐问题，仅有17%的白人认同这种观点，前者是后者的近4倍。有83%的白人对警察执法较有信心，但仅有48%的非洲裔同意这种观点。白人和非洲裔对警察杀害非洲裔美国人的看法截然不同，大约有65%的白人和15%的非洲裔认为警察杀害非洲裔美国人为孤立事件，但有81%的非洲裔认为该类事件广泛存在。

There are widely disparate views on racial discrimination in US society. A PRRI study in 2016 showed that 64 percent of African-Americans complained about police abuse of power in their communities, while only 17 percent of the white respondents shared this view – the former figure is nearly four times the latter. About 83 percent of white people had confidence in law enforcement by police, while only 48 percent of African-Americans held such views. White people and African-Americans held completely different views toward police killing of African-Americans. About 65 percent of white people and 15 percent of African-Americans thought such incidents were unrelated individual cases, but as many as 81 percent of African-Americans believed that such incidents were frequent in the US.

警察枪杀非洲裔事件引发不同种族之间的对立与仇恨。2015年11月，在明尼阿波利斯市，人权团体“黑人生命也珍贵”因非洲裔男子贾马尔·克拉克被警方枪杀而组织的抗议游行活动遭到数名白人至上主义者枪击，造成5人受伤。2016年7月，路易斯安那州、明尼苏达州先后发生白人警察枪杀非洲裔案件，美国多地爆发抗议游行。在得克萨斯州达拉斯市中心的游行示威活动中，一名枪手开枪袭击在现场维持秩序的警察，共造成5名警察死亡，9名警察受伤。枪手在与谈判人员沟通时表示，他杀死白人警察只是为了抗议警方枪杀非洲裔的暴行。

Incidents of police killing African-Americans have triggered racial hostility and hate. When the human rights organization "Black Lives Matter" took to the streets in Minneapolis in November 2015 to protest about the police killing of Jamar Clark, an African-American man, several white supremacists opened fire at them and five were injured. In July 2016, incidents of white police killing African-Americans in both Louisiana and Minnesota, which aroused public outcries in more than one place. During the protests in Dallas, Texas, a man shot at police officers, killing five and injuring nine. The shooter later explained that he had killed the white police officers only to protest police brutality against African-Americans.

白人至上主义游行引发暴力冲突。2017年8月，一些白人种族主义者和右翼抗议者聚集在弗吉尼亚州的夏洛茨维尔市游行示威，高喊着“鲜血与土地”的纳粹战斗口号。20岁的白人至上主义者詹姆斯·菲尔茨驾驶汽车高速撞向抗议白人至上主义游行的人群，致使1人死亡、19人受伤。英国《每日电讯报》网站2017年8月13日报道，白人至上主义游行及后续暴力事件共造成3人死亡，数十人受伤。美国民权团体将这次白人至上主义游行描述为“几十年来最大的仇恨聚会”。针对这一事件，联合国消除种族歧视委员会主席阿纳斯塔西娅·克里科里指出：“我们对白人民族主义者、新纳粹和三K党以公开的种族主义口号和仪式进行的种族主义游行感到极度震惊，这种行为助长了白人至上主义并煽动种族歧视和仇恨。”

White supremacist demonstrations trigger violent conflict. In August 2017, white supremacists and rightists were heard yelling the Nazi slogan "Blood and soil!" at a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. James Alex Fields Jr, a 20-year-old white supremacist, accelerated his car and slammed into the counter-protesters, killing one and injuring 19. According to a report on The Daily Telegraph website from August 13, 2017, the rally and subsequent violence resulted in three dead and dozens injured. One US human rights group said that this white supremacist rally may have been America's "largest hate gathering in decades". Anastasia Crickley, chairperson of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, commented: "We are alarmed by the racist demonstrations, with overtly racist slogans, chants and salutes by white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and the Ku Klux Klan, promoting white supremacy and inciting racial discrimination and hatred." 

三、美国种族问题难解

III. Systemic Racial Problems in the US

种族歧视深深植根于美国的历史与现实之中。这对少数种族权利和地位的平等实现构成了结构性的障碍，也成为美国社会撕裂的深层原因。

Deeply rooted in the history and realities of the United States, racial discrimination is a structural obstacle to the realization of equal rights and status for racial minorities, and also a profound cause of societal breakdown in the country.

美国的种族歧视现象贯穿其历史。在北美殖民地创建和西部开发时期，就一直存在对印第安原住民的屠杀、驱赶问题。从北美殖民地的建立到美国南北战争数百年间，非洲奴隶贸易在这块土地上盛行，大量非洲奴隶被劳役虐待致死，而针对非洲裔的种族隔离制度也直到20世纪中期之后才逐步得到废止。在美国立国及发展过程中，出现了对亚洲劳工移民的严重排斥与歧视问题——如臭名昭著的《排华法案》。诸如此类的种族歧视以不同的形式存在，伴随着美国的发展历史并延续至今。

The problem has existed since the US history began. Slaughter and displacement of Native Americans occurred throughout the colonial period and the Western Movement period. Over a period of several hundred years from the establishment of the North American colonies to the Civil War, the slave trade flourished, and numerous African slaves died from labor and abuse. The gradual abolition of racial segregation against African Americans did not begin until the mid-20th century. In the past Asian laborers too suffered serious discrimination, with the infamous Chinese Exclusion Act as an example. Such racial discrimination has persisted in various forms throughout the country's history.

美国的国家机构和社会制度未能消除种族歧视。执法机构针对少数种族的暴力执法、致命枪击、圈套执法、街头拦截检查已经成为一种常态。大型企业机构针对少数种族的就业歧视、晋升歧视、薪酬歧视已经成为一种潜规则。金融机构和房产中介通过合谋的方式维持种族居住隔离已经成为一种传统。正是由于社会制度的内在支撑与国家机构的不作为，使得少数种族在美国的政治、经济、文化、社会生活等诸多层面不可避免地遭受着全方位的歧视。

The US state institutions and its social system have failed in eliminating racial discrimination. Violent law enforcement, deadly shootings, entrapment, stop-and-frisk search have been commonplace. Discrimination against racial minorities in employment, promotion and pay is a hidden practice in large companies and institutions. Financial institutions and housing agencies collaborate to maintain residential separation between different races. The social system's underpinning role and the state institutions' dereliction of duties have subjected US minorities to inevitable discrimination in many respects including politics, economy, culture, and social life.

美国所有少数种族都面临着不同程度的种族歧视。美国在骨子里依然是一个白人盎格鲁－撒克逊新教徒的国家，所有不符合这些特性的种族、族群和宗教文化群体都不可避免地遭受到或多或少的歧视，其各项人权受到或明或暗的侵害。非洲裔、拉美裔、亚裔、原住民概莫能外，甚至拉美裔中的白人群体同样也无法避免受到种族歧视的伤害。

All racial minorities in the US suffer racial discrimination to various extents. In essence, the United States is still a country of white Anglo-Saxon Protestants. All other races, ethnic groups, and religious and cultural communities endure levels of discrimination, and either overt or covert infringements of their human rights. Even white Latino people cannot avoid the impact of racial discrimination.

2008年身为非洲裔美国人的奥巴马当选美国总统之时，包括一些主流媒体在内的不少人都为之欢呼，将其视作美国种族主义的终结以及美国彻底根除种族歧视的新起点。然而八年之间，警察枪杀非洲裔的事件依然频繁发生，“黑人生命也珍贵”运动风起云涌，种族关系处于二十余年来最糟糕的阶段，就连奥巴马本人都表示他在总统任期内绝对面临着种族歧视：“歧视几乎仍存在于我们生活的各个制度中，影响深远，仍是我们基因的一部分”。消除种族歧视依然如同马丁·路德·金所言还是一个梦想。

In 2008, many groups in the US, including the mainstream media, cheered for the election of African American Barack Obama as president, regarding the event as the end of American racism and a new beginning for the eradication of racial discrimination in the country. However, over the following eight years race relations deteriorated to their worst in over two decades, as police shootings of African Americans still occurred frequently and the "Black Lives Matter" campaign surged in response. Even Obama himself acknowledged that he suffered discrimination during his tenure as president. "What is also true is that … discrimination in almost every institution of our lives … casts a long shadow. And that's still part of our DNA that's passed on," the president said. The end of racial discrimination still remains no more than the "dream" expressed by Martin Luther King.

2016年以来，美国的白人至上主义呈现回潮之势。2017年夏洛茨维尔右翼极端势力游行及其后发生的种族主义恐怖行为使得美国的种族关系蒙上了一层厚厚的阴影。

Since 2016, white supremacy has been renascent in the United States. The extreme right-wing rally in Charlottesville in 2017, and the racist violence that ensued, cast a shadow over race relations in the country.

美国的种族歧视背后有着深刻而复杂的根源。种族问题将成为美国难以破解的社会难题，甚至成为社会冲突的爆发点。

Racial discrimination in the US has deep and profound causes. It has become a grievous social problem for the country, and is now a flashpoint for social conflict.

美国自诩为“人权卫士”，却无意亦无力解决本国存在的严重种族歧视问题，暴露了其制度性结构性缺陷，凸显了“美式人权”的虚伪本质。美国种族关系的现状受制于其国内的政治架构、历史传统和意识形态，不在这些方面进行改革，就无法改变美国种族关系和种族歧视的恶性循环，少数族裔人权保障也就无从谈起。

For all its self-styled positioning as a defender of human rights, the United States has neither the will nor the ability to solve the severe problem of racial discrimination on its own territory. This exposes the institutional and structural defects of the US, and the hypocrisy of its discourse on human rights. The status of race relations in the US is determined by the country's political structure, historical traditions and ideology. Without reform of these, there can be no way to break through the impasse in racial discrimination and end the resulting vicious circle in race relations, and the proper protection of the human rights of racial minorities cannot happen.

（来源：新华网）

(Source: Xinhua)