Racism Towards Africa
Lack of Committment to Fighting AIDS Revealing
The United States' complex history of racism may be shaping its current attitudes towards Africa.
The United States government has often been put in the position of defending its relatively paltry aid to the developing world, Africa in particular. In a talk by Stephen Lewis, Lewis noted that the amount of funds committed to fighting the war in Iraq and Afghanistan dwarfs the amount of money committed by the United States to fighting AIDS in Africa. In passing, Lewis cited the racism of the Western world towards Africa for this lackluster response.
The United States is somewhat of an oddity. The USA’s values of equality and freedom often collide with the racist attitudes epitomized by its violent, brutal past of slavery and segregation. Black Americans struggled well into the 1960’s for desegregation and equality. The country’s racism seeped into its foreign policy when the United States bolstered an apartheid South Africa, placing more importance on combating communism than on stopping the oppression of Black South Africans.
In the United States of today, the racism is more covert, revealing itself in the blame game. Racism is apparent when character and not situational factors are cited for the, on average, lower socioeconomic status of Blacks. When Blacks are blamed for their worse health outcomes rather than looking at the social determinants of health, racism is again at work. A schism exists in the American psyche. On one hand,there is a subtle racism which permeates the American culture, while on the other hand there is a fervent belief in the equality and inherent rights of all.
This split does much to shape the type and extent of help that the United States offers to Africa to fight AIDS. The attitude of self-efficacy that is promoted in American culture takes a racist turn when applied to the issue of AIDS in Africa.
In 2005, an estimated 2 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa died of AIDS and 24.5 millions were living with HIV. There are currently over 12 million AIDS orphans. It is unfathomable the extent of the devastation and yet complacency is king. If such a tragedy were occurring in modern day Europe, the rest of the world would, most likely, have acted with greater speed, decisiveness, and commitment.
However, the flipside of the lack of action and motivation on the part of the American government is the action of the private sector. 75% or $95.5 billion of American foreign aid comes from the non-governmental sector and individuals. This says much of the heterogenous attitudes, beliefs, and values which exist in the United States.
However, money is not the only resource at stake. Money cannot compensate for the resources which the American government can access. The American government has influence, resources, and power, which it could leverage to halt the expanding numbers of HIV deaths and HIV infections. It is long past time for the American government to commit itself fully to putting an end to an ever-growing tragedy and in the same stroke, send an unambiguous message about its core values.
