The conclusion is contained in a State Department report to the United Nations on U.S. compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination ratified by the United States in October 1994.
"Over the years, the United States has worked hard to overcome a legacy of racism and racial discrimination, and it has done so with substantial successes. Nevertheless, significant obstacles remain," said the document released Thursday and compiled in cooperation with the White House the Justice Department and other U.S. agencies.
The report cites the 1991 brutal beating of black motorist Rodney King by two Los Angeles police officers, the 1999 death of Guinean immigrant Amadou Diallo in New York when police mistook him for a suspected criminal, and recent burnings of Black churches as examples that racism remains a problem in the United States.
It also mentions a 1999 attack by a White Supremacist on a Jewish cultural center in Los Angeles and racial discrimination lawsuits against the Denny's Restaurant chain and the Adams Mark Hotel as evidence of residual racial problems in society.
"The residual effects of slavery and institutionalized racism can still be seen in lingering disparities between blacks and whites in income, levels of education and health care, and rates of incarceration in our nation's prisons," said Harold Koh, Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights, commenting on the report.
But he pointed out that at the same time the United States has a rapidly-increasing number of African-American professionals, business leaders and elected political officials.
