Democracy, security for Black Americans is under attack in US: Report
A new report in the US shows right-wing extremism is spreading in classrooms, law enforcement, the military and Congress, resulting in rising violence, oppressive laws and racial discrimination against Blacks.
Extreme views adopted by some local, state and federal political leaders in the US who try to limit what history can be taught in schools and seek to undermine how Black officials perform their jobs are among the top threats to democracy for Black Americans, the National Urban League says.
The National Urban League, an African American civil rights organization, released its 47th annual State of Black America Report on Saturday.
One of the most prominent areas examined is so-called critical race theory. Scholars developed it as an academic framework during the 1970s and 1980s in response to what they viewed as a lack of racial progress following the civil rights legislation of the 1960s. The theory centers on the idea that racism is systemic in the nation’s institutions and that they function to maintain the dominance of white people in society.
Other issues in his group's report address extremism in the military and law enforcement, energy and climate change, and how current attitudes can affect public policy. Predominantly white legislatures in Missouri and Mississippi have proposals that would shift certain government authority from some majority Black cities to the states.
Violence is one of the major areas of concern covered in the Urban League report, especially in light of the 2022 mass shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York. The accused shooter left a manifesto raising the “great replacement theory ” as a motive in the killings.
Data released this year by the FBI indicated that hate crimes rose between 2020 and 2021. African Americans were disproportionately represented, accounting for 30% of the incidents in which the bias was known.
By comparison, the second largest racial group targeted in the single incident category was white victims, who made up 10%.
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