ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the efforts of two countries that have attempted to do just that, the United States and Germany. War in Bosnia, rioting in the United States, attacks on foreigners in the unified Germany—as ever, prejudice and ignorance are causing argument, alienation, and death. According to the Federal Constitutional Court, the German counterpart to the United States Supreme Court, the basic rights are an essential element of the Basic Law and represent the core of a free democratic order. In contrast, with the exception of Civil Code Section 611a, Germany has yet to extend Article 3 to the more troublesome sphere of private discrimination, in particular to discrimination based on factors other than sex and in areas other than employment. In large part because of its fairly homogenous population, the Federal Republic of Germany has had relatively less experience in dealing with discrimination against minority populations.
