MULTICULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY
R. PAUL JOHNSON
SAYBROOK UNIVERSITY
ABSTRACT
For many in today’s society slavery and racism seem only to be part of the distant past. However for some these topics feel as soul piercing as they did for those that came before. This paper will provide a brief overview from not only an historical aspects but how what happened in our not so distant past continues to impact the many subsequent generations. Additionally research is presented to develop a relationship between slavery, racism and anti-Semitism.
Racism and Anti-Semitism in the United States
The Emancipation …show more content…
Jews experienced 77% of all the religious-related hate crimes (Anti-Defamation League, 2012). The Anti-Defamation League also notes that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) data shows that 67% of all hate crimes associated with religion were directed towards Jews. White supremacists are the ones who are mainly behind the anti-Semite crimes. From the 1950s and 1960s when anti-Semitism was prevalent, it appears that there are still lingering anti-Semitic feelings among some members of the US society. Some of the cases that have been reported to the Anti- Defamation League include the assault or harassment of Jewish students and the teachers. For example a Jewish student received threatening tweets from an unknown person who identified himself as Jew Killer while another student suffered choking from a bully who abused him both physically and verbally for being Jewish (Anti-Defamation League, 2012). It is therefore justifiable to state that anti-Semitism is a problem in the US even in modern days as shown by the suffering experienced by the Jewish victims identified in the above …show more content…
With the rightful demonization of the Holocaust, one would expect that anti-Semite crimes would be absent, but this is evidently not the case. Furthermore, the fact that such crimes exist is enough to show that there is indeed a problem which is not solved by the presence of advocacy groups. In other words, the presence of various groups to fight for the rights of Jews and defend them against harassment and other forms of anti-Semitism is not a sign of anti-Semitism not being a problem. Instead, it is explicit evidence that the United States has a serious anti-Semitism problem that has necessitated the creation of group that fight against this social