Did Race Relations Just Get a Lot Better?

What’s interesting about this article and others I’ve seen on the new data, is that the premise is that we’ve improved because the people polled *believe* we’ve improved. And while I think we have, there really isn’t any data on that. Still, I won’t begrudge people their newfound happiness and unity.Then again, that last paragraph is very unfortunate. I find it annoying when people claim that having voted for Obama proves them to be free of any racism, but now we can see that this behavior has a quantifiable negative affect, and one in opposition to that newfound unity.

the chart you’ve included shows ‘bad’ feelings amongst white people being lower now than in 2008… no?

Sorry for the possible misinterpretation, but doesn’t the chart show that the number of whites who find race relations bad actually decreased (from 35% to 21%)?

I’m sorry, but the interpretation and discussion of these figures is horrendous from a numbers standpoint!  It’s 65% of whites not blacks that now feel good about race relations, and the number of whites who feel negative went down, rather than up as suggested.

“Did Race Relations Get a Lot Better?”  President Obama and his wife were very well received in Europe which never had a civil rights revolution like the United States did in the 1960’s.  This proves that people in general want someone who is capable and compassionate and can do the job as President.  Race relations may have improved and they may not have.  You can change laws but you’ll never change the way people personally think about the issue of race.  I have read in the Washington Post that some white people who did vote for Obama were racist.  I guess they were racist in general.  Because, if you get someone who is qualified and who may help this country get on the right track comes along, obviously these people will put aside any racial animosity so as not to shoot themselves and the country in the foot.  Not to mention it, I did vote for Obama.  And for me, this wasn’t so unusual the idea of a black person becoming president because I live in Northern Virginia which is a Washington, DC suburb and DC has almost always had a black mayor since I’ve been alive and I’m 55 years old.  The DC mayor is named Adrian Fenty who is also half black and half white by the way.  But he is seen as black.  But he is successful because he is competent and cares about all the people and not just a few or a select group.  Sometimes, I admit when I voted for Obama (or any black person for that matter) that I had a slight fear in the back of my mind that he would do things to only cater to the black race and their need.  But this is not what he is about.  And it is not the way he has been performing while in office.  I wonder if having a black president will affect the need for the affirmative action laws.  There has been some talk to this affect that I’ve read about in the Washington Post and USA Today.  It was mainly talking about the need for certain types of black history courses in the colleges.

To anon at 4:46:

“What’s interesting about this article and others I’ve seen on the new data, is that the premise is that we’ve improved because the people polled *believe* we’ve improved. And while I think we have, there really isn’t any data on that.”

I totally agree. Feeling better about race relations is, I would say, part of what it means to actually have better race relations. But it’s not the whole story. It’d be interesting to look any any historical discrimination data.

To anon above: You’re right, about 58 percent of blacks used to regard race relations as “bad” and now regard them as “good.” Not 65 percent. Still a pretty dramatic reversal, though, I’d say.

I would wager a huge majority of those who voted for Obama did it solely on race.Of those I would further surmise very few were aware of his mixed heritage. I’m not impressed with his first 100 days. He’s a great orator, but bailing companies out, spending 100’s of billions while we have millions of homeless and jobless in our country makes little sense. The black community seriously needs to stop living in the past. Vast majority of white Americans or their ancestors had nothing to do with slavery. Look into history, didn’t the Romans control and enslave 80% of the known world during their rein? I’m not denying the injustices done to many who suffered as slaves in America. My skin might appear white, but I also have Native American blood in my veins and my forefathers were driven along the Trail of Tears. We need to learn from our past, not live in it. This is the only way we can grow as a common people and give our children a brighter future.I could care less if a purple person was president. Skin color means absolutely nothing. I recall my sociology professor showing us twelve photos of people of various skin colors and we correctly guessed maybe two or three to their actual races/ethnicity. I’ve met good and bad people of every existing skin color in my life. I’ve also had the utmost respect for a variety of people of various skin pigmentations.

I don’t live in the US, so I don’t know what it feels like on the ground now. But on read/write (2.0) sites it seems that – through sensible moderation and community response – there’s far less racist friction between Americans than there was a year or two ago. Admittedly, you’ll always get “flamers” when there’s open comment and I guess a YouTube comment stream isn’t a decent representation of anything in particular. (No less the BBC – see http://ifyoulikeitsomuchwhydontyougolivethere.com/ .) Still – don’t you think there’s a case that digital technologies are helping to re-shape some of the negative attitudes? Or is the internet just growing up?   

Sorry – forgot to log in first. Show’s how much I know about the internet The above comment was mine.