Having no sense of responsibility about getting ideas right, especially if one is calling me and those I associate myself with fascists and imperialists and whatnot, is indeed a matter of bias and a personal attack.
Of course there were persons with exterminationist opinions about the Indians, and various atrocities occured. However, such things did not become, in the end, the policy of the United States. Instead, we developed the policy of reservations, which even preserved cultural autonomy. If it the treaties had been faithfully followed, it was not half bad.
It is not pure opinion about racism. If you look at things like rates of inter- marriage, degree of residential integration, advancement within the political elite and bureaucracy, and any number of other criteria, we have a more multi- racial society than most. I can say from personal knowledge that my brother, who is married to an African- American, has been all over the country with her, and they have barely raised eyebrows, even in the South. My wife and I often enough take care of their children, and we do not generally get much notice merely because we have apparently "black" children in tow.
Xenophobia and racism are related issues. It is simply true that we have extremely liberal immigration laws, and even most conservatives accept them, and that we have not had the kind of anti- immigrant backlash that countries like France have seen, where it threatens to become a mainstream phenomenon.......
Anyway, thanks for the comments........ |
