A/HRC/11/36/Add.3 page 27 constructs, prejudices and perceptions. To fight these manifestations, the only effective solution is to link the fight against racism to the deliberate politically conscious construction of a democratic, egalitarian and interactive multiculturalism. In his views, this is the most important problem the United States needs to face. A key notion in this regard is the need to promote interaction among different communities as an important means to create tolerance and mutual understanding, strengthening the social networks that hold a society together. Racial or ethnic communities in the United States still experience very little interaction with each other: racially-delimited neighbourhoods, schools and churches prevail. The promotion of more interaction among racial minorities is an essential step that needs to be taken to address the root causes of racism in the United States. 95. This notion of interactions among communities is also central to understand that the problem of racism in the United States is not solely that between a white majority and minorities, but also occurs among minorities themselves. In particular, many minority groups have been isolated, competing for jobs and social services. Apart from enforcing civil rights laws robustly, promoting more interaction among minorities themselves is an essential step in the fight against racism in the United States. 96. During the drafting of this report the United States elected President Barack Obama as its next Head of State. The Special Rapporteur would like to underscore the importance of this event in giving new visibility to minorities in the country. It further corroborates the view expressed in this report that the United States has made fundamental progress in the past decades in giving visibility to members of minorities in the political, economic and cultural arena. More significantly, this election is the outer reflection of the slow but profound transformation process in the deeper layers of consciousness of every citizen of the United States from all racial and ethnic communities, in the individual confrontation to racism in all dimensions and instances of every day life. VI. RECOMMENDATIONS 97. Congress should establish a bipartisan Commission to evaluate the progress and failures in the fight against racism and the ongoing process of re-segregation, particularly in housing and education, and to find responses to check these trends. In this process, broad participation from civil society should be ensured. 98. The Government should reassess existing legislation on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in view of two main guidelines: addressing the overlapping nature of poverty and race or ethnicity; and linking the fight against racism to the construction of a democratic, egalitarian and interactive multiculturalism, in order to strengthen inter-community relations. 99. The Federal Government, in particular the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission and the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity of the Department of Housing and Urban Development should intensify their efforts to enforce federal civil rights laws in their respective domains. 100. Since the fight against racism needs to take place at the federal, state and local levels of government, the Special Rapporteur recommends that adequate consultation mechanisms be put in place for a coordinated approach at all levels of Government.

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