Racism endemic in United States: Analyst

Press TV has interviewed Mustafa Ansari, the Atlanta-based dean of the American Institute of Human Rights, to discuss the removal of the Confederate flag in the United States.

Following is a rough transcription.

Press TV: Your take on this sir; is this a move in the right direction? Will it make a difference as far as the overall situation in dealing with racism in the United States?

Ansari: Well, yes it is a move in the right direction only it is a very small step and the reason why is because America at its core is endemically a racist country. For example, where live at near Georgia Stone Mountain, the whole mountainside is carved a Confederate flag. The textbooks that we read whoever, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, the founding fathers of America all of them were slaveholders and our children are taught to revere them, as they are some heroes that we are supposed to look up to.

So what we are talking about is a very small step at healing. If America really wanted to heal itself then it will look at its history in the brightest of eyes rather than this very narrow, opaque look at removing a Confederate flag that only reigned supreme for about 8-10 years when we have a history about the United States flag and this endemic racism that has terrorized African Americans so much that he thinks that this small symbol is a big step when we have huge inequalities to deal with and racism that is pervasive in our schools, in our industries; so it is a very minor but welcome step and we just have to look at it in its most ardent light.

 Press TV: There are some experts that are saying that the United States takes these superficial steps or small steps if you want to call it and there is a lot of hoopla about it but in reality actually changes the main part of the issue and actually trying to counter this culture of racism is really never addressed. Your take on that?

Ansari: Well, that is absolutely right. Let’s look at the families that were terrorized by this white gentleman. They immediately, out of their slavery terrorist reaction, forgave this person who took away the lives of their mothers, their fathers. I mean in a religious sense it is good to forgive but also in a religious sense, that is only if we are able to do that. But where the person who has been traumatized this is their reaction to immediately forgive because they have been so beaten down so... oppressed that this is their response. So it is a very superficial act and we have to look at it with psychology, and with this historical import.

Press TV: What is it going to take to change this situation around we are looking at? Hundreds and hundreds of years of endemic racism in the United States. What is it exactly going to take to make a difference?

Ansari: Excellent question. Well, the nations of the world have already decided on that, in fact there is a UN General Assembly resolution 6147 and a whole slew of resolutions that say when a people have been harmed, the nation state who have harmed them should take steps to undo that harm which are restitution, rehabilitation, compensation and a guarantee of non-repetition.

Memorials and this symbolic waving of a flag is the least step in that category of restorative measures that will take to make a people whole. So it just takes us to be able to take this case to the United Nations and have it really fleshed out and when we do that, we will see that it takes a lot more to repair people than simply removing a flag.

MTM/KA

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