A large majority of US whites perceive African Americans as having equal or better opportunities than themselves. This incredible misconception is documented in a new national poll conducted by the Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University.
Some 1709 randomly selected adults were interviewed by telephone from March 8 through April 22. The sample included 779 non-Hispanic whites, 315 Hispanics, 323 blacks and 254 Asian Americans. The margin of sampling error for the overall results is plus or minus three percentage points. It is plus or minus four points for whites, six points for blacks, seven points for Latinos and nine points for Asians. The results are summarised in the July 11 Washington Post.
"Depending on the question", said reporter Richard Morin, "the poll found that 40% to 60% of all whites say that the average black American is fairing about as well and perhaps even better than the average white in these areas [of jobs, incomes, schooling and health care]."
"They're treated just like anyone else", said Tom Morford, 54, a white steelworker who lives in Export, Pennsylvania. "Some may use it as an excuse to get things. For some, complaining is a way of life. But discrimination is not a problem, from what I can see."
John Staley, 30, a firefighter in Rockford, Illinois, explained why he opposed outreach programs and preferences to get more minorities opportunities and jobs: "That boils downs to reverse discrimination. I think education and gobs should be open to everybody. If they want to recruit minorities, fine, as long as an equally qualified white isn't replaced. If that's a problem, make the school bigger."
And Emily Reed, 48, who lives in Russell, New York, and was questioned in the poll, said, "Blacks and whites are pretty much equal in terms of income and other things these days. It's good that the bad days are past and blacks have come up. As a whole, you don't hear about [problems] now as you use to. Now if something occurs, like a black guy being mistreated for a job or something, you hear about it."
Yet every piece of data provided by the government, and reflected in the new survey, confirms the inferior status of African Americans compared to whites. According to the telephone poll:
- Some 61% of whites said the average black person had equal or better access to health care than the average white. In fact, blacks are far more likely to be without health insurance than whites. In 2000, the US Census Bureau's Current Population Survey found that blacks were nearly twice as likely as whites to be without health insurance.
- The survey found 49% of whites believe blacks and whites have similar levels of education. In fact, only 17% of blacks have completed college compared with 28% of all whites. And 88% of all whites are high school graduates, compared with 79% of all blacks 25 years or older.
- Half of all whites said the average black person is about as well off as the average white in terms of the jobs they hold. The hard data shows the opposite. A third of all whites hold professional or managerial jobs, compared to slightly more than one-fifth of all blacks. Moreover, blacks are twice as likely as whites (23% versus 12%) to hold lower-paying, less prestigious service jobs. Blacks also are more than twice as likely to be unemployed. For example, the jobless rate in May for blacks stood at 8%, compared with 3.8% among whites.
- The poll found that a majority of whites, 57%, recognise that blacks on average earn less than whites. But four in 10 whites, 42%, believed incorrectly that the typical black earned as much or more than the typical white. Yet there is a substantial difference in black and white earnings. The median household income for whites was US$44,366 in 1999, compared with US$27,910 for blacks. The poverty rate for African Americans is more than double the white rate.
The false consciousness of whites towards blacks is highlighted by some telling statistics cited by the Post reporter: "Another way to look at the extent of these misconceptions is to see what proportion of whites hold at least one false belief about black circumstances. When analyzed together, seven in 10 whites hold at least one of these misconceptions, and a majority — 56% — held two or more. Three in 10 whites — 31% — believe that the average black fared as well or better than whites in each of the four areas tested."
Keith Reeves offers the benevolent view. Reeves is a political scientist at Swarthmore College and was a consultant of the survey. "The results suggest", Reeves said, "there is the overwhelming sense among most whites that this is 2001 — we could not possibly be saddled with segregation and discrimination and therefore things can't possibly be as bad as black Americans say they are."
This head-in-the-sand view of most whites, however, is not an accident. Most whites do know that blacks are inferior in the four categories covered in the survey. Their denial is to justify doing as little as possible to oppose racism at best; or worse, supporting discriminatory policies by opposing so-called reverse discrimination.
The truth is so real and painful for the average African American that for the average white to look at it squarely would require more than inaction. It would mean doing something to help level the playing field and upgrading the status of African Americans.
BY MALIK MIAH