Blacks, Latinos agree racism a 'major problem,' whites say no
What we have here is clearly a matter of differing perceptions.
Nearly two years after the nation elected its first black president, Americans remain deeply divided on how big of a problem racism is, a new survey finds, with most blacks and Latinos saying it's a "major problem" and most whites saying it's not.
Oh. This is not so surprising. Who are the victims of racism in the United States?
Clue #1: It ain't white people (white people who are victims are victims of poverty, socio-eonomic conditions, lack of adequate health care, lack of adequate nutrition, lack of good educational opportunities ... etc, etc, etc. Mostly victimes of the most hated and despised condition in America, being poor, or worse still, being impoverished, being homeless.
Barrington, Ill (sick Barrington) the very much euro-descendant town where I live, is the seventh wealthiest zip code in the USA! So, you wouldn't think poverty is muchof a problem here. But, the police DO do profiling: any number of my acquaintances has been stopped by police for ... WWWBAN - Walking While White At Night (96.16% of the community's population is white) or BDTB ... Beater Driving Through Barrington. Clearly, I hang with the down and outers, being down and out myself.
But that's me, and that's here. Back to the Sun Times article:
Sixty-nine percent of African Americans and 51 percent of Latinos said they consider racism a "major problem," according to the findings of the University of Chicago study released last week.
There are few if any blacks who have not been stopped for DWBIA, Driving While Black in America. Our President even had a beer with a police officer who arrested a Harvard Professor for being in his house, and being uppity about it.
Here are some interesting facts
White youth sell and use drugs at the same, or higher rates than youth of color
* The 1999 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse reports that White youth aged 12-17 are more than a third more likely to have sold drugs than African-American youth.
* The National Institute of Drug Abuse survey of high school seniors for 1998/1999 shows that White students use cocaine at 7 to 8 times the rate of African American students, and heroin at 7 times the rate of African American students.
Youth of color are arrested and imprisoned at higher rates for drug crimes
* The proportion of adult prison admissions for youth convicted of drug offenses was three times greater for African-American youth than White youth.
* Among youth who have of youth admitted to a secure facility for the first time, the rate of commitment for drug offenses for African-Americans was 48 times that of Whites, and for Latino youth, was 13 times that of Whites.
* The mean length of stay in state correctional facilities for drug offenses for African-American youth was 90 days longer than that for White youth. The mean length of stay for Latino youth was 160 days longer than that for White youth.
The National Disparity in Youth Prosecution in Adult Court for Drug Crimes is Amplified in Illinois.
Regional and Racial Disparity
* Between 1985 and 1999,the number of juveniles arrested for drug offenses in Illinois tripled, and 61% of all juvenile drug arrests in the state occurred in Chicago.
* Ninety-two percent of all the youth automatically transferred to adult court in Illinois were from Cook County, and 88.2% of the counties did not automatically exclude any youth from juvenile court.
* While African American youth make up 15.3% of Illinois' youth population, African American youth are 59% of youth arrested for drug crimes, 85.5% of youth automatically transferred to adult court, 88% of the youth imprisoned for drug crimes statewide, and 91% of youth admitted to state prison from Cook County.
Only Youth of Color Impacted
* 99.2% of the youth automatically transferred to adult court for drug crimes in Cook County between 1995 and 1999 were youth of color.
* 99% of the youth transferred to adult court in Cook County in 1999-2000, for all crimes, were youth of color.
* 99% of the youth transferred to adult court in Cook County for drug crimes in 1999-2000 were youth of color
* 99% of all the youth imprisoned for drug crimes from Cook County in 1996 were non-White.
An Adult Drug Conviction Robs Youth of Second Chances
* Most of the youth tried as adults for drug crimes did not have a chance to benefit from programs and services available in the juvenile justice system. Fifty-nine percent of the youth transferred for drug offenses from Cook County in 1999-2000 had no previous juvenile court contact or services.
* Most of the youth transferred for drug offenses received adult probation, which provides less supervision and rehabilitative services than in the juvenile justice system.
* An adult felony record will act as an economic and educational roadblock throughout their lives. This year, 20,000 may lose the opportunity for federal higher education financial aid after revealing that they have a drug conviction.
Any hints there about why Blacks and Latinos think racism is a problem?
Any clues?
Back to the Sun Times:
That compares with 29 percent of whites and 32 percent of Asian Americans.
That "polarization" suggests that President Obama needs to do more to bridge that gap, said Cathy J. Cohen, a U. of C. political science professor who was one of the survey's lead investigators.
It is not clear which way the gap needs to be bridge, not from the reports column. And I think that is a very important bit of information.
When has Obama advocated for blacks? He has admonished black parents to take more interest in their children's education (like Bill Cosby has done). He has done NOTHING to point out these incredible disparities regards incarceration rates between black, hipanic and white youths for drug offenses.
And his attorney general has vowed to wage the drug war on the residents of the soverign state of California if its residents vote to legalize marijuana for uses other than medical. Just what used those might be, I cannot imagine.
"This is another missed opportunity on the part of the president," Cohen said. "I'm a supporter of the president . . . but his unwillingness to lead around issues of race, instead of just reacting to crises, has left a void there that has been filled by the right wing, in many ways."
The project -- sponsored by the Ford Foundation -- included surveys of a nationally representative 3,000 people from 2008 to early this year, according to the researchers.
Finally, there is a real difference between black, hispanic, and white American's about the role of minority populations in America:
The survey also asked whether the growth of minority populations strengthens the United States. Sixty-four percent of Latinos said yes, along with 51 percent of blacks, 50 percent of Asian-Americans and 18 percent of whites.
What happens when whites become the minority population?
Will they then think growth of the minority population is a good thing?
Only time will tell.
