When attempting to rank or evaluate something or someone, context is everything. For instance, if we want to proclaim that a professional baseball player is an exceptional first baseman, we must first establish context. Are we comparing that player only to other first baseman playing today, in which case the bar is lower than it might otherwise be? Or are we comparing to him every first baseman who has ever played the game, in which case the great Lou Gehrig is indisputably the gold standard?
Context is critical.
So too does context affect one’s effort in trying to establish the qualifications of a country. Is France cold? Compared to Thailand, France is very cold. Compared to Iceland? Not so much.
Therefore, when the question of whether America is a ‘racist’ country comes up – and this debate comes up far too often, by the way – the most prudent approach is to compare her to other countries. Can we find examples of racist people or racist groups in America? Of course, we can. Then again, we can find examples of racism in Slovenia and Slovakia, as well as in Belarus and Belgium. Racism is widespread, unfortunately.
But first, let’s consider the definition. Racism can be defined as holding one race superior to another, or as the hatred of a specific race of people. Pretty simple. And while our friends on the left are attempting to redefine the term ‘racism,’ just like they are with the terms ‘woman’ and ‘recession,’ the definition we are using for this exercise has been widely embraced for decades.
Since we have a definition of what it is to be racist, and since we’ve established that the only way to properly measure anything is to put context to the question, let’s now examine whether America is indeed racist. But how?
Should we compare the number of racist incidents in other countries compared to the United States? Perhaps, but such an exercise is difficult since so many countries measure such matters differently. There’s also the issue of diversity. In countries such as the U.S., Australia, or the U.K. where there is substantial racial diversity, it should be assumed that such episodes would be more frequent because there are more opportunities. In countries such as Iran, Sudan, and China, there is significantly less diversity, so naturally, there are far fewer opportunities for racist incidents.
So, what better way is there to compare a country’s racist tendencies to others than to examine who they elect as their leaders? Let’s consider: America has elected a black man to the highest office in the land, namely Barack Obama, not once but twice: In 2008 and 2012. Additionally, we have elected a black woman, namely Kamala Harris, to the second highest office in the land, a position which she currently holds today.
So…. How many other countries can make a similar claim? Only 13% of Americans are black, which makes black folks a significant minority here in the U.S. How many other countries can state that they have elected a racial minority to lead them? Can any other country claim to have done it even once?
Spend a few hours, or days if you’d prefer, finding answers to that question, and we dare you to come up with solid examples. There are likely only two cases that you will find, and neither of them supports the argument that America is racist by comparison.
One country that you will find is Peru, which elected Alberto Fujimori, the son of Japanese immigrants, as president in 1990. Fujimori was indeed a racial minority elected to lead a nation. OK, fair enough. Good job, Peruvians. There’s only one catch. Fujimori had to flee Peru after being accused of corruption. He was eventually apprehended overseas and extradited back to Peru at which point he was put in prison. So, is Peru the example the anti-American left wants to use as an example?
The only other case you’re likely to find is even more damaging to the argument: South Africa. Voters in South Africa elected racial minorities to lead them for decades. South Africa is majority black, yet during years of apartheid, white men were elected to office election after election. Is South Africa the example they want to use? If not, who else?
How about those countries that American leftists claim are so admirable? In Canada, with lily-white, virtue-signaling clown Justin Trudeau, have they ever elected a racial minority? What about Mexico? How about the Scandanavian countries like Denmark, Sweden, or Norway, which Democrats love to point to as socialist even though they’re not… have they ever elected a minority? What about France, Great Britain, Germany, or Spain? The answer to each of those examples is ‘no.’ Can the left in America give one good example of another country that has done what we’ve done? Can they name one other country that has not only elected racial minorities but has done it multiple times and has done so without throwing those officials in prison?
America’s not perfect. We still have pockets of white supremacists, but they are rare. Anti-white and anti-Asian racism is on the rise, but certainly nowhere near the level of what we see in other countries. Additionally, America should always be striving to be better, and we should be honest when evaluating our racist past. But for one to argue that America is a racist country, particularly when we add the context of comparing ourselves to other countries, is a fool’s errand.
America may be the single most un-racist country on the planet, and we defy you to provide an example illustrating otherwise.
PF Whalen
P.F. Whalen is a conservative author at TheBlueStateConservative.com. His work has appeared in multiple publications, including Human Events, the Western Journal, and American Thinker. Follow him on GETTR; he does not do Facebook and Twitter.
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