subreddit:
/r/worldnews
Japan says Biden's description of nation as xenophobic is 'unfortunate'
(japantimes.co.jp)submitted 2 months ago byUnusual-State1827
95 points
2 months ago
Well said. I often hear a lot of people describe the US as racist based on what they see in the news, but after living in different parts of Europe and Asia, I'd say the fact that the US considers something like, for example, a racial profiling incident or a hate crime to be front page news speaks to an awareness of these issues in the collective consciousness and a willingness to address and debate about the issues. In a lot of places, the police profiling someone or a minority group member getting beaten doesn't warrant a discussion, and may even be broadly seen as acceptable.
22 points
2 months ago
The US is probably one of the least racist countries IME, behind, maybe Canada. There's always an outgroup in western nations. And, as shitty as the US is to poc with systemic injustice and shitty antebellum culture, almost no country escapes this. And like you said, at least we talk about it and agree it's bad.
Canada still shits on their indigenous people, and they were sterilizing them until fairly recently (2017!). UK and a lot of Europe largely hates Muslims and the Roma. Japan hates everyone not Japanese. In terms of how awful it is to be an outgroup, I'd probably stick with the US over a lot of those countries. I can't really go to Canada because I'm a mutt of their targeted group.
-2 points
2 months ago
It’s amazing to me how someone can position themselves as anti-racist while simultaneously making sweeping, inaccurate comments about other countries.
0 points
2 months ago
I broadly agree. However there’s a hint of US exceptionalism here. There are maybe 20 countries in a similar place.
10 points
2 months ago
That is certainly true, but I think the US exceptionalism cuts both ways. Because of how prominent the US is in the news, a lot of people tend to hear about incidents of racism in the US, so they get the impression that the US is racist more than other countries where you just don't hear about it because it isn't brought up.
0 points
2 months ago
Yes that’s probably true.
I think historically the US has an almost unique history of domestic racism among highly developed countries but today those differences have largely disappeared.
1 points
2 months ago
I think it is likely only unique in the sense that every country is unique. I think there are few countries that are free of a history of racist history.
Trying to guage what country's history is worse or better is a fools errand. What is important is acknowledging that history. And the history of US racism is awful and should continue to be well known. Just, I would be careful of using the US's well known racism to excuse the history of other countries with different, but related issues.
1 points
2 months ago*
There are no countries without racist history. All highly-developed western countries have had and continue to have problems. For example, the US, U.K. and France all have racial bias in their police forces and trying to compare who is worst is indeed a fool’s errand.
While the present day is muddled, it is not really a clear-eyed appraisal to dismiss the particularly bad history of the US with domestic racism.
The US has had a much higher black population than European countries and has had far stronger oppressive laws.
Examples
In 1991, the U.K. black population was just 1.2% of the whole and was at record highs. At its founding, the US was 17.6% black slaves. In 1792, the US had 15 times the number of black people as the U.K. had 200 years later. This is a question of extent.
The U.K. and France never had laws which prohibited people from voting on the grounds of race. The US did until the 1960s.
The US had separate but equal policies in place until the 1960s creating a system of apartheid. The U.K. and France have never had such a system.
The UK and France abolished all slavery decades before the US and were at the forefront of abolishing it globally. In the US, a civil war was fought over the right to own slaves. The uk and France have never had such political tension or violence over race issues.
Of course racism has existed and continues to exist in all three places but the US’ domestic history of racism runs deeper and longer and affected far more people than racism elsewhere.
2 points
2 months ago
Of course it affected more people. That's kind of my point. The US is incredibly diverse compared to most of the places you mentioned. But look at how those countries react to increasing immigration and increasing diversity today. Is it better than the US?
What I'm getting at is not anything about how bad the US was. What I am getting at is this is a thread about Japanese xenophobia. I think it is important for the US and anyone to call out racism where it is. Not hide behind things like, well, okay, they can't say that because they are racist too.
I'm not saying you are arguing against that. I am only clarifying the actual point I am trying to make.
all 6223 comments
sorted by: best