REGARDING RACE

July 2000
		A New York Times series is examining the state of race relations in everyday America. Where do U.S. race relations stand in the year 2000? Are there racial issues that need further discussion? Times reporter Dana Canedy, former Times writer and George Mason University professor Roger Wilkins and Dartmouth College professor Mary Childers take your questions.

Forum introduction What's behind racial separation? Why are native peoples left out of conversations like this? Don't these discussions reinforce racial separation? Will casual racism ever decline? Why do discussions of racism focus on white people?     July 11, 2000: Five experts discuss a New York Times series examining race in everyday America. Browse the NewsHour's coverage of race relations and the media.     "How Race is Lived in America" The New York Times Learning Network The New York Times

Paul Hackett of Batavia asks: I am astounded by the level of racism among whites of all ages. I know otherwise seemingly intelligent "professionals" have likewise attitudes. And yes, white people do talk about blacks after the latter has left the party. I would like to think that society is progressing, but my experience tells me otherwise. Is my experience unusual? Will racism of this sort ever decline?   Dana Canedy responds: I am hopeful that, as a society, we will continue to make progress. True, there are still plenty of racists, black, white and other, but race relations improve with each generation. Unfortunately, when it comes to racial understanding, society tends to take two steps forward and one step backward. That still means we're getting somewhere, albeit, slowly.   Mary Childers responds: A number of surveys indicate that racism among white people has declined,although it is clear that it is still pervasive. The more advantaged life circumstances of many white people perpetuates misunderstanding, distaste and fear even among people who present themselves as unprejudiced. The declining real income of many working-class white people because of the loss of unionized manufacturing jobs makes them more vulnerable to resenting programs to help minorities. The Times series vividly demonstrates the weariness and unease some white people feel about the race issue, and dramatizes the ways that discomfort can degenerate into racist attitudes. Because so many causes can incite racist attitudes, as a nation we have to make a concerted effort to face the issue of inequality. Forty-six percent of the white people surveyed recently by the Times favored programs to help blacks. Despite all the backlash, politicians must protect efforts to level the playing field. Racism will decline even further when white people are in contact with more other people who have had adequate opportunities to flourish individually and to sustain families and communities that defy racist stereotypes. Racism and inequality are connected to each other in a circular way. White people have to challenge racism among themselves. All of us have to fight for the opportunities that protect people from the effects of racism and self-destructive adaptations to poverty and hopelessness. Our energy and resolve to work for change depend in part on recognizing where progress has been made, on honoring anti-racism and multicultural work, and on admitting that we still have a lot of work to do as a nation to reverse the effects of discrimination.   Roger Wilkins responds: We black people can never have a conversation with whites where blacks are not present, but we're pretty sure that conversations such as those you describe do take place. Many years ago, I had a white girl friend who told me she felt like a spy when she was alone with other whites and as my own personal spy she reported some pretty harrowing observations that had been made by unsuspecting "good" whites about black people. Nevertheless, I'm not nearly as pessimistic as you are. I'm 68 years old and I can tell you that however bad you think this country is, it is a far, far better country than the one that I was born into. The series you read in the Times and the show you watched on the NewsHour would have been impossible even to conceive when I was a kid. Black people wouldn't have been in the newsroom at the paper and they wouldn't have been on the show commenting on the series. The great thing about the changes that have taken place is that we citizens changed our country. The second great thing about it is that a far broader range of American talents are now brought to bear on American problems (including racism) than was the case 60 years ago. Do I think that we have at least another hundred years of struggle to go on this problem? Yes. Does the insensitivity and the cruelty of the racism that I still see and experience every day infuriate me? Yes. But do I think America can improve? Yep. I sure do. I've seen it and I've been involved in it and I'll continue to be involved in the struggle for as long as I have breath.