Is the level of racism in America today acceptable?

Great Debates
1

I am concerned with race relations in America these days. It seems like many people have adopted the attitude that the civil rights movement is over, that all of its goals have been achieved, and that everyone in America, black and white, is satisfied with the current situation. However, I have noticed that interracial marriage, and even interracial dating, is very rare and almost unacceptable to many people, whether they consider themselves racist or not. It even seems like the media fuels the separation between the races, because, on television, in movies, and in advertisements men and women in social settings always seem to be paired together based on their race. While companies are always eager to show diversity in their ads, and media corporations strive to appeal to a wide audience by casting diverse actors and actresses, the diversity seems to be limited to friendships, not social relationships.

I am a white male and I have no problem dating people from different ethnic backgrounds. However, I can understand why some white people would hesitate to marry and have children with a black man or woman. Clearly, children who are products of interracial marriages nearly always physically show black characteristics more than white characteristics. If I were to have children with a black woman, I would be concerned that the children might reject me and my heritage because it is not apparent in their appearance.

What do you think? Do you think that Americans still have some racial barriers to overcome?

2

Black culture and white culture are very different*. As long as there is a rift between those two cultures there is going to be racial tension. I wouldn’t blame the media. I think it is just portraying (regardless of how accurate) what society really is.

I would also say that this works both ways. You never specifically stated you meant white racism against blacks, but implied it by mentioning the civil rights movement.

*These cultures are not exclusive.

3

Don’t be too quick to assume that biracial (black/white) children appear more black than white. As a white person, you notice the differences more than the similarities. A black person may think that the same biracial child looks more white than black. It depends on your frame of reference.

By seeing everything in Black and White, our society does tend to force people to choose. Are you black or white? But in many cases the person is both and/or neither.

By almost any measure, blacks in the US have seen significant improvements over the last 30 years or so. I think our society is going in the right direction, even though we still have a ways to go before relative equality is achieved. Personally, I think it is unrealistic that a truly color-blind society can be achieved. But the key is to hold that as the goal and to ensure that the movement is in that direction.

4

Racism is a form of throwback mentality that is both outmoded and unacceptable in modern society. It serves no valid purpose and only perpetuates damaging stereotypes that have no basis in reality.

5

There are still many more black men in lockup than white men. I think most everything centers around that fact. We know that it’s not genetic, so we need to find out what the problem is and work on it.
We need a government with the balls to see that there’s a problem in the US much larger than the threat of terrorism.

6

John Mace:

Why should a goal be set that’s impossible to achieve? That’ll just frustrate everyone. Or maybe not. Maybe an impossible goal is easy to set when you know missing it won’t really affect you anyway.

7

Um, friendships are social relationships.

…or a black person hesitating to marry a white person.

I think that people should be able to date and marry whoever they want. I understand what you’re saying–that society in general regards miscegenation as taboo. But I think that depends on what society you are talking about. I don’t know how it is elsewhere in the U.S., but here in New York it’s pretty normal, and, from what I’ve seen, acceptable.

Yes, there are racial barriers to be overcome, but I think the U.S. is doing well right now. As for whites not dating blacks (or the other way around), it’s usually due to a lack of exposure to the other race during childhood. (We’re ruling out racism here.) Then again, sometimes a member of one race finds that a member of another race to which he had previously been unexposed excites him–and it may be for that very reason.

Really? Got a cite? (Preferably one with the ethnic breakdown of the prison population and the general population and the amounts of people, as well as, what percentage of blacks are in prison and what percentage of whites are. [I would believe that a greater *percentage* of blacks than whites are in prison, but not greater numbers, as, from what I understand, only 12% of the national population is black.]) I really am curious.

Pending the proof, you are implying that racism is the cause of more black men being in prison than white men. That may be one reason, but another may be that blacks are poorer on the whole than the general white population (also, QED) and thus are more likely to commit crimes. By the same token, they are then less likely to get good lawyers and thus less likely to beat the charges. (It would also be interesting to see the conviction rates, by race, of men at various periods in time [i.e., in the 1940’s, the 1950’s and the start of the civil riots movement and protests, before and after the Civil Rights Act, etc.] .)

I would also like to note that we’ve been talking about men. What about the racial breakdown of the female prisoner population?

8

I think fear of “the other” is a part of human nature. We can overcome that to some extent, but it will never be completely eliminated.

Do you think it is possible to eliminate all racism? And if not, what goal to do you propose other than the one I have proposed?

9

True enough… There’s always going to be some part of me that fears clowns, no matter how many bunny balloons they twist for me (or maybe because of…)

There will always be some prejudice and stereotyping, but we definitely haven’t gone as far as to see the practical limit being reached (based off a vague composite of news reports and word of mouth from friends…)

10

I did not read that implication, at all. I thought that mangeorge was pretty clear in noting that the reason (regardless what it may turn out to be) should be found and addressed.

Here is a cite (with a specific reporting perspective, but apparently using reputable citations) that discusses race in terms of drugs and imprisonment.
One contributing factor to the higher percentage of blacks than whites being incarcerated, of course, are the U.S. drug policies, in which possesion of crack (primarily a drug of the inner city) carries a much stiffer mandatory penalty than possession of a similar amount of cocaine powder (more typically a drug of the suburbs or the professional classes). Is that actually racism? I am not sure that it constitutes deliberate and overt “keep them in their place” racism, although it is clearly a manifestation of institutionalized racism, displayed as a fear of the unknown.

A separate contributing factor, if true, is the (self)reported policy of the DEA to target inner city drug use while permitting state agencies to enforce (generally more lenient) state laws in the suburbs. While DEA agents are on record as having made that statement, I have not seen substantive evidence that such is truly the case. If true, it seems to be a much more deliberate form of racism, although I can also propose various scenarios in which the cause was not deliberately malevolent racism.

Regarding the OP, I think we have a long way to go, but even out in mostly white exurbia I see a lot more mixed couples than I would have guessed was possible as few as ten years ago.

11

That should be “rights.” But since I was thinking of it in terms of higher numbers of arrests (namely, of protestors) I must have associated the two words.

12

I don’t know. Maybe yours is a good goal. Maybe whites should just ignore the racism problem as not their own. Maybe an entirely seperate state is the only answer. Personally, I plan on skipping out on this country altogether once I finish college, so I’ve already got my solution.

13

Why would you say that? There is no conclusive data to say whether or not is IS genetic, but to completely dismiss one possibility is to blind yourself because the answer may be uncomfortable to acknowledge.

As bad as bigotry is, science crippled by political correctness is worse.

14

I dunno, given that the phenomenon of such extremely high incarceration rates of one social group is new–less than 30 years old–and that the group in question has a very wide genetic composition, including people from three separate regions of the world, I would think that a genetic component could be virtually eliminated unless someone stumbles across some odd genetic feature that coincidentally pops up in that population. Certainly, with what we know, the odds of finding a genetic link would indicate that research money would be far better spent elsewhere.