America has always had racism baked in at the state level (read on the appeasement of slave states, massive fundamental mistake). In modern day this manifests in strong internalized and institutional racism that affects everyone, hence why there’s so much discussion about it.
However, I think the USA is one of the better countries in terms of interpersonal racism. The diversity of the US means that nearly everyone interacts with multiple races/cultures on a daily basis. The country is steadily becoming more diverse (the USA will be flipped to a minority-majority by 2045) so there’s just no practical way to avoid it.
Contrast this with most other countries who don’t necessarily have foundational racism but have had a homogeneous identity nearly forever. For some, broad discussion on diversity and demographics is completely novel in the last few decades; there’s a hypersensitivity at the individual level that hasn’t adapted yet.
Anecdotally, I’ve seen some of the most shocking unacknowledged prejudice outside of the US (some EU and strongly in Asia). Like “This waiter is too brown” and “[Turks, Romani, Indians] aren’t real people” said in total earnest. I’m sure I could hear similar things in obscure parts of Northern Idaho, but I didn’t expect it in major cities in developed countries.
America has always had racism baked in at the state level (read on the appeasement of slave states, massive fundamental mistake). In modern day this manifests in strong internalized and institutional racism that affects everyone, hence why there’s so much discussion about it.
However, I think the USA is one of the better countries in terms of interpersonal racism. The diversity of the US means that nearly everyone interacts with multiple races/cultures on a daily basis. The country is steadily becoming more diverse (the USA will be flipped to a minority-majority by 2045) so there’s just no practical way to avoid it.
Contrast this with most other countries who don’t necessarily have foundational racism but have had a homogeneous identity nearly forever. For some, broad discussion on diversity and demographics is completely novel in the last few decades; there’s a hypersensitivity at the individual level that hasn’t adapted yet.
Anecdotally, I’ve seen some of the most shocking unacknowledged prejudice outside of the US (some EU and strongly in Asia). Like “This waiter is too brown” and “[Turks, Romani, Indians] aren’t real people” said in total earnest. I’m sure I could hear similar things in obscure parts of Northern Idaho, but I didn’t expect it in major cities in developed countries.