US government should face up to its original historical sin on the 160th anniversary of The Emancipation Proclamation: Chinese FM
Demonstrators hold up fists during a protest over the death of George Floyd in Chicago, the United States, June 6, 2020. Photo:Xinhua
The US government should face up to its original historical sin and take practical measures to truly improve the human rights situation of ethnic minorities in the country, instead of slandering and smearing other countries under the guise of human rights, spokesperson of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday.
Thursday—September 22, marks the 160th anniversary of The Emancipation Proclamation. However, The Emancipation Proclamation did not soothe the scar of racism. According to newly released findings by Pew Research Center, 44 percent of Black Americans say equality for Black people in the US is not likely to be achieved.
The report by Pew Research Center, published on August 30, said that 65 percent of Black Americans say the increased national attention on racial inequality has not led to changes that improved their lives. The survey explores how Black Americans assess their position in US society and their ideas about social change.
In response, Zhao Lijian, spokesperson of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, pointed out that the slave trade was the original sin of the US, and that 160 years later, African Americans still cannot break the shackles of racial discrimination.
In the survey, roughly eight-in-ten say they have personally experienced discrimination because of their race or ethnicity, and 68 percent of them say racial discrimination is the main reason many Black people cannot get ahead. Zhao said that as a nation of only 246 years, slavery has been legal in the US for one-third of its founding history. According to German data firm Statista, there were about 700,000 black slaves in the United States in 1790, while by 1860 the number had exceeded 3.95 million. In 2019 data of all police killings in the country compiled by Mapping Police Violence, black Americans, which counted for less than 13 percent of the US population, were nearly three times more likely to die from police action than white Americans. African Americans are three times as likely as whites to be infected with the coronavirus, twice as likely to die from COVID-19. The report of the Pew Research Center also said that roughly 77 percent of Black Americans say descendants of people enslaved in the US should be repaid in some way when addressing the result of questions about the atonement for slavery. However, very few think they will see reparations in their lifetime.
"The US government should face up to its original historical sin to truly improve the human rights situation of ethnic minorities in the country, instead of slandering and smearing other countries under the guise of human rights," Zhao said.
Thursday—September 22, marks the 160th anniversary of The Emancipation Proclamation. However, The Emancipation Proclamation did not soothe the scar of racism. According to newly released findings by Pew Research Center, 44 percent of Black Americans say equality for Black people in the US is not likely to be achieved.
The report by Pew Research Center, published on August 30, said that 65 percent of Black Americans say the increased national attention on racial inequality has not led to changes that improved their lives. The survey explores how Black Americans assess their position in US society and their ideas about social change.
In response, Zhao Lijian, spokesperson of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, pointed out that the slave trade was the original sin of the US, and that 160 years later, African Americans still cannot break the shackles of racial discrimination.
In the survey, roughly eight-in-ten say they have personally experienced discrimination because of their race or ethnicity, and 68 percent of them say racial discrimination is the main reason many Black people cannot get ahead. Zhao said that as a nation of only 246 years, slavery has been legal in the US for one-third of its founding history. According to German data firm Statista, there were about 700,000 black slaves in the United States in 1790, while by 1860 the number had exceeded 3.95 million. In 2019 data of all police killings in the country compiled by Mapping Police Violence, black Americans, which counted for less than 13 percent of the US population, were nearly three times more likely to die from police action than white Americans. African Americans are three times as likely as whites to be infected with the coronavirus, twice as likely to die from COVID-19. The report of the Pew Research Center also said that roughly 77 percent of Black Americans say descendants of people enslaved in the US should be repaid in some way when addressing the result of questions about the atonement for slavery. However, very few think they will see reparations in their lifetime.
"The US government should face up to its original historical sin to truly improve the human rights situation of ethnic minorities in the country, instead of slandering and smearing other countries under the guise of human rights," Zhao said.
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