China on Friday responded to a recent U.S. government report on China’s human rights practices by issuing its own report on human rights issues in the United States. The “Human Rights Record of the United States in 2011” was released by the Information Office of the State Council, China’s Cabinet, in response to the “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2011” issued by the U.S. State Department on May 24.
One element of particular interest to ABS readers in the report is the section dealing with racial discrimination in the US.
Ethnic minorities in the United States have long been suffering systemic, widespread and institutional discrimination, said the Human Rights Record of the United States in 2011 released by China on Friday.
Ethnic minorities in the U.S. have low political, economic and social positions due to discrimination, said the report issued by the State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China, citing figures from different sources.
The number of ethnic people in civil service is not proportional to their population. The number of Asian Americans in New York City has topped one million, nearly 1 in 8 New Yorkers, but only one Asian-American serves in the State Legislature, two on the City Council and one in a citywide post of the New York City, the New York Times reported on June 23, 2011, according to the document.
The African-Americans’ 2011 Equality Index is currently 71.5 percent, compared to 2010′ s 72.1 percent, among which the economic equality index declined from 57.9 percent to 56.9 percent, and the health index, from 76.6 percent to 75 percent, and the index in the area of social justice, from 57.9 percent to 56.9 percent, according to the annual report released by the National Urban League of the U.S.
Ethnic Americans are also badly discriminated against when it comes to employment.
The unemployment rate of Hispanics rose to 11 percent in 2010 from 5.7 percent in 2007, according to the New York Times. A June 2011 report of the CBS News put the jobless rate of African Americans at 16.2 percent, For black males, it was at 17.5 percent, and for black youth, it was nearly 41 percent, 4.5 times the national average unemployment rate.
A study shows that of the seven occupations with the highest salaries, six are overrepresented by whites, according to a report of the Washington Post on October 21, 2011.
The poverty rate of African-Americans doubles that of whites, and the ethnic minority groups suffer severe social inequalities, said the Chinese document.
According to a report by the Pew Research Center released in June 2011, the median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households.
In 2010, poverty among blacks rose to 27.4 percent, and poverty among Hispanics increased to 26.6 percent, much higher than the 9.9-percent poverty rate among whites, according to www.census.gov.
The lopsided wealth ratios among whites, Hispanics and African-Americans in 2009 were the largest in the past 25 years, said a Pew Research Center Report.
In addition, the document said, ethnic minorities in the U.S. are denied equal education opportunities, and ethnic minority kids are discriminated against and bullied at schools.
According to a report by the U.S. Census Bureau on June 8, 2011, in 2008, among 18-to 24-year-olds, 22 percent were not enrolled in high schools for Hispanics, 13 percent for African-Americans, whereas only 6 percent for whites.
The document quoted the U.S. Education Minister Arne Duncan as saying on October 28, 2011 that, one third of American students are bullied at schools, and Asian American children bear the brunt.
“Racial discrimination has become an indelible characteristic and symbol of American values,” it said.
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