Racial equality still eludes the American people

Incidents of racial discrimination reported in the United States in recent years are just the tip of the iceberg. Racial discrimination runs deep and has long been a systemic problem there.

That explains why the Joe Biden administration has made promoting racial equality one of its priorities. The outbreak of the novel coronavirus epidemic has exposed inequality in the allocation of economic and social resources among different ethnic groups. Even Anthony Fauci, the leading US expert on infectious diseases, concurred. "One of the unusual aspects of this pandemic is racial inequality," he said.

The pandemic has highlighted the fragility of the right to health of ethnic minorities in the US. According to a study released last year by the US' Kaiser Family Foundation, between 2010 and 2018, African Americans were 1.5 times more unlikely to be insured than white Americans; Hispanics were more than two and a half times unlikely. It was even worse for native Americans.

The high cost of medical care is forcing a large number of people from ethnic minorities to forgo treatment. And their ordeal does not end even if they make it to hospital. According to a New York Times report, numerous studies have shown that in the US, African American patients are treated less properly than white patients.

The situation is getting worse. With the US rolling out COVID-19 vaccines, there is inequality in the vaccination rates too. According to a CNN survey, in a number of US states, the rate at which white people are vaccinated is much higher than that of ethnic minorities; in some states. it is more than three times higher.

Numerous polls show how a majority of people in the US are unhappy with the racism. However, many political decisions to bring in reform and counter racism often get aborted. Political polarization has made it difficult for the US government to address the problem of racism. The longer it takes to realize racial equality, the more racial anger there will be. What the American public wants is systemic measures and real action to address such injustices.