The whole of the American society is now in a whirlwind of racism and hatred crime from the very beginning of the New Year.

On January 7, a group of police officers in Tennessee of the U.S. had beaten a 29-year-old young black man to death for the reason that he was in traffic violation, much to the consternation of the world.

People get overheated in their demand that the killers be severely punished. Against this backdrop, a video clip showing the police officers pommeling the black man with fists and batons for 4 minutes during the incident was released, triggering a social uproar against racism.

Demonstrations in protest at the barbarous acts of the policemen are now in the rapid spread on a nationwide scale in the U.S. including Oakland, New York, Atlanta, Boston and Los Angeles.

Biden, being nonplused at this, made poor excuses in “crocodile tears” that only practical actions are needed to prevent such a tragedy, but the public indignation is running high.

“I can’t breathe!” – dying cry of Floyd, the young black man killed by the violence of a white policeman gave the world a great shock, to say nothing of the U.S. No sooner had the shock been subdued than another black man-killing incident by the police has occurred. This clearly shows the hypocrisy of the slogan of “racial equality”.

On January 21, when the public indignation at the incident of the police murdering the young black man remains unabated all over the country, a tragic incident occurred where an armed man fired randomly at Asian people who were gathered at Asian residential district in Los Angeles to celebrate the lunar New Year’s Day, killing scores of people there.

As Biden made an official acknowledgement that Asian Americans are suffering from pain and violence caused by hatred crimes, it became an incurable endemic disease of American make.

According to statistical data, more than 12,000 hatred crimes were committed against Asian people in various parts of the U.S. from March 2020 to March 2022 and the number of crime cases increased to even 177% in 2022 alone.

No wonder even the UN Secretary-General, who used to feign ignorance about the human rights situation of the U.S., issued a statement as he was greatly shocked at the reality of hatred crime in the U.S.

Racism, hatred crime and gun-related crime had already become a symbol that represent the human rights plight of the U.S. which pretends to be a “world-famous exemplary state of human rights.”

Popular masses are writhing in poverty and despair as they are not provided with even the basic right to existence, and all sorts of social evils like extreme hatred, racial discrimination and gun-related crimes are rife in the U.S. In such a country, human rights are nothing but a mirage.

Notwithstanding the reality, the U.S. is habitually interfering in the internal affairs of others, finding fault with their human rights issues.

Recently, the spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry criticized that the U.S. talks loud about democracy, freedom and human rights, and even abuses them as tools of interference in the internal affairs of others, and said that the U.S. government should see its serious human rights situation squarely and better deal with it to prevent the repeat of tragedy. This assertion is most natural.

If the U.S. beats the drum of human rights full of falsehood and fabrication, it would only play the role of a high-output speaker which magnifies its dismal human rights situation where all sorts of social evils are rampant.

Kim Chung Hyok

Researcher of Korean Association for Human Rights Studies