Blacks and Whites Differ On Race Relations
Here’s a newsflash: a new AP-Yahoo News online poll shows that blacks and whites hold different views on race. Whites and blacks generally don’t agree on how much prejudice exists and where the fault lies.
It didn’t take a poll to determine that. Blacks and whites will always hold different views on race relations. According to the poll, 57 percent of blacks said “a lot” of racial discrimination exists, and only 10 percent of whites said the same. Over a third of whites said “most” or “all” racial tension is caused by blacks, and only three percent of blacks said the same.
What does this poll, with a sample of over 2,200, reveal about race relations in America? To answer the question, it would have been helpful to define the terms. What does racial discrimination look like? Examples from both sides would expose and provide insight into people’s beliefs about prejudice and discrimination. Some blacks may consider a funny look to be racial prejudice. Others might perceive being passed over for promotion discrimination, when in fact race had nothing to do with it.
This country has a long history of racial tension, and it’s not surprising that blacks and whites don’t and probably will never see eye to eye on certain issues. One way to ease tension, in my view, is to remove racial references from government policy and from public debate. In other words, government policy and laws should be race-neutral and references to race kept to a minimum.
Blacks and whites don’t have to agree on how much prejudice exists and whose fault it is. Does it really matter? What matters is protecting the rights of all citizens regardless of race. Both sides should be in full agreement on this issue.
