Thousands of Iranian citizens, ethnic Azeris, are protesting a racial slur made by state television.
The program used the ethnic group as the butt of several tasteless jokes. The show, watched by millions of Iranians, is aimed primarily at children. Such slurs on a children’s program represent a systematic government program of racist indoctrination.
Programs of government racism are frequently seen as a precursor and often as justification for later actions meant to harm a minority. Twentieth century history provides multiple times when governments used minorities to shift blame from the government on economic, social and political issues.
Radio Liberty has the full story.
