What artists from China immigrated to the United States?

All aspects of racial discrimination in America?

Tao zhengyi

We can't just look at the side of national tolerance and superficial harmony.

Americans like to proudly say that the United States is a "national melting pot". This can't be said to be bragging, because it is based on facts. The United States is one of the three largest immigrant countries in the world (the United States, Canada and Australia), and hundreds of thousands of legal or illegal new immigrants from all over the world enter every year. There are many opportunities for survival and development in the United States. New immigrants of any nationality can survive in the United States as long as they are strong, not afraid of hardship and work hard. Where there is expertise, there are opportunities for development. However, in the past two years, the American economy has declined, while China has a strong development momentum, so the opportunities for development in the United States are not as good as those in China.

? There are many laws in the United States that strictly prohibit racial discrimination. For example, if the owner refuses to rent a house, the tenant can sue in court; Companies, restaurants, hotels and public places of entertainment will be punished by law if they discriminate against customers of different colors, including fines, apologies, correcting mistakes and so on. The American public cannot tolerate the public dissemination of racist remarks. Recently, the US Senate * * * and the party leader changed, because the former leader Lott said at the party celebrating the centenary birthday of the old senator thurmond: "If thurmond became president in the 1948 election, the situation in the United States would be better now." Thurmond is a racist, and the only platform of his campaign in those years was to adhere to the policy of apartheid. Lott praised thurmond, which was tantamount to praising the policy of apartheid, which angered the American people and caused a lot of criticism and condemnation. Seeing the bad momentum, President Bush and party leaders worried that it would affect the next presidential and congressional elections, so they put pressure on Lott to resign.

? The author lives in new york and meets people of all races every day. My neighbors, yellow, white, black and brown, live in harmony. Frequent contact with the post office, immigration bureau, IRS, social security bureau and other institutions, the staff of colored people are even more than whites (because the general small staff of American government agencies have stable jobs and good welfare benefits, and colored people are considered as "beautiful jobs"; However, the salary level is lower than that of private enterprises, and there are fewer opportunities for promotion, which whites don't like very much.

? From the above, it can be said that the United States is a country with national tolerance and national harmony, and racial discrimination is not very serious on the surface. This is really different from the situation before Martin Luther King launched the civil rights movement in the 1960s. ? Invisible racial discrimination is still serious and deeply rooted.

? White supremacy is very stubborn among some Americans. After a long-term follow-up investigation, the Southern Poverty Law Center, headquartered in Alabama, found that there were 537 racial hatred groups (Ku Klan and the like) in the United States in the late 1990s, most of which were white extremist organizations that hated blacks. In addition, there are quite a few people who look down on people of color, but do not take drastic action. For example, among my neighbors, there is an old white man who only talks and laughs with his white neighbors and never pays attention to his colored neighbors. ?

There are many kinds of invisible racial discrimination in America. China people often encounter the following four situations:

? The first kind of "political color mirror". Some Americans always doubt the political credibility of colored people, especially China people. They think that people who came to the United States from Chinese mainland once lived in a "country producing * * *" and were politically "unreliable". Readers may still remember 1999' s "Li Wenhe Incident" which caused a sensation in the world. Li Wenhe, a scientist born in Taiwan Province Province, works in Los Ramos Laboratory (a nuclear weapons scientific research institution) in the United States. Just because he was from China with black hair and yellow skin, he was suspected to be a "Beijing spy", so he was arrested and locked up, handcuffed and shackled, and sentenced to long-term trial and imprisonment. In the end, no evidence was found. In order to protect the face of the American judicial authorities, he was accused of "downloading confidential information without permission", sentenced to a misdemeanor, fined and released. During that time, US Congressman Cox published the infamous Cox Report, accusing China of illegally stealing US defense secrets, saying that companies run by thousands of China people in the United States were "gathering intelligence" for China. There is also a mainstream media that is also an evil force, adding fuel to the fire and slandering the mission of overseas students in China to "gather information" for China, and so on. Facts speak plainer than words. The Cox Report went bankrupt in the face of facts, and Cox himself was defeated and failed to be re-elected. After being criticized and condemned by Chinese Americans, the mainstream media in the United States have to admit their mistakes and apologize. Now Sino-US relations have improved, and political discrimination against Chinese has also eased. However, since the "911incident", political discrimination against Arab ethnic groups has increased day by day. ?

The second "invisible ceiling". In the United States, it is much more difficult for people of color to get promoted than whites, and the proportion of important and senior positions is very low. Of course not. For example, in the Bush team, Secretary of State Powell and National Security Adviser condoleezza rice are black-skinned. These rare figures have become "evidence" for the United States to prove that it has no racial discrimination. However, the leaders of all levels of government and all walks of life in the United States are mostly white, and the power in the political, economic, military and cultural fields in the United States is in the hands of white people. This is an undeniable fact. From 65438 to 0997, the famous "Liangchou Li Incident" happened in the United States. Liangchou Li is a famous human rights lawyer, impartial and capable. President Clinton nominated Lee as the Assistant Attorney General in charge of civil rights affairs in the Ministry of Justice, but the US Congress refused to pass it on the grounds that he supported the "affirmative action bill" to protect the rights and interests of ethnic minorities. Clinton had to take advantage of the recess of Congress to appoint Li as a temporary "Deputy Assistant Minister" (this position does not require the approval of Congress), but after the resumption of Congress, he refused to appoint Li as an "Assistant Minister". There are three ways for Chinese to hold important positions: first, Chinese start their own businesses, start their own companies and appoint them themselves; Second, entering the technical, educational and academic fields mainly depends on knowledge and real skills, and racial discrimination is relatively light; Third, actively participate in politics, run for public office, speak with votes and break through racial discrimination. ?

Third, racial discrimination on campus. School violence in the United States is world-famous, but racial discrimination on campus is also very serious. Few children of new immigrants from China have never been bullied on campus. The reasons are: China children are small, weak and easily bullied; China families teach their children humility, forbearance, obedience and obedience from an early age, which does not belong to the type of "foolhardy"; Many China students are often praised by teachers for their excellent academic performance, so they are "jealous". On campus, it is not only white children who discriminate against Chinese children, but also black children and Hispanic children belonging to ethnic minorities. Children's thoughts are influenced by their parents, and racial discrimination on campus reflects that racial discrimination in American society is quite extensive and deeply rooted. ?

There have been several incidents of discrimination against China students in lafayette High School in new york recently. 165438+1October 2 1 day, a Watson was robbed at school, and the gangster student threatened with a knife. A week later, another Watson was beaten by other ethnic students in the restaurant. 65438+At the beginning of February, Watson Zheng was surrounded by six African-American students, punched and kicked, and was black and blue. Zheng is a good student from Hong Kong, with an average score of 96.86 in all subjects this year. He was elected as a student representative to speak at the graduation ceremony. He was beaten by a group of people for no reason. Just because he performed so well in all aspects, some stubborn classmates became "angry". There are two main reasons why the school spirit is so bad: first, the social environment in the community is too bad; Second, the school leaders tolerate bad styles, and the main leaders have racist ideas. Watson reflected that it is useless to complain to the school after being bullied. They often don't ask right and wrong, "playing 50 boards each". Last year, the school leaders inexplicably ordered several of the best Watson to "graduate early", and this year they ordered another excellent Watson to "graduate early". The reason for publicity is that these students have completed enough credits, but insiders revealed that it is precisely because of the low graduation rate of the school that several Watson graduated early to make up for the graduation rate. ?

Fourth, racial prejudice in law enforcement by police and judicial departments. Some American policemen have racial prejudice against ethnic minorities. When enforcing the law, they are lenient with whites and strict with ethnic minorities. Sometimes they issue tickets without foundation and abuse violence. There are two differences between China people and black people: black Americans speak English and there is no obstacle to language communication with American police; Generally speaking, China people have the weakness of being timid. When encountering problems, they often shrink back and dare not argue according to reason. So sometimes China people suffer from unreasonable police violence to a greater extent than blacks. 1995 Huang Yongxin's murder happened in new york. Huang, a 17-year-old student, plays with several Asian students in the streets of Yangtouwan, Brooklyn. Someone reported that he had a pistol (in fact, some students had toy guns). The police arrested Huang Yongxin indiscriminately and killed him. The police who committed the crime said that it was because Huang Yongxin "resisted arrest" and hindered "performing official duties". In the process of pulling each other, he accidentally killed Huang Autopsy showed that the bullet was fired from behind Huang's left ear. Obviously, Huang was running away and the police shot from behind. This autopsy result is consistent with other Asian students who fled at that time. However, the judge and jury only accepted the police statement and sentenced the murderer to "negligent crime" without prosecution. Huang Yongxin's family and the Chinese community have waged a long-term struggle for this, and there is no result. So far, justice has not been sought. Huang Yongxin is not the only one who died in this way.

? Most black people are at the bottom of American society. They will never turn over?

In America, blacks are the most disadvantaged of all races. The poverty rate, unemployment rate and crime rate are the highest among blacks. According to statistics, the unemployment rate of blacks is more than twice that of whites; Blacks account for 12% of the total population in the United States, but in prisons, black criminals account for 47%. According to a civil rights leader, one third of adult black people have been or are in prison. Why is the situation so shocking? ?

1. Among all ethnic groups, blacks have the lowest income level. According to the statistics in 2000, the average annual income of black Americans is only 62.9% of that of white Americans. Poverty is the root of many problems: living in slums and not being able to afford a good community not only leads to poor living conditions, but also poor social environment and social atmosphere; Low income, not only bad material life, but also vulgar spiritual life; Low income affects the ability to educate children (financial resources and parents' energy to educate children), and so on. ?

Second, among all ethnic groups, blacks have the lowest educational level. In the United States, according to the proportion of receiving high school education or above, Asians rank first, Europeans rank second (there is little difference between the two), Hispanics rank third and African Americans rank fourth. Less education, low scientific and cultural level, poor ability, unable to find a good job, low income and poverty; If the family is poor, the children's education will be poor. As a result, poverty and lack of education are mutually causal, forming a "vicious circle". ?

What needs to be added is that black people's cultural traditions make them not pay attention to their children's education, and often let their children grow naturally; At the same time, because of poverty, many families apply for social security benefits, encourage them to have more children (one more child, one more subsidy), and reach out to the government when they encounter difficulties. Children and adults are not as hard and diligent as Hispanics and Asians.

? Third, black teenagers don't go to school well, and the proportion of street wandering is much higher than that of other ethnic groups. This is the inevitable result of family poverty and neglect of education and control of children.

? Fourth, the residential environment is not good, there are many teenagers wandering the streets, and the social order and public security are poor. Most of the areas where black poor people gather are areas where alcoholism, prostitution, drug trafficking, theft, robbery and serious criminal offences are rampant. Big cities in the United States have such slums, where the residents are mainly black, followed by Hispanics and other ethnic minorities. People living in such areas are mostly poor for generations and "will never be able to turn over." There are also a few people who have obtained college education or above through struggle, or rely on the natural sports and music talents of blacks to "take the lead". Once you become rich, you will no longer live in slums and move to a good community. Slums are still the same. ?

How can we completely transform slums? How to fundamentally improve the unequal status and situation of blacks and other ethnic minorities is the fundamental problem of American society. But this big problem has not been mentioned on the agenda of the American government and political parties, and there is certainly no hope of solving it.

There is an artist from China who wants to go to America. Many China artists who came to the United States before him advised him that if you want to come to the United States to develop your own art, please give up your delusion; If it is other factors, we welcome you to come soon. But he came to the United States with the idea of being an art, which made him feel that the "pioneer" proposal was very reasonable, and he also had a slight retreat. Once, he met an American colleague, who was an art professor in a university. The professor read some of his works and found them very good, urging him to stay in the United States for development. He expressed his concern that there was racial discrimination in the United States. The professor laughed and said, there may be some discrimination, but as long as your work is good and has potential, there will be absolutely no problem. Soon, the professor introduced him to a famous gallery manager. After seeing his works, the man immediately made a decision: vacate a room in the main exhibition hall to display a series of his works. He suggested that his favorite series of works was another, which meant change. The manager said, then I'll give you another one and show it at the same time! This shocked him and his colleagues. The professor said to him, this gallery is very picky. The famous professors in our university only occupy a whole exhibition hall here. It seems that you are particularly interested in the manager! The China artist is Bing Xu, who later won the MacArthur Award, the highest award in American art.

From this incident, I feel that racial discrimination in the United States is not as serious as we thought. With a little attention, it is not difficult to find that the United States has always been the most desirable destination for studying or immigrating to other countries in the world, and most of the arrivals try their best to stay. This shows that racial discrimination in the United States is not as serious as in other developed countries, except for economic reasons. This seems unreasonable, because we know that slavery has not been abolished in the United States for a long time, and it is not easy to get to this situation today.

So, how did the United States get to such a prosperous situation today? I think besides political factors, the factors of capitalist market economy are also indispensable. In America, as long as you are a businessman, you will face equal competition. If you want to be in a favorable position in the competition or survive, in a word, to get better profits than others, you have to ignore racial differences. You can't refuse to use a patented technology just because the holder is black or other ethnic minorities. Otherwise, you will soon go bankrupt because of the failure of competition. This is why top talents from all over the world can easily establish themselves in the United States. On the other hand, if you have nothing, even if you become an American citizen, it will only increase the burden on the United States or "take away" the easiest job, then racial discrimination will inevitably occur.

In the United States today, in my opinion, market discrimination far exceeds racial discrimination.