Filed under: News, Politics, President Obama, Race and Civil Rights
The study also says that 27 percent of respondents say that race relations are getting worse, which is a 10 percent increase since July 2009. Another 33 percent of Americans think that relations are about the same.
As usual, whites and blacks don't view race relations in the same way, with African Americans being much less optimistic than whites. A full 39 percent of whites think relations are getting better, while only 13 percent of African Americans agree with that assessment.
If you ever want to obtain interesting results for any poll, all you have to do is split the sample by race. Whites have, for the most part, always seen the world in one way, while blacks see it in another. If you ask about the OJ Simpson trial, the Obama presidency or any other racially-charged topic of discussion, you'll find that whites and blacks are living very different realities.
One of the interesting things about race relations is that it's easier to think that relations are getting better when you're not the one feeling the burden of the racial climate. It's no different from an abusive husband who says that his marriage is going well. His wife probably wouldn't agree of course, and that is the nature of the dysfunctional marriage between whites and blacks in America. We need each other, but we don't always love each other.
One source of disdain is our reckless disregard for the fundamental causes of racial inequality. To date, our nation has never dealt with the fact that African Americans must endure a pathetic inner city educational system, where our schools are funded less than the schools in the suburbs. We face dramatic inequality in wealth levels. Our unemployment rates are twice as high as whites. We are incarcerated at a rate that is several times greater than whites. I could continue the list, but my fingers get tired as I type out these words. All of this racial inequality is directly related to 400 years of slavery and Jim Crow, where our nation lived as a country where blacks were denied access to wealth, education and equal opportunity. The effects of that damage are not going to disappear with just a few years of good intentions. The point is that holding hands and singing "We Shall Overcome" at the Martin Luther King Dinner every year is not going to give us the kind of racial relationship we desire. It's going to take hard work and a little bit of honesty in order to make things right.
Another factor that may play a role in our nation's decline in race relations over the past year is the horrible treatment of President Barack Obama. Mind you, I've called the Obama Administration to the carpet on a few issues, namely their silence on the black unemployment problem and their terrible decision to appoint Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. But those who've written Obama off as an irresponsible, unAmerican, radical black man are engaging in a form of racial hatred that is reminiscent of lynch mobs during slavery. Those who critique the president have the right to do so, but I agree with President Jimmy Carter, who said that the climate created around Obama has been largely driven by the color of his skin.
Rev. Al Sharpton and I talked about this issue on his radio show this week. My conclusion is that, to some extent, Obama's role in the decline of race relations is driven by the fact that he has committed the ultimate sin for a black man in America: He has carried himself with strength, intelligence and dignity. He understands that he drives the car and is not relegated to ride in the back seat. Even Bill Clinton, the alleged "First black president," had a tough time accepting Obama's rise to prominence. One of the artifacts of racial oppression is that some expect African Americans to be happy when we are given the scraps, when there are times when we've earned our right to sit at the head table.
Another point to remember is that sometimes things must get worse before they get better. To establish a new peace on race relations in America, a little volatility may be necessary. If the party you're interacting with is not willing to share power willingly (which most people are not), you must sometimes fight a little bit to obtain your share (peacefully, of course). By being in the White House and taking the most powerful political position in the world, President Obama has taken an unthinkable amount of power into his possession. Therefore, the subsequent struggle and backlash were inevitable.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.