Chronology of Human Rights Violations of the United States in 2017

JULY

July 5

The Financial Times website reported that "in reality the US political system has been so warped by big money that it is now effectively controlled by an elite Republican oligarchy answerable primarily to ultrarich donors that has succeeded by gerrymandering and other nefarious acts to create a situation where, even if it does not control all branches of government, it will still be well positioned to block any agenda seeking to change the status quo".

July 11

A new Pew Research Center survey finds that about 67 percent of 18-to 29-year-olds have experienced some form of online harassment, with young women the most likely to face online abuse. About 21 percent of women aged between 18 and 29 say they have been sexually harassed online, and 53 percent of them say they have been sent explicit images that they didn't ask for.

July 22

The Intercept.com website reported that the US was re-escalating its war in Afghanistan, expanding its operations in Iraq and Syria, conducting covert raids in Somalia and Yemen.

July 22

The Independent website reported that an errant US airstrike in July 21 killed 16 Afghan National Police officers who were fighting the Taliban and wounded two others.

July 25

A Pew Research Center survey finds that US minority groups more frequently encounter online harassment that carries racial overtones. A quarter of black Americans say they have been targeted online due to their race or ethnicity. Some 74 percent of blacks and 72 percent of Hispanics consider online harassment to be a "major problem", while 68 percent of blacks are more likely to say it is more important for people to feel safe and welcome online than to be able to speak their minds freely.

July 26

The Washington Post reported that two police officers went to the wrong address and shot dead an innocent person when executing an arrest warrant. The victim had no criminal record.

AUGUST

August 5

The Guardian website reported that according to statistics from the International Organization for Migration, 232 people attempting to cross the US border from Mexico died in the first seven months of 2017, up 17 percent year on year.

August 6

The Mother Jones website reported that the US-led coalition's use of white phosphorus munitions on the outskirts of al-Raqqa, Syria, was unlawful and might amount to a war crime.

August 12

CNN reported that some white nationalists and right-wing protesters converged on Charlottesville, Virginia, shouting "blood and soil", a phrase invoking the Nazi philosophy of "Blut und Boden".

August 12

The CBS website reported that James Alex Fields Jr, a 20-year-old white nationalist, drove a car that plowed into a group of counterprotesters, killing one person and injuring 19 others.

August 13

The Telegraph website reported that three people were killed and dozens injured after a white nationalists' rally and ensuing violent incidents in Charlottesville, which was described by civil rights groups as the country's "largest hate gathering in decades".

August 15

The Chicago Tribune website reported that in the morning of August 12, Richard Hubbard III, an African-American, was stopped by two white policemen when he drove through the Cleveland suburb of Ohio. Without obvious provocation, he was pushed down on the car and punched by the policemen. The incident evoked strong criticism on the police's abuse of force.

August 22

The Huffington Post website reported that on August 16, when an Asian customer dined at a New York restaurant, she was referred by an employee as "Ching Chong", a racially insulting name, on a takeout receipt.

August 23

The UN News Center reported that on the violent incident in Charlottesville, Anastasia Crickley, chairwoman of UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, said: "We are alarmed by the racist demonstrations, with overtly racist slogans, chants and salutes by white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and the Ku Klux Klan, promoting white supremacy and inciting racial discrimination and hatred."

She criticized the US government for failing to clearly oppose the racially violent actions, calling for US politicians and government officials to unequivocally and unconditionally reject and condemn racist hate speech and crimes in Charlottesville and throughout the country.

August 23

The Interception.com website reported two US-led coalition airstrikes in Syria in March killed at least 84 civilians, including 30 children. The targets of the US military were a school for the displaced in the Mansoura town on the outskirts of Tabqa and a market in Tabqa respectively.

SEPTEMBER

September 8

The Associated Press reported that six black police officers had filed complaints claiming their white supervisors were racist. The supervisors referred to black civilians as "scum" and called black civilian killings "thinning the herd".

September 10

The National Broadcasting Company website reported a shooting rampage at a Plano home party on the night of Sept 10, leaving nine dead and one injured.

September 13

The New York Times website reported that 11 people whose phones and laptops were searched at US airports and at the nation's northern border were suing the Department of Homeland Security. Several of the plaintiffs said they were intimidated. According to the most recent data available, there were nearly 15,000 searches from October 2016 to March 2017, compared with 8,383 in the same period a year before.

September 13

More than 40 million people live in poverty, with 18.5 million of them in extreme poverty, according to the latest data from the US Census Bureau.

September 15

A report from The New York Post website told that a volunteer Ohio firefighter posted racist comments on social media which said if he had to choose between saving a dog and a black man from a burning building, he would save the dog first. "That's because one dog is more important than a million (expletive)," he wrote, using the N-word.

September 16

ABC news reported that on the night of Sept 15, 32 people were arrested when protesters took to the street in St. Louis after a white former police officer, Jason Stockley, who killed 24-year-old black man Lamar Smith with five shots in 2011, was acquitted earlier that day. "If you look like me, then you feel like there is no other way to express yourself in this kind of verdict. Time and time again, African-American men are killed by police, and nobody is held accountable," a protester was quoted as saying.

September 25

ABC News website reported that the Senate held a hearing on the Republican healthcare bill, known as the Graham-Cassidy bill. People from all over the US and all walks of life lined up as early as 5 am, urging lawmakers to oppose the bill. Protesters in wheelchairs cried aloud with chants of "No cuts to Medicaid! Save our liberty!" Capitol Police officers struggled to remove people, with some sliding out of their wheelchairs and onto the floor. More than 180 protesters were arrested.

September 27

British newspaper The Independent reported on its website that the US government had quietly announced that it was planning on continuing to collect social media information on immigrants in the US. Cesar Cuauhtemoc Garcia Hernandez, an associate professor of law at the University of Denver's Sturm College of Law, told The Independent that monitoring social media accounts could have a chilling effect on free speech.