Ahead of a review of the United States before a United Nations human rights committee, Hansdeep Singh, Jaspreet Singh and Hannah Shirley of the International Center for Advocates Against Discrimination (ICAAD) discuss how the concept of “American exceptionalism” has evolved to negatively impact ethnic and racial communities within our borders:

Crudely put, the current notion of American exceptionalism at home spreads the ideas that: Muslims, Arabs, Sikhs, and south Asians are not American (and are often terrorists), Blacks and Latinos are suspect (and unintelligent), and gays are going to hell (and before they do, they will destabilise the very foundation of American society). The question remains, will the review before the human rights committee make us reflect on the structural problems that reinforce discriminatory behaviour towards minority communities, or will we arrogantly shrug and refuse to grapple with the complex problems we face within?

Read more in The Guardian.