The next large document in this series begins with the following executive summary:
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There are major differences in the perceptions of blacks and whites about the status of race relations in this country today. Whites are more positive than blacks on a variety of perceptual measures of how well blacks are faring in our society, and how they are treated in the local community. These gaps are in some instances smaller than they were in the 1960’s, but have not narrowed in recent years.Whites also tend to view themselves as having very little personal prejudice against blacks, but perceive that “other” whites in their area have much higher levels of prejudice against blacks. Blacks also ascribe to whites significantly higher levels of racial prejudice than whites give themselves. Blacks claim that they have little prejudice against whites.
Whites express tolerant racial views across a variety of measures, and a majority of whites indicate a preference for living, working and sending their children to school in a mixed racial environment. A majority of whites say they would not object if blacks in great numbers moved into their neighborhood, or if their child went to a school which was majority black. Almost no whites would object to voting for a black for President, and six out of ten now approve of interracial marriage. The over time changes in a number of these attitudes have been profound. There has thus been a significant decline in the past several decades in the number of whites who express overtly prejudicial sentiments.
Whites and blacks have distinctly different views on the role of the government – perhaps building off of their differential perceptions of the status of race relations in the U.S. today. Whites want the number of affirmative action programs to decrease or at the least stay the same, and feel that blacks should help themselves rather than relying on the government. Blacks hold the contrary views.
The average white American tends to live, work and send their child to school in environments which are mostly or all white. Blacks, on the other hand, have relatively high degrees of contact in these everyday settings with whites. Less than a majority of blacks live in mostly or all black neighborhoods, and only a fourth send their children to schools that are mostly or all black. Both blacks and whites, however, are very highly likely to worship only with members of their race.
Blacks remain less satisfied than whites with major aspects of their lives, but the satisfaction gap between the races on most of these measures has been closing significantly over time. On some measures of personal satisfaction, there are no differences at all between comparably matched groups of highly educated, higher income blacks and whites.
Only a minority of blacks – three out of ten or less – say that they have felt unfairly treated because of their race over the last 30 days in each of a series of everyday life settings. Retail shopping is the setting in which the highest number of blacks perceive discrimination within the last 30 days. Young black males are particularly likely to say they have felt discrimination while shopping, and in terms of contact with the police. A little less than half of all blacks say that they have been unfairly treated in the last 30 days in at least one of the settings used in the research.
Posted by mbowen at September 9, 2004 12:02 PM | TrackBack
"Hello!!!!"
GDAWG
Posted by: GDAWG at September 13, 2004 06:43 AM
The numbers you give about how Blacks and Whites perceive racism ring true, especially concerning the amount of interaction between groups. The brutal truth is however, that Blacks are only 12% of the U.S. population. Even if all African Americans were evenly spread out over the entire nation, there just aren't enough people to make it possible for all whites to know a black family intimately. Significant, long-term contact with people is the only way to really know them. And since Blacks, like all people, like to live in clusters with folks like themselves, it is very unlikely that African Americans will be moving places like Idaho or Vermont any time soon.
Posted by: Stacy511 at September 12, 2004 08:45 AM