Unfortunately, we seem to have reached a plateau in solving the problem and progress has slowed (or stopped). At least, that is the attitude of a significant majority of Americans. The chart above is from the Bloomberg News Poll that was done between September 20th and 23rd of 1,000 nationwide adults (with a 3.1 point margin of error). Note that only 27% of Americans believe race relations are getting better, while 70% believe they are not (43% saying they are staying the same & 27% saying they are getting worse).
I tend to agree with the 43%. I don't believe race relations are getting worse (although the racists have been louder and more open since the election of President Obama). But I do believe we are not currently making much progress, and that's a sad commentary on a 21st Century society.
I have lived mostly in the southeast (NC, GA, AL, MS, LA, TX) but I have also lived in CA and MO. Oddly, I did not notice much difference in race relations in any of these states. CA had the least contentious race relations of any of these states but once I got out of Los Angeles it seemed like I was back in the burbs of Atlanta or Birmingham, or Jackson. It would be nice not to have white people come up to me and say racist things thinking that I am just as bigoted as they are.
ReplyDeleteI understand. When I was younger, I used to put up with those kind of racist jokes and remarks just to get along (and I regret that). But now I don't give a crap what those people think of me, and I will tell them they sound racist (and I'm much happier with myself).
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