April 9, 2010--Post-Racial?

From a posting on the political website, The Daily Kos:

Is America Now A Post-Racial Society?

Many believed that the election of Barack Obama brought to a close the long, painful, and ugly history of race and racism in the United States. But as the incident with Henry Louis Gates last summer, and the more recent shenanigans with Tea Party activists suggest, racial divisions remain. Which is closer to the truth?

A recent survey directed by University of Washington political scientist, Christopher Parker, finds that America is definitely not beyond race. For instance, the Tea Party, the incipient movement that claims to be committed to reigning in what it perceives as big government, appears to be motivated by more than partisanship and ideology. Approximately 45 % of whites either strongly or somewhat approve of the movement. Of those, only 35% believe blacks to be hardworking, only 45 % believe blacks are intelligent, and only 41% think that blacks are trustworthy.

Perceptions of Latinos aren’t much different. While 50% of white Tea Party supporters believe Latinos to be hardworking, only 39% think them intelligent, and at 37%, fewer Tea Party supporters believe Latinos to be trustworthy. (Full posting linked below.)

Clearly, there is still a lot of work to do