"...three fifths of all other Persons."
(Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3 of the United States Constitution)
Racism is the most sacred American value. When racist cops can murder black kids in broad daylight and not be charged with crimes, it is safe to conclude that we live in a racist country. Many will object to this statement, but let's consider the facts.
The USA was conceived in an orgy of racism. America's most revered founding fathers were slave-owning racists who thought nothing of exterminating America's indigenous peoples. By the way, in case anyone is interested, the National Park Service is planning a big celebration for the sesquicentennial of the Sand Creek Massacre. Be sure to get your tickets before they all sell out.
Is it a crime to be black in public?
Not officially. But, unofficially, it's death sentence. If the cops don't kill you, or chuck you in prison for "looking suspicious," a nationwide climate of venomous racism will suck your soul dry. The USA is not a home for people of color, it's a penal colony.
Of course, racists will protest that the bad old days of slavery and indigenous genocide are behind us. After all, we freed the slaves, didn't we?
If you want to know how deeply entrenched American racism is, then you have to look deeper than the 13th Amendment. Look at Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3 of the US Constitution; a passage that is so repulsive that in 2011 representatives omitted it from their historic recitation on the Constitution on the House floor. Racism remains embedded in the deepest foundations of American society and politics.
So long as the US Constitution preserves the conviction that African Americans are sub-humans, the US will remain the land of apartheid.
When will racist cops stop murdering innocent black kids in broad daylight?
Not today. Not tomorrow.
Until we expunge the blight of racism from our Constitution, democracy will remain a farce in the USA. Sadly, racists have always been content with American hypocrisy. Democracy is supposed to be a more enlightened form of government. So long as racist ignorance reigns supreme, more innocent black kids are going to die at the hands of remorseless racists.
That's not the America I was raised to believe in.