Report Says Young People Do Not View U.S. As Post-Racial

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From theGrio.com:

"Is racism interpersonal or systemic? If you were born after 1980, you may very well believe the former. A new report from the Applied Research Center takes a fresh look at the racial attitudes of the Millenials, as they're called, that up-and-coming generation of people ages 18 to 30. And their thoughts on race, like all matters of race in America, are a complicated mixed bag.

Most of all, in the age of Obama, this study throws cold water on the notion that we live in a post-racial, colorblind society -- that the president is the fulfillment of Dr. King's dream and we can all breathe a sigh of relief. In other words, race actually still matters.

In one sense, the results of the study are encouraging. A majority of young people understand that race continues to play a significant role in education, the criminal justice system, immigration, employment and other sectors of society.

For example, only 10 percent believe race is not a factor in the criminal justice system. "Why is it that over 90 percent of prison inmates are people of color? Rates of black men in prison versus rates of black men in college -- obviously, there's something going on that's wrong," said Margarita, 22, a Filipina-American and part-time program coordinator who participated in the study.

"The whole war on drugs is a war on black and brown folks. So what happens to a white person with a drug problem, right? Rich celebrities in rehab on television vs. people I know who face jail time for marijuana charges."

However, this is not to say that all Millenials, the nation's largest and most diverse generation of all time, think alike. Among members of the focus group -- which included blacks, Latinos, Asian-Americans and whites between 18 and 25 years -- young people of color were able to make more of a connection between race and disparities in opportunity and resources. Many whites, on the other hand, had more of a problem connecting the dots."

To read the complete article please click here.

(h/t to News One for the link)