Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 12, 1994 TAG: 9408120056
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A13 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFFREY B. SPENCE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Yet in all this discussion of America's racial and ethnic fault-lines, there has been surprisingly little honest and responsible talk about how different races actually feel about each other.
We in America tend to talk openly about racial or religious differences only with our own kind, in our own living rooms, and rarely with people of other races or creeds. But, unless people from different backgrounds begin to talk sincerely about precisely what divides us and also what we have in common, we will never be able to develop a common agenda and confront the problems we all share.
To help advance a national discussion about intergroup tensions and how to defuse them, The National Conference conducted a groundbreaking survey last summer that gauged how America's groups feel about each other and the opportunities available to them. This survey of 3,000 people was one of the most comprehensive polls of intergroup attitudes ever conducted. While surveying white attitudes toward people of color, it was the first to take an in-depth look at the stereotypical attitudes of various communities of color toward whites, and toward each other.
Many of the attitudes documented by the poll are disquieting. But as we evaluate the state of race relations 50 years after Brown, it is critical for Americans to face up to these attitudes and try to change them. Otherwise, we will be in danger of irreparably splintering into feuding racial and religious camps.
One of the poll's most alarming findings is the dim view of whites shared by the three most populous communities of color: African, Latino and Asian Americans. Two-thirds of nonwhites surveyed agree that whites "believe they are superior and can boss people around," and that whites are "insensitive to other people and have a long history of bigotry and prejudice."
This antipathy to whites is clearly related to a powerful sense of exclusion from the American mainstream. Asked if their group had opportunities equal to those of whites, 80 percent of African Americans, 60 percent of Latino Americans, and 57 percent of Asian Americans say no.
Yet, most whites seem to believe that the American dream is quite real to communities of color. Most whites say people of color have an equal chance to share in what this nation has to offer in virtually every area of life, from schooling to credit and mortgage availability. For example, 69 percent of whites believe African Americans have an equal opportunity to get a quality education. Furthermore, most whites seem to have similar views of the chances available to Latino, Asian and Muslim Americans, along with other minorities.
It is time that we find some way to close this gaping perceptual gap, because we cannot begin to solve this nation's racial problems if we lack a shared perception of what those problems are. If whites continue to think the promise of America is real to people of color, they won't feel much urgency to address the inequities that minorities believe are part of their daily experience.
The lack of common ground between the white majority and communities of color is not the only distressing news from the poll. It turns out that communities of color are also divided, and that they harbor disturbing negative stereotypes about each other. Prejudice, it seems, knows no color.
But there is also positive and hopeful news from this survey, the kind of news that should encourage us to move forward as a nation. Existing side by side with the intergroup hostility is a good deal of respect for other cultures. Most people in each group surveyed believe that other groups have many positive and admirable attributes. Most say that Asian Americans place a high value on intellectual achievement, Latino Americans work hard to achieve a better life, African Americans have made valuable social and religious contributions to our society, and Jewish Americans are charitable and supportive of social justice, to name just a few of the findings.
Furthermore, most Americans endorse the notion of cultural diversity and the value of learning about other cultures and lifestyles. There is also a widespread and expressed willingness to put aside intercommunal tensions and work with other groups to address an array of challenges, from battling drugs to teaching kids what they need to learn in order to succeed.
Thus, the survey shows that our differences need not paralyze us. In fact, some of our problems are so dire that they have the potential to help bring us together.
But first, all Americans have a lot of work to do. That work should begin by holding up a mirror to ourselves just as this poll has done. After each of us has taken an honest look at our prejudices as individuals, we need to start conversations in our classrooms, houses of worship, offices, living rooms and streets - conversations about how to transform ignorance and suspicion into an enlightened tolerance that helps us to celebrate diversity, not shun it.
Jeffrey B. Spence is executive director for the Virginia region, headquartered in Richmond, of The National Conference of Christians and Jews.
by CNB