When most Americans hear of human rights abuses, they likely think of atrocities in some far off country in a forgotten corner of the globe. And when Americans consider the idea of democracy, it's probably accurate to say that they think of our government as a model to be emulated.
The reality, of course, is more complicated. Abuses against individuals' basic rights also occur regularly here in the United States, and our money-saturated political system hardly deserves the title "democracy."
When it comes to human rights defense and the basic ideal of citizen rule, the US is far from perfect. The racial inequalities of police persecution and criminal sentencing, our reliance on capital punishment, the continued incarceration of prisoners of conscience
abuses against immigrants, the denial of labor rights, and the worsening scourge of campaign finance corruption reveal the picture of a country where justice and democracy are under assault.
The growing control of government by elites in this country is cause for serious concern. As wealthy corporations and well funded special interests groups pour ever-larger amounts of money into political races, government decision-making is becoming more and more the private arena of a tiny minority. True democracy, the rights of individuals to collectively determine their own future, is in jeopardy. And when democracy is weak, the chances to remedy other injustices shrink with it.
With more than 2 million people in jail, the US has a higher percentage of its residents incarcerated than any other nation. Most people behind bars are poor and working-class individuals. A disproportionate number of those in jail are people of color, and this terrible imbalance surely represents a human rights crisis, as it demonstrates that equality under the law is more a concept than a reality. The use of capital punishment--again, disproportionately used against people of color--despite growing evidence that innocent people may have been executed, is equally disturbing. These trends, accompanied by the continued incarceration of political prisoner Leonard Peltier, demonstrate how politics and prejudice--not truth--drive the criminal justice system in the US.
The crimes committed against people who aren't even citizens--immigrants just trying to come to this country--form another piece of the picture of rights abuses in the US. Every year, hundreds of people die trying to cross the US-Mexico border. Torture and physical abuse of immigrants are not unusual. The US government, which has dramatically militarized the border in recent years, is largely responsible for these violations.
Finally, assaults against workers' rights to organize remain common. From farmhands in California to home care workers in Florida, workers who try to form trade unions are spied on, harassed, threatened, suspended, fired or deported. This sort of repression is intolerable since it violates the basic constitutional guarantee to freedom of assembly. The point should be clear: the respect of basic liberties must not stop at the workplace door.
In the face of these crimes and abuses, people of conscience in the US must rededicate themselves to guaranteeing peace and justice here in our own country.
http://www.globalexchange.org/countries/unitedstates/
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