Majority of Americans racist towards blacks, finds new study

[MHV9218]

This is both depressing and a little surprising, and to me it's just unbelievable the numbers are this high. The main stats are this: a major survey/poll and study has found that 51% of Americans have strongly anti-black attitudes. Compare that to a companion study from 2011 which found that 52% of Americans have strongly anti-Hispanic attitudes, and it's plain sad. Not to mention, the numbers are getting worse -- they're actually up since 2008. Here's the story from the AP:

 

WASHINGTON — Racial attitudes have not improved in the four years since the United States elected its first black president, an Associated Press poll finds, as a slight majority of Americans now express prejudice toward blacks whether they recognize those feelings or not.

 

Those views could cost President Barack Obama votes as he tries for re-election, the survey found, though the effects are mitigated by some people's more favorable views of blacks.

 

Racial prejudice has increased slightly since 2008 whether those feelings were measured using questions that explicitly asked respondents about racist attitudes, or through an experimental test that measured implicit views toward race without asking questions about that topic directly.

 

In all, 51 percent of Americans now express explicit anti-black attitudes, compared with 48 percent in a similar 2008 survey. When measured by an implicit racial attitudes test, the number of Americans with anti-black sentiments jumped to 56 percent, up from 49 percent during the last presidential election. In both tests, the share of Americans expressing pro-black attitudes fell.

 

"As much as we'd hope the impact of race would decline over time ... it appears the impact of anti-black sentiment on voting is about the same as it was four years ago," said Jon Krosnick, a Stanford University professor who worked with AP to develop the survey.

 

Most Americans expressed anti-Hispanic sentiments, too. In an AP survey done in 2011, 52 percent of non-Hispanic whites expressed anti-Hispanic attitudes. That figure rose to 57 percent in the implicit test. The survey on Hispanics had no past data for comparison.

 

The AP surveys were conducted with researchers from Stanford University, the University of Michigan and NORC at the University of Chicago.

 

Experts on race said they were not surprised by the findings.

 

"We have this false idea that there is uniformity in progress and that things change in one big step. That is not the way history has worked," said Jelani Cobb, professor of history and director of the Institute for African-American Studies at the University of Connecticut. "When we've seen progress, we've also seen backlash."

Obama has tread cautiously on the subject of race, but many African-Americans have talked openly about perceived antagonism toward them since Obama took office. As evidence, they point to events involving police brutality or cite bumper stickers, cartoons and protest posters that mock the president as a lion or a monkey, or lynch him in effigy.

 

"Part of it is growing polarization within American society," said Fredrick Harris, director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University. "The last Democrat in the White House said we had to have a national discussion about race. There's been total silence around issues of race with this president. But, as you see, whether there is silence, or an elevation of the discussion of race, you still have polarization. It will take more generations, I suspect, before we eliminate these deep feelings."

 

Overall, the survey found that by virtue of racial prejudice, Obama could lose 5 percentage points off his share of the popular vote in his Nov. 6 contest against Republican challenger Mitt Romney. But Obama also stands to benefit from a 3 percentage point gain due to pro-black sentiment, researchers said. Overall, that means an estimated net loss of 2 percentage points due to anti-black attitudes.

 

The poll finds that racial prejudice is not limited to one group of partisans. Although Republicans were more likely than Democrats to express racial prejudice in the questions measuring explicit racism (79 percent among Republicans compared with 32 percent among Democrats), the implicit test found little difference between the two parties. That test showed a majority of both Democrats and Republicans held anti-black feelings (55 percent of Democrats and 64 percent of Republicans), as did about half of political independents (49 percent).

 

Obama faced a similar situation in 2008, the survey then found.

 

The AP developed the surveys to measure sensitive racial views in several ways and repeated those studies several times between 2008 and 2012.

 

The explicit racism measures asked respondents whether they agreed or disagreed with a series of statements about black and Hispanic people. In addition, the surveys asked how well respondents thought certain words, such as "friendly," "hardworking," "violent" and "lazy," described blacks, whites and Hispanics.

 

The same respondents were also administered a survey designed to measure implicit racism, in which a photo of a black, Hispanic or white male flashed on the screen before a neutral image of a Chinese character. The respondents were then asked to rate their feelings toward the Chinese character. Previous research has shown that people transfer their feelings about the photo onto the character, allowing researchers to measure racist feelings even if a respondent does not acknowledge them.

 

Results from those questions were analyzed with poll takers' ages, partisan beliefs, views on Obama and Romney and other factors, which allowed researchers to predict the likelihood that people would vote for either Obama or Romney. Those models were then used to estimate the net impact of each factor on the candidates' support.

All the surveys were conducted online. Other research has shown that poll takers are more likely to share unpopular attitudes when they are filling out a survey using a computer rather than speaking with an interviewer. Respondents were randomly selected from a nationally representative panel maintained by GfK Custom Research.

 

Overall results from each survey have a margin of sampling error of approximately plus or minus 4 percentage points. The most recent poll, measuring anti-black views, was conducted Aug. 30 to Sept. 11.

 

Andra Gillespie, an Emory University political scientist who studies race-neutrality among black politicians, contrasted the situation to that faced by the first black mayors elected in major U.S. cities, the closest parallel to Obama's first-black situation. Those mayors, she said, typically won about 20 percent of the white vote in their first races, but when seeking reelection they enjoyed greater white support presumably because "the whites who stayed in the cities ... became more comfortable with a black executive."

 

"President Obama's election clearly didn't change those who appear to be sort of hard-wired folks with racial resentment," she said.

 

Negative racial attitudes can manifest in policy, noted Alan Jenkins, an assistant solicitor general during the Clinton administration and now executive director of the Opportunity Agenda think tank.

 

"That has very real circumstances in the way people are treated by police, the way kids are treated by teachers, the way home seekers are treated by landlords and real estate agents," Jenkins said.

 

Hakeem Jeffries, a New York state assemblyman and candidate for a congressional seat being vacated by a fellow black Democrat, called it troubling that more progress on racial attitudes had not been made. Jeffries has fought a New York City police program of "stop and frisk" that has affected mostly blacks and Latinos but which supporters contend is not racially focused.

 

"I do remain cautiously optimistic that the future of America bends toward the side of increased racial tolerance," Jeffries said. "We've come a long way, but clearly these results demonstrate there's a long way to go."

___

AP News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.

[Shortline Bus]

And where link MHV? Guys Warning. please seriously keep this a mature chat on this topic. If not this thread will be closed so fast you will blink. Thanks

[MHV9218]

That's the whole story up there, I just quoted the whole thing since it's an AP story. But it's been republished all over, here's one:

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ap-poll-majority-of-americans-still-express-negative-view-of-blacks/2012/10/27/421d683a-2009-11e2-8817-41b9a7aaabc7_story.html

[checkmatechamp13]

When I first read this, I thought that it was a mistake, and it meant that the majority of Americans viewed racism as a problem, not that the majority of Americans were racist themselves. Just....wow.....

 

In any case, if anybody's interested, here are the actual survey questions and results. The racial questions start on page 17.

 

I can't seem to find the survey of implicit racism (where they showed the picture of a Chinese man and then showed the picture of the White, Black, or Hispanic man).

[Turbo19]

It is shameful to know we live in such a beautiful devloped country, and still today in 2012 half the population holds racist views such as these.

 

I may not be Black, but I've experienced racism from those racist towards Hispanics.(I'm from Mexican ancestry).

 

I will say something though. I dated a black woman, and while I wouldn't say people were objecting to our realtionship at the time, we got the occasional stare, and I got some crap from my friends (well they sometimes critic my black friends, male or female), but I will say this. Though in our situation it didn't work out, I'm glad that we broke through the walls of adversity and enjoyed a wonderful time, damn whatever anyone else said. In fact, it warms my heart when I see inter-racial couples out in stride, especially in an area in it would be shunned.

[realizm]

I may not be Black, but I've experienced racism from those racist towards Hispanics.(I'm from Mexican ancestry).

 

 

 

I am Asian yet unfortunately I've experienced racism from other Asians. I'll explain why below:

 

I will say something though. I dated a black woman, and while I wouldn't say people were objecting to our realtionship at the time, we got the occasional stare, and I got some crap from my friends (well they sometimes critic my black friends, male or female), but I will say this. Though in our situation it didn't work out, I'm glad that we broke through the walls of adversity and enjoyed a wonderful time, damn whatever anyone else said. In fact, it warms my heart when I see inter-racial couples out in stride, especially in an area in it would be shunned.

 

 

Indeed.

 

I'm of mixed Asian heritage so I look more Indian or Hispanic according to other people who look at me for the first time. It's cool, I'm used to that.

 

I've dated many Asian American women many times. One lady I was fortunate enough to be in a loving relationship with was from Japan. She was an exchange student pursuing her dream of making it in the performing arts. We've recieved stares, alot of stares and was harrassed several times including on Facebook. Once when I was in the LTR with one of these girls hanging out in Brooklyn we were spat at. Truth.

 

I know an Afro-American man now happily married to a Korean American woman who experienced severe persecution because they were in an IR relationship. At one point the man was recieving death threats from inlaws. He was assaulted one time by in-laws. Now they are doing very well in their careers, are getting along with in-laws finally. They have three bouncing baby boys. The husband is a professor at a universityand his lovely wife is an IT professional FYI.

 

We all came from one creator. What does skin color matter? If a man and woman are in love dammit let them be!! Don't dare challenge them because they are of different races! (In so many words....) That's what I have to tell such ignorant people sometimes Turbo.

 

I pay more attention to these things then usual because I am of mixed heritage coming out of an IR marriage.

[realizm]

On the topic from the opening post of course it is not suprising to see that racism toward blacks are still alive and well even in 2012. However to be fair, there is also much reverse racism as well that persons of other ethnicities also experience. It's a social disease that will take decades it seems as as it is to eradicate from global society.

[Turbo19]

I am Asian yet unfortunately I've experienced racism from other Asians. I'll explain why below:

 

 

 

Indeed.

 

I'm of mixed Asian heritage so I look more Indian or Hispanic according to other people who look at me for the first time. It's cool, I'm used to that.

 

I've dated many Asian American women many times. One lady I was fortunate enough to be in a loving relationship with was from Japan. She was an exchange student pursuing her dream of making it in the performing arts. We've recieved stares, alot of stares and was harrassed several times including on Facebook. Once when I was in the LTR with one of these girls hanging out in Brooklyn we were spat at. Truth.

 

I know an Afro-American man now happily married to a Korean American woman who experienced severe persecution because they were in an IR relationship. At one point the man was recieving death threats from inlaws. He was assaulted one time by in-laws. Now they are doing very well in their careers, are getting along with in-laws finally. They have three bouncing baby boys. The husband is a professor at a universityand his lovely wife is an IT professional FYI.

 

We all came from one creator. What does skin color matter? If a man and woman are in love dammit let them be!! Don't dare challenge them because they are of different races! (In so many words....) That's what I have to tell such ignorant people sometimes Turbo.

 

I pay more attention to these things then usual because I am of mixed heritage coming out of an IR marriage.

 

I wish more people shared views such as this. It would truly make the world a better place to live.

 

On the topic from the opening post of course it is not suprising to see that racism toward blacks are still alive and well even in 2012. However to be fair, there is also much reverse racism as well that persons of other ethnicities also experience. It's a social disease that will take decades it seems as as it is to eradicate from global society.

 

Definitely.

[Threxx]

Racism is a product of human isolation. People's selfishness, vanity, and fear caused it, and until those things end, racism will never end. I'm not suprized at all...

[B35 via Church]

I'm not suprised at all...

 

This pretty much summed up my opinion of the study that's being talked about.....

 

As a black man, I don't need a study to tell me that racism is still alive & kicking in this country... Or what percentage of americans are racist towards those that are of my like race.... The actual number, percent to me is not relevant....

 

To add to that, I will continue saying that America is the most racist country in the world.... We're one big melting pot.

 

As far as interracial dating, I have ZERO problem with it... and I'm not saying that because it's the "in" thing to say, or to gain anyone's approval.... People tell me that I'm stubborn (shit, give me that badge - because forget about trying to change me @ 31), but I'm not intolerant (realize on the same token, I don't have to accept your way of life - but I will respect it - I'm going through w/ that w/ a chick I'm talkin to right now) & I'm the last person to push my views on people... absolutely despise people like that....

 

^^ Speaking of which, someone I know offline got one more time to preach to me about "black love"....

[SoSpectacular]

I don't need a survey to tell me racism is still alive and well today.

 

I've seen quite the number of interracial relationships and the products of such relationships and I notice many reactions. I've seen a white man and Asian woman couple one time in my neck of the woods while walking. Funny thing that happened however, another Asian man walks by the couple in the opposite direction then does a double take as if he couldn't believe what he'd seen. I couldn't help but chuckle at that.

 

Another time I spotted an Asian female with two children, they were darker skinned and had the facial characteristics of Asian people. The little boy had the tight, curly hair of a Black person while the sister sibling had fairly straight hair and slightly stronger Asian facial characteristics. I thought it was pretty interesting.

 

But it would never put me in some weird state. Nah, I can see past all that. Race doesn't matter to me.

 

White boy with a Black girl? Hell, he least he loves his brown sugar!

[JubaionBx12+SBS]

I have a question regarding this study. When it says a Majority of Americans are racist against blacks, does that majority include only whites, people who are non-Black or people of all races? If it's the latter then there's a problem. I am racially tolerant and would certainly answer no to the questions posed in the study. However, with the attitudes I see within the African American community it's hard for me as a black male to say i'm pro-Black. My stance is that if any group wants respect (especially in a polarized nation like the U.S.) they have to demand it and the majority of Blacks (especially males) do little to demand any respect. For many Black males these days it's either they're a professional athlete, rapper, or hitting the streets. There's no other reason to explain this besides laziness and not taking advantage of the resources available to them to make something of their lives. I don't think folks of any race (including other Blacks) should approve of this. Given that it is only human nature to make generalizations people are going to associate this attitude with the skin color of the folks carrying it. I think my point needs to be taken into account because today's study, I think, has little to do with the racism that was perpetuated over hundreds of years in history.

[checkmatechamp13]

I have a question regarding this study. When it says a Majority of Americans are racist against blacks, does that majority include only whites, people who are non-Black or people of all races? If it's the latter then there's a problem. I am racially tolerant and would certainly answer no to the questions posed in the study. However, with the attitudes I see within the African American community it's hard for me as a black male to say i'm pro-Black. My stance is that if any group wants respect (especially in a polarized nation like the U.S.) they have to demand it and the majority of Blacks (especially males) do little to demand any respect. For many Black males these days it's either they're a professional athlete, rapper, or hitting the streets. There's no other reason to explain this besides laziness and not taking advantage of the resources available to them to make something of their lives. I don't think folks of any race (including other Blacks) should approve of this. Given that it is only human nature to make generalizations people are going to associate this attitude with the skin color of the folks carrying it. I think my point needs to be taken into account because today's study, I think, has little to do with the racism that was perpetuated over hundreds of years in history.

 

 

From the way they said it, it sounds like it was all races.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Quite frankly I think the only reason some ethnicities/racial groups receive more racism than others is that some stand out a bit more. Whites hate each other too and if anyone lived in Europe like I have they'd understand where I was coming from. The thing is it is more difficult to identify what some folks are than others.

[realizm]

I wish more people shared views such as this. It would truly make the world a better place to live.

 

 

Definitely.

 

 

All I can say is that on a different musical note she seriously changed me into a better man for real. I will never forget her, ever. Everyone in my circle understands and respects me on this. And ----- the haters.

 

It's real. Nuff said.

[MHV9218]

 

As a black man, I don't need a study to tell me that racism is still alive & kicking in this country... Or what percentage of americans are racist towards those that are of my like race.... The actual number, percent to me is not relevant....

 

I don't need a survey to tell me racism is still alive and well today.

 

 

No doubt, but just the fact that the majority of Americans openly admit to racism? That I didn't expect. I see more subtle racism out there than the blatant, open prejudice like in this study. Talk of this rosy world "post-racial" America is such bullsh!t it makes me sick to hear it...

 

I have a question regarding this study. When it says a Majority of Americans are racist against blacks, does that majority include only whites, people who are non-Black or people of all races?

 

 

The study was in regard to all races -- a significant number of blacks were anti-black, same with a significant number of Hispanics who called Hispanics "lazy." Just sad stuff.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

It is shameful to know we live in such a beautiful devloped country, and still today in 2012 half the population holds racist views such as these.

 

I may not be Black, but I've experienced racism from those racist towards Hispanics.(I'm from Mexican ancestry).

 

I will say something though. I dated a black woman, and while I wouldn't say people were objecting to our realtionship at the time, we got the occasional stare, and I got some crap from my friends (well they sometimes critic my black friends, male or female), but I will say this. Though in our situation it didn't work out, I'm glad that we broke through the walls of adversity and enjoyed a wonderful time, damn whatever anyone else said. In fact, it warms my heart when I see inter-racial couples out in stride, especially in an area in it would be shunned.

 

 

I'm not shocked with your experience. Mexicans and blacks tend to have problems for a number of reasons, but from the Mexican perspective it goes back to when the Spaniards came to Mexico. Their view on race was difference from the English, hence the one drop rule established here as opposed to Latin America for example which has a great deal of mixture from mestizos to trigueños and so on. In Mexico though they have a system if you will which the Spanish created which was that the criollos (those that were descendants of Spaniards from Spain) would be #1, followed by mestizos and any other mixture with blacks being at the very bottom of that system and this ideology is still very well alive in Mexico today. What's interesting to note is that the black population in many countries in Latin America where it is perceived to be very few blacks was basically mixed into society. This is true of Mexico too, even though along the coastal areas of Mexico you can certainly find blacks but they're sort of out of sight out of mind, so everyone thinks of Mexicans as being this big mestizo group and no ones thinks of any sort of black population there.

 

This hostility seems to be engrained in other cultures too though. Of course not everyone agrees with it, but to a degree it seems as if it occurs without folks giving it much thought. It was funny because I was a Spanish major and one of the classes I had to take was a high level Spanish course in which we analyzed Mexico going back from the Pre-Columbus period upto the present day Mexico and my professor was from Nicaragua and of course felt a strong connection to Mexico and to his "mestizo" roots, so he pretty much denied that there was a sizable black population in Mexico. Now a classmate of mine who was Colombian did a huge project on this very issue and noted how anything black in Mexico is surpressed so that whatever black population is there is sort of seen as "miniscule". In her case I believe her curiosity on the topic came from the fact that she grew up in Colombia and her father was quite racist against black Colombians and so she was curious about the black population in other Latin American countries. The thought process is that mainly the Caribbean countries either have black mixture or sizable black populations (i.e. Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia), etc. while other countries don't (like Peru, Chile, Argentina, etc.). While this is true to an extent, it is clear that certain populations figures were surpressed on purpose and also because the amount of mixing that occurred and so you on (i.e. massacres like what happened in Argentina with the indigenous population), you get low counts if you will about the so called black populations in many countries and Mexico would be one of them for the reasons I explained earlier, so in short the topic you mentioned above is a complex one in a way.

[realizm]

No doubt, but just the fact that the majority of Americans openly admit to racism? That I didn't expect. I see more subtle racism out there than the blatant, open prejudice like in this study. Talk of this rosy world "post-racial" America is such bullsh!t it makes me sick to hear it...

 

 

 

I was quite disturbed by these facts. That's what got my attention on this article in your OP. Things are obviously NOT improving in terms of race relations. And it has been confirmed. (Again as everyone here is saying, however not suprised...)

 

I guess that's why this published article went almost viral on the internet as was pointed out on several mediums of the media on the net through several news agencies we can see.

[checkmatechamp13]

No doubt, but just the fact that the majority of Americans openly admit to racism? That I didn't expect. I see more subtle racism out there than the blatant, open prejudice like in this study. Talk of this rosy world "post-racial" America is such bullsh!t it makes me sick to hear it...

 

 

I'm just throwing it out there, but the survey only involved 1,071 people, and there are something like 300 million people in the U.S. And aside from that, they don't specify any criteria as to what would qualify somebody as racist.

 

I'm going to be honest: Just glancing through the responses, I'm not really seeing this whole bit about "the majority of Americans are racist". For a lot of them, the ones where Blacks & Hispanics are ranked below-average (below "moderately well"), it's definitely a lot less than 50%.

 

For example, let's look at one of the questions. How well does the word "violent" describe blacks?

 

 

Violent

2010

2012

 

Extremely well

 

5

 

6

 

Very well

 

10

 

10

 

Moderately well

 

33

 

27

 

Slightly well

 

28

 

23

 

Not at all

 

20

 

26

 

Refused/Not answered

 

4

 

9

 

 

...and the same question for whites....

 

Violent

2010

2012

 

Extremely well

 

2

 

3

 

Very well

 

8

 

3

 

Moderately well

 

36

 

31

 

Slightly well

 

33

 

31

 

Not at all

 

16

 

22

 

Refused/Not answered

 

4

 

9

 

 

I'm not seeing this huge gap in the responses between Whites & Blacks.

 

Look at all the other questions. I'm sorry, but I'm not seeing how this proves that Americans are racist.

 

The study was in regard to all races -- a significant number of blacks were anti-black, same with a significant number of Hispanics who called Hispanics "lazy." Just sad stuff.

 

 

For that question, only 2% said that the statement described Hispanics "Extremely well", and 4% said it described Hispanics "Very well". And we don't necessarily know what the races of the people who said that were. For all we know, it could've been just White people who said it.

 

Actually, there's another question that asks how well the statement "Hard-working" describes Hispanics, and a full 20% said it described them extremely well, 28% said it described them very well, and 32% said moderately well. I really don't think there is an image of Hispanics being lazy because the media is always pushing the image of illegal Hispanic immigrants doing hard jobs for low pay (Obviously we all know that most Hispanics aren't illegal immigrants). If you're buying into that, you can't really say Hispanics are lazy.

 

Like I said, I'd be interested in seeing the results of the implicit racism test, and seeing how they interpreted it.

[MHV9218]

I'm just throwing it out there, but the survey only involved 1,071 people. I'm hoping they just got a really crappy sample. And aside from that, they don't specify any criteria as to what would qualify somebody as racist.

 

I'm going to be honest: Just glancing through the responses, I'm not really seeing this whole bit about "the majority of Americans are racist". For a lot of them, the ones where Blacks & Hispanics are ranked below-average (below "moderately well"), it's definitely a lot less than 50%.

 

You can discount the survey's validity, but it's consistent with previous iterations of the survey even if you cede a few percentage points here and there. It's pretty grim. It's that number, the 51%, that's the majority there, with arguably 56% if you look at the less direct racism.

 

For that question, only 2% said that the statement described Hispanics "Extremely well", and 4% said it described Hispanics "Very well". And we don't necessarily know what the races of the people who said that were. For all we know, it could've been just White people who said it.

 

Actually, there's another question that asks how well the statement "Hard-working" describes Hispanics, and a full 20% said it described them extremely well, 28% said it described them very well, and 32% said moderately well. I really don't think there is an image of Hispanics being lazy because the media is always pushing the image of illegal Hispanic immigrants doing hard jobs for low pay (Obviously we all know that most Hispanics aren't illegal immigrants). If you're buying into that, you can't really say Hispanics are lazy.

 

 

Which survey are you referring to? The main Hispanic-related survey was not this one, but the point is from what I've read there was a significant amount of in-race racism, especially around those adjectives like "lazy." I don't recall the numbers perfectly: it may have been blacks who described blacks as lazy, not Hispanics describing Hispanics, but the prevalence of racism within the races was there regardless.

[Shortline Bus]

Guys good job so far keeping this highly controversial topic in a cool calm manner so far.

[Turbo19]

I'm not shocked with your experience. Mexicans and blacks tend to have problems for a number of reasons, but from the Mexican perspective it goes back to when the Spaniards came to Mexico. Their view on race was difference from the English, hence the one drop rule established here as opposed to Latin America for example which has a great deal of mixture from mestizos to trigueños and so on. In Mexico though they have a system if you will which the Spanish created which was that the criollos (those that were descendants of Spaniards from Spain) would be #1, followed by mestizos and any other mixture with blacks being at the very bottom of that system and this ideology is still very well alive in Mexico today. What's interesting to note is that the black population in many countries in Latin America where it is perceived to be very few blacks was basically mixed into society. This is true of Mexico too, even though along the coastal areas of Mexico you can certainly find blacks but they're sort of out of sight out of mind, so everyone thinks of Mexicans as being this big mestizo group and no ones thinks of any sort of black population there.

 

This hostility seems to be engrained in other cultures too though. Of course not everyone agrees with it, but to a degree it seems as if it occurs without folks giving it much thought. It was funny because I was a Spanish major and one of the classes I had to take was a high level Spanish course in which we analyzed Mexico going back from the Pre-Columbus period upto the present day Mexico and my professor was from Nicaragua and of course felt a strong connection to Mexico and to his "mestizo" roots, so he pretty much denied that there was a sizable black population in Mexico. Now a classmate of mine who was Colombian did a huge project on this very issue and noted how anything black in Mexico is surpressed so that whatever black population is there is sort of seen as "miniscule". In her case I believe her curiosity on the topic came from the fact that she grew up in Colombia and her father was quite racist against black Colombians and so she was curious about the black population in other Latin American countries. The thought process is that mainly the Caribbean countries either have black mixture or sizable black populations (i.e. Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia), etc. while other countries don't (like Peru, Chile, Argentina, etc.). While this is true to an extent, it is clear that certain populations figures were surpressed on purpose and also because the amount of mixing that occurred and so you on (i.e. massacres like what happened in Argentina with the indigenous population), you get low counts if you will about the so called black populations in many countries and Mexico would be one of them for the reasons I explained earlier, so in short the topic you mentioned above is a complex one in a way.

 

Yes, absolutely. There is a greater divide in Mexico regarding race than there will probably ever be here. At the very least it's of a different context.

[checkmatechamp13]

You can discount the survey's validity, but it's consistent with previous iterations of the survey even if you cede a few percentage points here and there. It's pretty grim. It's that number, the 51%, that's the majority there, with arguably 56% if you look at the less direct racism.

 

 

But that's the thing: I don't know which survey shows those numbers.

 

Here's a list of surveys made by the AP. The one I'm referring to is second from the top.

 

I wasn't really questioning the survey's validity. I mean, it would be nice if they could get a larger sample size, but my main point is that they don't show any criteria as to how they interpreted. Aside from that, some of the questions are ambiguous. For instance, they say, how well does the term "violent" describe (Whites/Blacks/Hispanics)? They say "Not at all", and then they say "Slightly well". Obviously not at all means that the person feels that most (Whites/Blacks/Hispanics) aren't violent, but if you say "slightly well", that could mean different things to different people. I think a better thing would've been a 1-10 scale or something to that effect.

 

Which survey are you referring to? The main Hispanic-related survey was not this one, but the point is from what I've read there was a significant amount of in-race racism, especially around those adjectives like "lazy." I don't recall the numbers perfectly: it may have been blacks who described blacks as lazy, not Hispanics describing Hispanics, but the prevalence of racism within the races was there regardless.

 

 

This one right here. It's the only survey I could find. Which one were you thinking of?

[B35 via Church]

I don't need a survey to tell me racism is still alive and well today.

 

I've seen quite the number of interracial relationships and the products of such relationships and I notice many reactions. I've seen a white man and Asian woman couple one time in my neck of the woods while walking. Funny thing that happened however, another Asian man walks by the couple in the opposite direction then does a double take as if he couldn't believe what he'd seen. I couldn't help but chuckle at that.

 

Another time I spotted an Asian female with two children, they were darker skinned and had the facial characteristics of Asian people. The little boy had the tight, curly hair of a Black person while the sister sibling had fairly straight hair and slightly stronger Asian facial characteristics. I thought it was pretty interesting.

 

But it would never put me in some weird state. Nah, I can see past all that. Race doesn't matter to me.

 

White boy with a Black girl? Hell, he least he loves his brown sugar!

 

What bothers me with sistas that IR date is that they love to shove it in black men's faces (and claim that other groups of men love them more than a black man ever will).... Go head, walk around in Park Slope or Chelsea & notice how that chick stares at you if you happen to see them w/ their significant other that isn't a black man..... Better yet, do a quick google search on black women & IR dating & note how many blogs/vlogs you find.....

 

The look of vile & seething hatred I get from sistas when I'm walkin w/ my lady (who's dominican) is quite funny & sad at the same time.... I know what that's all about, and from the discussions we've had, so does she (although she's far more vocal about it than I am; I guess that's that whole "women being another woman's worst enemy" thing).... She hasn't said any real out of pocket isht about sistas that I had to check her on though....

 

What bugs me is the fact that in society it's more accepting/okay for sistas to date out, but how dare a brotha opts to date out..... I forget which comedian said it, but I guess what he said was true - The only two groups of people that are free to do whatever the hell they want are black women & white men.....

 

 

I have a question regarding this study. When it says a Majority of Americans are racist against blacks, does that majority include only whites, people who are non-Black or people of all races?

 

If it's the latter then there's a problem. I am racially tolerant and would certainly answer no to the questions posed in the study. However, with the attitudes I see within the African American community it's hard for me as a black male to say i'm pro-Black.

 

My stance is that if any group wants respect (especially in a polarized nation like the U.S.) they have to demand it and the majority of Blacks (especially males) do little to demand any respect. For many Black males these days it's either they're a professional athlete, rapper, or hitting the streets. There's no other reason to explain this besides laziness and not taking advantage of the resources available to them to make something of their lives. I don't think folks of any race (including other Blacks) should approve of this. Given that it is only human nature to make generalizations people are going to associate this attitude with the skin color of the folks carrying it. I think my point needs to be taken into account because today's study, I think, has little to do with the racism that was perpetuated over hundreds of years in history.

 

I get the sense that they're factoring in all races & nationalities (also wouldn't be surprised if a self-hating black person or two voted as being racist against their own kind... you have those types out here too)....

 

The cooning & "mammy-ism" that's going on in the black community (some would argue there is no black community) I have to say is quite sickening.... You mention demanding respect - While I agree ideally with what you're saying in all this, Considering nationalities throughout the world being patriarchal, really, why should people from other nations respect us....

 

...when we're currently operating in a freakin matriarchy.

 

(**in my best carlton banks voice**)

"Look at those black people over thare.... They're being led by their women !"

 

I mean, there are way too many complacent men males in the average black household (of which aspire to be your favorite rapper or athlete, or local run-of-the-mill womanizer)....

Well lemme stop here, b/c I can go on & on with this, and I don't want to go too far o/t.....

[B35 via Church]

No doubt, but just the fact that the majority of Americans openly admit to racism? That I didn't expect. I see more subtle racism out there than the blatant, open prejudice like in this study. Talk of this rosy world "post-racial" America is such bullsh!t it makes me sick to hear it...

 

Indeed, and I've long grown tired of blacks thinking that "the man" is now on their side & that they're "accepted" & that racism doesn't exist anymore (suburban blacks kill me with that shit)...... On the other end of the spectrum, you get whites that act like racism never existed to begin with (i.e: try to get an american white woman [when she's by herself, that is] to talk about anything relating to racism/bigotry).... In either case, I can't hold serious conversations with naive people....

 

As far as folks openly admitting to it.... Hell, I guess you can only be a closet racist but for so long...

 

I'm starting to hear quite a bit of talk as of late about a supposed impending race war.... smh... That is enough of an admission for me.

 

 

I'm just throwing it out there, but the survey only involved 1,071 people, and there are something like 300 million people in the U.S. And aside from that, they don't specify any criteria as to what would qualify somebody as racist.

 

I'm going to be honest: Just glancing through the responses, I'm not really seeing this whole bit about "the majority of Americans are racist". For a lot of them, the ones where Blacks & Hispanics are ranked below-average (below "moderately well"), it's definitely a lot less than 50%.

 

....is why I don't put too much stock into statistics....

 

....is why I didn't bother looking at this study/survey & w/e it entailed....

 

Well at least you bothered to delve into the intricacies of this study & questioned it there-afterwards..... Way I look at it, 51% or whatever the number was, has no bearing on me.... I don't need the majority - All it takes is one racist person to try to take my ass out, on the sole basis of me being black....