This article describes the state of race relations and racism in North America. The form that racism takes from country to country may be different for historic, cultural, religious, economic or demographic reasons.
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Quebec, a region with a large French-speaking population, is a special circumstance for Canada. In January 2007 the mayor and municipal council of Hérouxville adopted a code of behavior prohibiting immigrants from covering their faces and praying in school. The code also prohibits the stoning of women and female genital cutting. A similar code passed in October 2008 requires new immigrants to sign a document stating that that they will learn French and respect Quebec's "shared values".[1]
Canadians freely use the term "visible minority" to refer to all people of color. This legally recognized term is entrenched in Canada's Employment Equity Act of 1995.[2] The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination told Canada that the term “Visible Minority” is offensive and racist.[3] Many Canadians see the Employment Equity Act as an anachronism from the late 20th century which helps entrench race-based quotas.[4]
Canada's treatment of Aboriginals is governed by the Indian Act, which provides special treatment for Indians, Inuit and Metis. In 1999 the Canadian government created an autonomous territory, Nunavut for the Inuit living in the Arctic and Northernmost parts of the country. The Inuit compose 85% of the population of Nunavut, which represents a new level of self-determination for the indigenous people of Canada.[5] In August 2008, McGill University's Chancellor and International Olympic Committee representative Richard Pound made a statement in an interview with La Presse in which he said : "We must not forget that 400 years ago, Canada was a land of savages, with scarcely 10,000 inhabitants of European origin, while in China, we're talking about a 5,000-year-old civilization,".[6] This is seen as a painfull reminder that the Aboriginal peoples of Canada still struggle to gain acceptance as a nation that was equal to the British nation.
There are notable records of slavery in Canada from the 17th century. More than half of all Canadian slaves were aboriginal, and the United Empire Loyalists brought their slaves with them after leaving what became the United States. In 1793 the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe, passed the Act Against Slavery making it illegal to bring slaves into the colony, and mandating the gradual emancipation of all slaves in Upper Canada.[7] In 1834 slavery was outlawed in Canada. While most of the emancipated slaves of African descent were sent to settle Freetown in Sierra Leone, those who remained primarily lived in segregated communities such as Africville outside Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Starting in 1858, Chinese "coolies" were brought to Canada to work in the mines and on the Canadian Pacific Railway. These new immigrants were denied the rights of citizenship, including the right to vote, and in the 1880s, "head taxes" were implemented to curtail immigration from China. In 1907 a riot in Vancouver targeted Chinese and Japanese-owned businesses. In 1923 the federal government passed the Chinese Immigration Act, commonly known as the Exclusion Act, prohibiting further Chinese immigration except under "special circumstances". Japanese Canadians were also subject to anti-Asian racism, particularly during World War II when many Canadians of Japanese heritage — even those who were born in Canada — were forcibly moved to internment camps. The Canadian government officially apologised and made restitution for the treatment of Japanese Canadians in 1988.[8] The Exclusion Act was repealed in 1947, the same year in which the right to vote was extended to Chinese Canadians. In 1967 all racial restrictions on immigration to Canada were repealed, and Canada adopted the current points based system.
Throughout the years, many high profile cases of racism against Black Canadians have occurred in Nova Scotia giving it the title of "The Mississippi of the North".[9][10] The province in Atlantic Canada continues to battle racism with an annual march to end racism against people of African descent.[11][12]
Anglophone and Francophone relations in Canada are sensitive because of differences in ethnicity, language and provincial separatism (Quebec being a notable example). For centuries after the British annexation of New France, the French-speaking population of Quebec and other provinces felt victimized by discrimination, under-representation and disrespect of their culture and language. The Canadian parliament has tried uniting Canadians through bilingualism and has recognized the French, along with the English, as the “founding people(s) of Canada.” Canadians claim to strongly oppose racism in public discourse, believing that multiculturalism is a cherished national tradition.
Canada does have a tragic history of racism and intolerance: The racial segregation of African-Canadians in public schools in Ontario, instances of anti-Semitism in rural Quebec where the Roman Catholic Church is prominent. Until 1954 the church held a seat on the Quebec provincial government. After the legal persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses during World War II, the Quebec government was ordered to remove the official state church clause dating to colonial times. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries Indo-Canadians, (South Asians, Indians) and Polynesian “Kanakas” were considered a source of labor for mines, railroads and farms and faced discrimination from Whites.
National media attention has focused on the number of Aboriginal Canadians who report police brutality and harassment, including unlawful stops and seizures, racial slurs and stereotyping as “Indian drunks or druggies or bandits.”
The island nation of Trinidad and Tobago is a melting pot of cultures, yet it is also a place of tension between the politically and economically empowered Afro-Caribbeans and Indo-Caribbeans. Trinidad and Tobago is home to approximately 1.3 million people, with 95% living on Trinidad and 5% living on Tobago. Around 39% of Trinidadians are of African descent, 40% are of Indian descent and a small population are of European descent. Africans usually live in urban areas, notably the East-West corridor, while Indians usually live in the rural areas surrounding the sugar cane plantations.
Although both ethnic groups mix fairly well in daily life, racism exists on every level of society. It is thought that the British colonial government created the racial melange to divert attention away from the few whites at the highest ends of business and government. Tension existed between the two ethnic groups from the day African slaves achieved emancipation and Indians arrived to work on the sugar plantations.
Racism in Mexico has a long history.[13] The upper and middle class Mexicans have lighter skin tones than members of the lower classes. Almost uniformly, people who are darker-skinned and of indigenous descent make up the peasantry and working classes, while lighter-skinned, Spanish-descent Mexicans are in the ruling elite.[14] Because of this, many of the Mexicans of indigenous descent in poverty are left to join one of Mexico's drug cartels as their only means of survival.[15]
Today in Mexico this general ideology of class division based on skin color has not changed. Racism in Mexico is very common, but many do not realize that they are being racist when using common phrases. For example, it is sometimes believed that when a person of a darker-skinned tone marries a person of a lighter skinned-tone, they are “ 'making the race better' (Estoy mejorando la raza)." This is a common phrase, but also a self-attack on the Mestizo, Amerindian, and/or black races.[16] In certain towns in the southern parts of Mexico which neighbor with the country of Belize there is a general negative attitude towards people of African descent. For example, Mexico's former president Vicente Fox has been quoted as saying that Mexican immigrants to the United States take jobs "that not even blacks want to do."[17] This general cultural mentality of Mexicans towards people of darker skin color could explain to a great extent the racial problems between Mexicans and Afro-Americans in the United States and North America. It can also explain why those of a darker-skinned color are the majority entering the United States illegally.
Racism in the United States has been a major issue ever since the colonial era and the slave era. Legally sanctioned racism imposed a heavy burden on Native Americans, African Americans, and Asian Americans. European Americans were privileged by law in matters of literacy, immigration, voting rights, citizenship, land acquisition, and criminal procedure over periods of time extending from the 17th century to the 1960s. Many European ethnic groups, particularly American Jews, Irish Americans, and Eastern European and Southern European immigrants, as well as immigrants from elsewhere, suffered xenophobic exclusion and other forms of racism in American society.
Major racially structured institutions included slavery, Indian Wars, Native American reservations, segregation, residential schools (for Native Americans), and internment camps. Formal racial discrimination was largely banned in the mid-20th century, and came to be perceived as socially unacceptable and/or morally repugnant as well, yet racial politics remain a major phenomenon. Historical racism continues to be reflected in socio-economic inequality. Racial stratification continues to occur in employment, housing, education, lending, and government.
As in most countries, many people in the U.S. continue to have some prejudices against other races. In the view of a network of scores of US civil rights and human rights organizations, "Discrimination permeates all aspects of life in the United States, and extends to all communities of color." Discrimination against African Americans, Latin Americans, and Muslims is widely acknowledged. Members of every major American ethnic and religious minority have perceived discrimination in their dealings with other minority racial and religious groups.
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