China's US Human Rights Report Is Ugly, But It's No Caricature

The New York Times was outraged that China, a human rights outlaw, would criticize America’s human rights record, but the Chinese report is in fact right on target, and should shame all Americans who care about the state of our own rights and freedoms. American society is characterized by rampant violent crimes, severe infringement of people's rights by law enforcement departments and lack of guarantee of the right to life, liberty and security, the Chinese report said, noting that in addition to the threats from uniformed law enforcement, some 31,000 Americans were killed by firearms last year. The report also noted America's record two million prison inmates, and the fact that three times that many are on parole or probation. Caricature? Hardly. The number of people being jailed in the U.S. is a national scandal, particularly considering the percentage who are black and Latino, and the fact that most are there for non-violent offenses. And no surprise there: Nearly every time I am on the road and see a car pulled over by a trooper, I discover that the driver is Black. Unless blacks are uniquely prone to speeding, there is an epidemic of racial profiling, and it's not limited to highways. [more]

• Pictured above: Tourist Zhao Yan, a Chinese businesswoman who was Beat Down by Homeland Security Officers at the U.S.-Canadian border on July 21, 2005. Witnesses said Officer Robert Rhodes, 43, used pepper spray on 37-year-old Zhao Yan, threw her against a wall, kneed her in the head as she knelt on the ground and struck her head on the ground while holding her hair. [more]
  
• US lines up action against Cuba in UN rights body [more]