The Washington Post reports that 3 in 10 Americans admits to race bias. Is that supposed to be surprising? I mean, I guess the question that I’m asking is which part is supposed to be an attention grabber: that THIRTY PERCENT of Americans admit to being prejudiced, or is it that thirty percent of Americans ADMIT to being prejudiced? Personally, I don’t find it surprising no matter where the emphasis is placed, but I am curious as to how people read it. Even before I read the article, I knew that the thirty percent figure is supposed to represent a significant portion, but “racial prejudice” is such a nebulous term, who can know what that actually means? I’ll tell you flat-out that I’m prejudiced, although that basically amounts to me rooting for Black folks in sporting events and on television game shows, provided I have no overriding interest. Meanwhile, I’m sure that there are people who wouldn’t let their child date a person of a different race who, only because they’ve never actually had to confront the issue, wouldn’t think of themselves as being prejudiced. So it’s a loaded term that actually means nothing. Kinda like race itself, in some ways.
Besides, with a sample size of under 2000, I’m not sure how valid any extrapolations are, anyway.
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Well, I was under the impression when I saw the article that it was in reference to general race relations. However it seemed like the article focused on the upcoming election and how race will influence voters decisions. At any rate, 3 out of 10 admit? I’m more surprised by the fact that only that many admit it. People should just keep it real. Most whites don’t have to look at life in the terms of race. They just live.
Add to that, the fact that “prejudge” merely means to hold a preconceived notion on sight, and the digits are meaningless. I know these polls are being taken because of the ‘08 presidential race (and Obama is as genetically white as he is Black), but 100% of whites, and Japanese, and “Hispanics”, have some preconception that occurs each time they meet or see a Black person. If nothing else, one thinks “He/she’s not white” or “He’s not Hispanic”.
Often the latter is incorrect.
Well… there’s bias and there’s prejudice. While the numbers in the Post’s survey aren’t a revelation to me, for 3 out of 10 people who ought to know better still admit racial biases is a pretty sad statement on American culture.
iono fellas. depending on what level of ‘prejudice’ you’re lookin at, my expectation would be a lot higher. but that assumes people are being honest.
and the sample size is still only 2000.