Race Still Matters
It is comforting to believe that the election of President Barack Obama and other signs of
the success of people of color in all aspects of life is evidence that the United States is
now a “post-racial” society, one in which racial and ethnic prejudice and discrimination is
largely historic. Unfortunately, this belief remains an audacious hope.
The majority of Whites in America, including school administrators and teachers, understate the extent of racial discrimination and prejudice and believe that all or most of the goals of the civil rights movement have been met. A 2004 report of the National Research Council observes that while most people in the nation agree that overt racism is abhorrent, more subtle forms of prejudice, often unintentional, are pervasive:
People’s intentions may be good, but their racially biased cognitive categories and associations may persist. The result is a modern, subtle form of prejudice that goes underground so as not to conflict with antiracist norms while it continues to shape people’s cognitive, affective and behavioral responses.
(National Research Council, 2004, p.59)
To be sure, substantial progress has been made toward reducing discrimination and altering attitudes and beliefs. But here is a sampling of evidence that racial and ethnic differences remain an influence in shaping behavior of many Americans:
- More than 70 percent of Whites and larger proportions of Blacks and Hispanics, approved of interracial marriage in 2004. However, while Whites were relatively sanguine about race relations, almost half of Blacks said that they had been victims of discrimination within the previous month (Goodheart, 2004).
- People who live in racially diverse communities tend to distrust their neighbors more and be less likely to extend themselves on behalf of collective needs and goals than people who live in homogeneous communities (Putnam, 2007).
- Even baseball umpires and basketball referees, whose decisions are very public, tend to favor players of their own race.
- In mid 2008, 26 percent of Whites said they had been discriminated against because they are white and 19 percent of Whites felt that race relations would get worse if Obama were elected president (New York Times).
- In late 2007, a majority of African Americans, Hispanics and Asian Americans viewed racial tensions as a “very important problem” and preferred doing business with Whites rather than with members of racial groups other than their own (Washington Post).
- Just prior to the 2008 election, Blacks were more than twice as likely as Whites and Hispanics to believe that Blacks would not “in their lifetime” or never, achieve racial equality. In the same survey, Hispanics and Whites were three times more likely than Blacks to say that Blacks have achieved racial equality. Further, people of color were more likely to say that their race was part of their personal identity (USA Today).
- In January 2008, 72 percent of Whites thought that Blacks overestimated the amount of discrimination against them, while 82 percent of Blacks thought that Whites underestimated discrimination against Blacks (New York Times).
- Project Implicit, a collaboration of researchers from major universities, has found that three-quarters of Whites have implicit pro-white/anti-black bias and that Blacks, while being equally biased against Whites and Blacks were the least biased of all races.
Further evidence of racial discrimination can be found in studies of housing, bank loans, criminal sentencing and health care.
Some Implications for Education
The desire to believe that discrimination is a thing of the past, and its sister belief that one
should be colorblind in relations with students, are examples of what McKenzie and
Scheurich (2003) call “equity traps.” Such beliefs undermine teachers’ abilities to
diagnose existing and potential sources of student misbehavior, disengagement and
underperformance.
Educators need to examine their own beliefs and understandings related to racial differences and consider how best to enhance the capabilities of students (Weissglass, 2003). They need to know, for example, that biological differences among people of different races are virtually nonexistent (National Research Council, 2004); that changes in behavior may lead to changes in attitudes (rather than trying to change attitudes through education about “appropriate” behavior); that even people of goodwill may harbor subtle prejudices or lack the skills to interact productively with people whose ethnicity or skin color is different from their own; and that efforts to improve race relations by changing textbooks or other learning materials or sensitizing students to the strengths and unique characteristics of different cultures are not likely to be effective in significantly improving student achievement (Aboud & Levy, 2000; Stephan and Stephan, 2003).
One of the most powerful indicators of both the pervasiveness and the insidious effects of racial and ethnic prejudice is “stereotype threat.” Careful research has shown that, when faced with academic challenges, students of color often accept the social stereotype of their race and lose confidence in their intellectual abilities (Steele & Aronson, 1998).
Not Yet and Not Easy
The reduction of racial prejudice and discrimination in the United States has not come
about because of natural evolution. It has been the product of bitter struggle, the adoption
and enforcement of public policies, and the hard work of many individuals and
organizations. Further progress may be less stressful but it will require steady resolve.
Recurrently, there is an event or series of events that give rise to calls for action, or at
least, a national conversation about race. But the fact that such a conversation takes place
mainly in the media and has a shelf life of days or weeks is evidence that we “have
promises to keep” – and that keeping them will not be easy.
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