August 19, 2017   Columns

America: A tale of racism

Ahmad al-Farraj
Ahmad al-Farraj

Ahmad al-Farraj

By : Dr Ahmad al-Farraj

:: American President Donald Trump is going through a crisis these days. It’s a real test for him as president of the country that’s described as the leader of the free world which is the tolerant democratic world that believes in individuals’ and group’s rights no matter what their color, race or religion is.

The crisis is linked to racist activity of some extremist right-wing groups in America. They are racist Nazi movements that believe in white supremacy and they oppose all laws of equality. The most prominent of these groups is the Ku Klax Klan which was established in the American South after President Abraham Lincoln defeated the separatists who opposed liberating black people.

The KKK is still present to this day and it’s supported by dozens of other racist organizations.

The KKK was formed after the racist separatists’ defeat in the American South in 1865 and after the South was subdued by Washington. It pursued black people and abused them, and it had supporters in all of the government’s sectors, i.e. in the police, courts..etc.

The crisis is linked to racist activity of some extremist right-wing groups in America. They are racist Nazi movements that believe in white supremacy and they oppose all laws of equality

Ahmad al-Farraj

Black people suffered from this group’s assault for decades especially that they were liberated from slavery but they remained second-class citizens according to the law as there were strict racist laws to separate black and white people in schools, public facilities and every place where people gathered.

After around a century of racial discrimination, black people engaged in strong activity and violence erupted. The federal government realized it must do something before the situation escalates and worsens.

A history of violence

In 1960, the US elected the young John Kennedy as president. He was a democrat with an impressive charisma and he had a humanitarian agenda that included achieving justice and peace and supporting the poor. He decided to save America from serious escalation of conflicts between black and white people but he was tragically assassinated in Dallas in Texas in 1963.

He was young when he died and his assassination remains a mystery that’s difficult to understand although it’s been more than 50 years since he was killed and thousands of books and movies were produced. His vice president Lyndon B. Johnson succeeded him.

He was a humanitarian but not as much as Kennedy but he implemented the latter’s project and achieved a miracle by issuing a law that ends racial segregation and that imposes equality between black and white people.

Although this historical decision has worked as it should until this day, extremist right-wing groups did not halt their racist activity which reached its peak ever since Trump was elected. This is another story which we will discuss in another article.

:: Dr Ahmad al-Farraj is a Saudi writer with al-Jazirah daily. He holds a Masters degree in literature from the University of Indiana and a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Michigan. He was the Dean of the Arabic Language Institute in King Saud University and a member of the university’s council. He tweets under @amhfarraj.

:: Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in the Column section are their own and do not reflect RiyadhVision’s point-of-view.










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