ABSTRACT
The denial and amnesia of American intergroup relations tends to be psychological. People look at the perpetrator of an ethnoviolent act and say, for example, that he acted out of anger and simply has an antisocial personality. Or they could have said that the perpetrator acted in the context of a major and rapid influx of a culturally different minority due to the potential loss of his own status. The two explanations are complementary, but they lead the policymaker in different directions. The latter focuses on the social conditions that lead to the prejudice-motivated behavior of the perpetrator. This chapter focuses on the major social conditions that lead to prejudice, discrimination, and ethnoviolence. Americans are confused by the issues of ethnic-group relations and ethnoviolence has become an acceptable behavioral option. The chapter tries to depict the path that guides this country's direction.
