Racial segregation

• 1. Defining The Crime

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  In 2002, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court officially classified racial segregation as a crime against humanity. This legal shift transformed what was once merely social prejudice into an actionable international offense. The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance defines the act as separating people based on race without objective justification. They note that voluntary separation by individuals does not constitute this crime. The distinction matters because it protects minority groups who choose to maintain their own cultural schools or languages. It also criminalizes state-enforced systems that force distinct racial groups into separate institutions like hospitals or schools.

• 2. Tang Dynasty Edicts

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  The Tang dynasty issued a specific edict in 779 that forced Uyghurs to wear their ethnic dress. This law stopped them from marrying Han Chinese females. It also banned them from pretending to be Han Chinese. In 836, Governor Lu Chun enforced similar rules in Canton. He found Chinese living with foreigners and intermarriage between the two groups disgusting. Lu made it illegal for foreigners to own property. His laws specifically banned Chinese from forming relationships with Dark peoples. This term described foreigners such as Iranians, Sogdians, Arabs, Indians, Malays, and Sumatrans. These measures secured advantages for the dominant group while isolating foreign traders and settlers.

• 3. Manchu Banner Policies

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  The Qing dynasty was founded by Manchus, an ethnic minority compared to the majority Han Chinese population. Manchu leaders were keenly aware of their small numbers within China. A mass marriage arrangement occurred in 1632 involving 1,000 couples. Prince Yoto and Hongtaiji arranged these unions to promote harmony between Han officers and Manchu women. Despite this early integration, the dynasty later implemented strict segregation policies. The policy separated Bannermen of the Eight Banners from Han Chinese civilians. Han civilians and Mongol civilians were banned from crossing into each other's lands. The Outer Willow Palisade kept the Manchu area separate from modern-day Inner Mongolia. These restrictions did not apply to Han Bannermen who settled in Manchuria.

• 4. Nazi Racial Laws

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  German praise for America's system of institutional racism appeared continuously throughout the early 1930s. Adolf Hitler expressed fascination with U.S. race laws in his book Mein Kampf. The National Socialist Handbook for Law and Legislation of 1934, 35 contained a pivotal essay by Herbert Kier. This essay devoted a quarter of its pages to U.S. legislation on segregation and anti-miscegenation. These American examples directly inspired the two principal Nuremberg Laws passed in Nazi Germany. The ban on interracial marriage prohibited sexual relations between people classified as Aryan and non-Aryan. Aryans found guilty could face incarceration in concentration camps while non-Aryans faced the death penalty. After the war began, Nazis extended these laws to include all foreigners.

• 5. Jim Crow And Courts

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  The U.S. Supreme Court majority in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case explicitly permitted separate but equal facilities. Justice John Marshall Harlan protested that this decision would stimulate aggressions upon admitted rights of colored citizens. He warned it would arouse race hate and perpetuate distrust between races. In 1967, the court issued a historic ruling in Loving v. Virginia that invalidated all laws prohibiting interracial marriage. Mildred Loving was a black woman prosecuted alongside Richard Loving, a white man. Their one-year prison sentence was suspended before they sought assistance from the American Civil Liberties Union. By 1968, all forms of segregation had been declared unconstitutional under Chief Justice Earl Warren. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 prohibited discrimination in housing sales based on race or color.

• 6. Modern Global Divides

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  On the 28th of April 2007, the lower house of Bahraini Parliament passed a law banning unmarried migrant workers from living in residential areas. Nasser Fadhala justified this by claiming bachelors use houses to make alcohol or run prostitute rings. Sadiq Rahma stated rules were designed to protect families from laborers who live in groups of 50 or more. In Hungary, Roma children have faced ongoing educational segregation since the 1990s. Hungarian courts found authorities violated equal treatment laws by creating separate classes for these pupils. A landmark case involved twenty-eight schools where judges ruled against discriminatory practices. In Malaysia, constitutional articles distinguish ethnic Malays from non-ethnic Malays under the social contract. Non-Malays face roadblocks in economic freedom and education while minority groups remain precluded from citizenship due to their race.