TEHRAN Black teenager Timothy Thomas was recently killed by the U.S. police in Cincinnati, Ohio. This has triggered street riots and clashes between the Black citizens and the police for the past several days.

The 19-year-old Timothy Thomas was the 15th Black teenager killed by the U.S. police under controversial circumstances since 1995.

The Overseas Service of the IRIB interviewed the spokesman of the American Anti-Discrimination Committee, Hussein Ibish, about this incident and the root of racial discrimination and violence in the U.S.

Ibish said there is a systematic racial discrimination against the Black citizens in the American society. "The issue dates back to the slavery era before the American civil war in the 1870s. The U.S. has not yet been able to get rid of racial discrimination," he noted. Ibish added that the police officers, who are mostly white citizens, hold a hostile attitude toward Black citizens.

He was asked why the majority of the U.S. Black citizens live under the poverty line, despite the U.S. claims of equal opportunities for all its citizens.

"This is largely due to the racial segregation in the United States. However, there are many factors involved in this regard. One of the main factors is lack of justice in the U.S. educational system, as only a small amount of tax is collected from lower-class neighborhoods where Black people live. Therefore, they do not enjoy an appropriate education. No move is currently under way in the United States to administer educational justice," he said in reply.

Most of the incidents leading to racial tensions and violence in the United States have taken place under the Republicans, he said. "But of course similar incidents have also taken place under the Democrats. For instance, under the former president Bill Clinton, Ammado Diallo was killed by the police in New York. Another Black citizen Luima was also beaten up and tortured in New York."