I wouldn’t normally count myself among those who glean life lessons from glitzy Broadway musicals, but then I heard the song “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” when I saw “Avenue Q” while home for the holidays. Though the show is a comedy, the song quite accurately points out the continuing role of stereotypes and passive forms of discrimination in our outwardly politically correct, ostensibly colorblind society.Of course, ethnicity and creed have always been important in this nation of immigrants. Our grandparents’ colorful dinner table quips may seem inappropriate and of another era, but prejudice lingers with each successive generation.All this said, however, our country has come a long way. From the days of Jim Crow only decades ago, we have become a more or less post-racial society. Intelligence and work ethic matter more today than one’s skin color or religious beliefs.It would be foolish to suggest that race no longer matters, of course: Income disparities, differing levels of education and self-segregation (even in our own dining hall) attest to this.Nevertheless, that our society is just “a little bit racist” is a testament to its flexibility – and how far we’ve come from darker days.Descendants of slaves and slaveholders, enemies in other times, and Muslims and Jews not only tolerate and are tolerated; they thrive. Few societies on Earth have achieved this sort of harmony.Cross the Atlantic and the picture is not so rosy. While studying abroad, I’ve found that Europeans are actually a little bit more racist than we are.In the United Kingdom, one gets the impression that citizens of former colonies might as well still be colonial subjects. The rust belts around old manufacturing cities like Manchester and Birmingham suggest that the United Kingdom has been less successful in integrating its immigrant population. In the 1970s, vehement anti-immigration rhetoric (most famously put forth by British politician Enoch Powell) had widespread support in the United Kingdom.As progressive as Britain may be, the BBC simply couldn’t get over the fact that a black man had been elected U.S. president.Ours is the only majority-white Western country that has elected a member of a racial minority as its leader. An Arab-French president or Turkish-German chancellor is fantasy – Arabs continue to revolt in the outlying arrondissements of Paris and Germans view Turks as persona non grata, consigned to the rougher parts of Berlin. (The Turks, for their part, avoid integration by sending for wives from Anatolia.)I recall cycling past a Turkish rights rally held in Berlin one day and then nearly being roughed up by a down-and-out group of Turkish immigrants that very night.Whether evinced by crime statistics or the prevalence of right-wing anti-immigrant parties, the relationship between minority and native in many European countries is dodgy. States historically created and sustained by ethno-nationalism have a poor track record for integrating other ethnic groups.ove away from the relatively tolerant Western world, and ethnicity and kin become even more decisive. From ongoing ethnic violence between Kikuyu and Luo in Kenya to a continuing de facto caste system in India to pogroms and nationalist extremism against Central Asians in Russia, sect and ethnicity are major determinants in the kind of lives individuals lead in many regions of the globe.The examples go on ad infinitum. Perhaps it’s a saving grace that in the United States, the first thing the word “Kurd” brings to mind is milk, an Aromanian is a mispronunciation of Romanian and the war-ravaged Islamic world can be neatly divided into Sunni and Shiite – and that with the aid of several hours of CNN.Our nation will continue to grapple with race and ethnicity for as long as it exists. But in a classroom of dunces, we are the leader of the pack.Adam Kemal is a junior in the College currently studying abroad at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford, England. He can be reached at kemalthehoya.com. It’s a Long Way to Tipperary appears every other Friday.
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