During a news conference Monday, August 16, at the National Press Building in Washington, D.C., Phillip Klinkner, director of the Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., said: "this indicates that many young Americans are comfortable with the notion of a segregated society. This is a cause for concern since many school districts are dismantling their integration efforts at a time when new data shows rising levels of school segregation."
The Racial Attitudes Poll of Young Americans, conducted for the Levitt Center by Zogby International, addresses the perceptions and trends in American race relations that will confront the U.S. well into the next century. As it is one of the few surveys to poll this population, the findings are expected to add to debate over the future of race relations in America.
The survey polled 1001 randomly selected 18-29 year-olds and has a margin of sampling error of +/- 3.2%.
John Zogby, president and CEO of Zogby International said, "the attitudes of this key demographic group are significant because it is the first generation to grow up in an America without formal barriers to racial equality, and because it is the generation likely to dominate thought in the first half of the next century."
Klinkner said, "Although results of the survey were mostly optimistic, I found it troubling that only 60% thought the federal government should make sure that white and black children go to the same school. This could be interpreted to mean a fairly large minority feel black and whites shouldn't go to school together. There are attitudes not very far below the surface that could provide openings for racist and hate groups."
The survey is unique, since it was developed in part by young Americans. In a class on Race and the American Democracy at Hamilton College, 10 undergraduates from various racial, ethnic and class backgrounds worked with experts in the field to write the original survey questions. Some of the questions were derived from other sources to provide baseline comparisons.
In response to recent debates about the value of multicultural education and racial diversity on college campuses, Klinkner pointed out, "We found respondents overwhelmingly supported the idea of multicultural education but also saw the need to balance racial diversity with academic achievement in admitting students to college."
Another aspect of the survey was the role of race in the social lives of young Americans, Klinkner said, "Despite high levels of tolerance, it is clear that young people are exposed to examples of racism relatively frequently. More than 90% said they hear racist jokes occasionally. And there is a gap between what they say and what they do as in the example of interracial dating -- most said they were fine with interracial dating, even though less than half said they had ever dated someone from a different race."
Of the young Americans surveyed, most thought race relations had stayed the same or were getting worse. Only 22% thought relations were good to excellent, 57.9% said relations were fair and 19.4% said relations were poor.
Other findings include:
® More than 56% said that the federal government should make sure that black people receive fair treatment in jobs.
® More than 57% agreed that generations of slavery and discrimination have created conditions that make it difficult for blacks to work their way of out the lower class.
® A majority (54.4%) said it was unlikely that the U.S. would elect a black president in the near future.
® By small but consistent margins, respondents were less likely to describe blacks as equally intelligent, peaceful and hardworking as whites.
Hilary Shelton, director, Washington Bureau, NAACP, said the survey "is both an indicator and a challenge as we view the attitudes and perspectives of this group of future leaders of our nation. It gives us great hope as we look at the increased numbers that support equal opportunity, but there is an increased sense of need to strengthen and renew our support of many programs that help guarantee equal oppor5tunity for all, such as affirmative action, police accountability, school construction, small business programs and more."
Jannett Matthews, a Hamilton College Class of '99 graduate, and part of the class which helped develop the survey said: "Everyone has bias. But we have to continue to work at removing those images from American society."
