The results of a large-scale national survey were just released by the Mobilization, Change, and Political and Civic Engagement Project at the University of Chicago on the concept of race in America. The findings are startling and show that for African Americans — even in this period of harsh economic times — race is still more important in the opinions of most.
In fact, the findings support that African Americans are no more optimistic about race, even with an African American president. Approximately 69 percent of African American participants indicated that racism continues to be a major problem, in contrast to just 29 percent of whites. Approximately 32 and 51 percent of Asians and Latinos, respectively, supported this sentiment.
Another key finding was the large chasm that existed between African Americans and whites on the question of whether African Americans have achieved racial equality. More than half, or 50 percent of white respondents responded yes to this item in comparison to 12 percent of African American study participants. The greatest disparity was noted for African Americans, with 74 percent of older black respondents saying that racism is a major problem, compared with 60 percent of 18- to 35-year-olds. Based on the poll, young people, regardless of their race, were less likely to report race or racism as being an important issue.
The poll also points out that 45 percent of whites disagreed with the assertion that problems and issues confronting African Americans and other racial ethnic minority groups are too vast and great to foster alliances between the disparate groups compared to 42 percent of African Americans. To read more about the study, visit www.2008andbeyond.com/. –torrance stephens, ph.d.
