A response to Prison Abuse Shows America's Values—specifically, to This War and Racism:

>> This article makes a false connection between mistreatment of minorities in the US and our international politics. <<

On the contrary, the connection is clear. We've always "mistreated" (i.e., killed or oppressed) people we consider different. That includes foreigners and our own minorities.

>> First of all, the two largest minority groups in the US, as mentioned, are blacks and Latinos. <<

We slaughtered the Indians when they were the largest minority. Then we enslaved the blacks and launched a war against Mexico.

>> Um...Last I checked we aren't bombing anyone in Latin America or Africa. <<

Not in the last couple years, anyway. Bush has been too busy killing Muslims to kill anyone else.

Before then we invaded or bombed Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Panama, and Grenada. We've invaded Latin America many times in the last century.

>> Asians are the 3rd biggest minority here, and we aren't fighting anyone in East Asia -- yet. <<

Right. If you exclude Iraq and Afghanistan and focus on "oriental" Asians, we haven't killed anyone since we attacked Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Korea.

I think Solomon was making a general point about our foreign policy over the last several decades. Except for our targets in Serbia and Bosnia, they've pretty much all had brown skin.

>> The reason we are at war with Iraq and against Middle Eastern Islam extremist terrorists has nothing to do with what color they are (or what color we are). <<

Oh, so it's the oil? That would explain why we invaded Iraq to save lives—Bush's latest transparent rationalization—but not Sudan, where hundreds of thousands of people are getting killed.

Why are we at war with Iraq, exactly? It wasn't because of the nonexistent WMDs. It wasn't because Saddam posed an imminent threat to the US. Judging by Bush's lack of action elsewhere, it wasn't to remove a dictator and save lives.

So what's the reason? A desire to funnel no-bid contracts to his business buddies? Revenge for Saddam's taunting of his daddy? What?

>> If you're going to accuse the US of racism, why not accuse Al Qaida and other terrorist organizations of racism? They seem to attack white people an awful lot...Go pontificate on that for a while instead. <<

Do they? They've exploded bombs in Kenya, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia. I'd say they're equal-opportunity killers.

>> If anyone is racist and close-minded, it isn't the US. We're one of the most diverse countries in the world. <<

Yes, but half of us—the liberal half—champion that diversity, and half of us try to limit or deny it. Witness the conservatives' incessant talk about how we're all one nation, and how celebrating diversity is akin to "balkanizing" the country.

>> Countries that are held up as having a higher standard of living -- Denmark, Sweden, etc. -- are racially homogenous <<

They're held up as having a higher standard of living because they have a higher standard of living.

>> Here, add all the minorities together and they are a majority, compared to the whites. <<

Not yet, unless you're counting people like Italians or Poles as a minority. I think minorities make up about 30% of the US population. They won't be a majority for several decades yet.

>> And that's great! We have all kinds and we are stronger for it. <<

Right. That would explain why Bush wanted to launch a "crusade" against Muslim countries. Why he was afraid to speak at the annual NAACP meeting. Why he couldn't give the definition of tribal sovereignty. Why he opposes gay marriage and stem-cell research on religious grounds. Why he consistently proposes measures that help the rich and white and hurt the poor and brown.

>> To say the US is a "white" country is getting to be absurd. <<

The power elite are predominantly white. Only a handful of minorities have broken through.

>> We are a mixed country, no longer run entirely by privileged white males. <<

No, not entirely. For instance, Bush used Colin Powell to lie for him at the UN. Despite his misgivings, Powell did his boss's bidding and was embarrassed on the world stage. Now he'll reportedly leave if Bush is reelected because no one listens to him.

So much for the most powerful black man in government.

Three months after 9/11, a poll showed that 59% of Americans had a favorable view of Muslims. Sounds good, but it also meant 41% had an unfavorable view. That was so even though the world's Muslims were no more responsible for 9/11 than the world's Christians were responsible for the Holocaust.

But the world's Muslims were and are predominantly brown-skinned. So are all the world's indigenous people whom we've conquered, colonized, or oppressed. Coincidence? I think not.

Our culture portrays Jesus as a white man. Minorities are almost never the star of major-network TV shows or major-publisher comic books. They're grossly underrepresented in Congress and in the corporate boardroom.

How is that possible in a color-blind society? Any TV executive or comic-book publisher could fill 30% of their products with minorities right now. They don't because they're pandering to the tastes (i.e., the prejudices) of the white majority.

It's instructive to read what Solomon wrote again:

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