When it comes to race relations, white and black americans see things differently

It seems obvious that race relations in the 21^st century are much better than they were during the majority of the 20^th
century. Despite this apparent reality,
when it comes to race relations, Black and White Americans don’t exactly agree
on how much things have changed over the years.

Clearly on many levels White and Black Americans certainly interact more than they used to in say, the 1950s. The growth of diversity in the workplace and communities
throughout the United States has made it nearly impossible for any racial or
ethnic group to separate themselves from other groups as they once could. Despite the fact that our general
interactions as a nation tend to be much more diverse than they used to be does
not really correlate with how Blacks and Whites perceive improvements in race
relations.

Evidence of an apparent perception gap between Black and White Americans is prevalent in various opinion polls. For example, a Gallup poll released in January
2008 asked respondents the degree to which they felt the goals of the civil
rights movement had been achieved.
Forty-nine percent of White respondents agreed that most or all goals of
the civil-rights movement have been achieved, while far less Black respondents
(29 percent) felt the same way. Similarly,
respondents to a June 2008 ABC News/Washington Post poll found a similar
pattern, as when they were asked about race relations as 53 percent of Whites felt that race
relations in the United States were positive, while just 36 percent of Blacks felt this way.

And the race relations perception trend doesn’t end there. According to a 2007 Pew Research
Center poll, 67 percent of Black respondents said black people almost always or
frequently face discrimination in applying for jobs, while a mere 20 percent of
white respondents agreed. In the same
poll, 50 percent of Black respondents said black people face discrimination at
stores and restaurants, while only 12 percent of White respondents reported the
same. With respect to college admissions,
43 percent of Black and a paltry 7 percent of White respondents said Black
applicants almost always/frequently face discrimination.

Despite these alarming responses, the same ABC news/Washington Post poll referred to above also found that 92 percent of Black
and 79 percent of White respondents said they do have a fairly close friend of
the other race. That said, why does a
perception gap exist when it comes to race relations?

According to Darnell Hunt, professor of sociology and director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA,
one reason for the perception gap can be found simply in the way Black and
Whites see themselves. Hunt says that
for White Americans, “There's research showing that, by and large, on a daily
basis whites don't think of themselves as a racial group. African Americans do.
They're very conscious of race, of dealing with it on a daily basis.” African Americans “have a sense of a shared
fate,” Hunt says, that cuts across lines of class in the black community.

In mulling all this information over, I am reminded of a scene from the classic film “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” where a Black man named John (played by
Sidney Poitier) is marrying a White woman.
In a heated discussion with his father about the situation, John says to
his father, “you think of yourself as a colored man. I think of myself as a man.”

Perhaps if all of us, regardless of race, ethnicity, cultural background, etc., shared this perception of ourselves, disparities of any kind
might be much different than they are today.