Is There a 'Race Gap' in America?

Yes there is, and it is growing even as the current administration is pushing it.

Yes. Latinos, African-Americans and Native Americans are statistically overrepresented in patterns of behavior that are proven failures in modern, capitalist societies. Specifically and most significantly, 1) failing to finish high school; 2) substance abuse; 3) giving birth out of wedlock. As long as these patterns of conduct persist, many members of these groups will find themselves on the outside of success in America looking in. And all the government programs and cries of racism in the world will not change that. When the conduct changes, the results will change.

Not as much as their used to be, but, yeah, there is. But it is not at the fault of every white peron in America like it is said to be by some people. Some white people do hold SOME minoriteis back to an extent, but with equal housing opportunity laws being more strictly enforced, that is on the decrese, and yes, to many racist whites, that is unfortunetly considered a bad thing, which is a damn shame because it isn't at all. One thing I deffinetly realise though, is how much intrest affect class, and not so much the other way around. It seems like many white people want nothing to do with the inner city, so they make sure that no matter what it costs, we get our asses out into the suburbs and stay their. Minorities want nothing to do with us here in the suburbs, and criticize us all. They don't care. But, there are also some minorities that really want to be in suburban areas, and white people that want to be in urban areas. Another thing that i have noticed, that simply can't be igno... Read more

That depends on your definition of race gap- socially-it depends on individuals,some of whom have grown up in a very integrated environment-others have little or no friends outside their own ethnicity.If you are talking about finance and opportunity- sadly there IS one-if only because there are plenty of racists making executive decisions.

less than there used to be. although i've found that people are willing to lay their color aside for the all mighty color of green. i do agree w/Djahuti that certain old style business executives are still making decisions that prevent members of minority races to advance as quickly; but these old goats will soon be removed by the workforce, rendered useless b/c of age. at the same time, many minorities are not doing their part to advance their own cause. black kids telling blacks kids they are being White by picking up a book is just dumb, and it happens. sadly i think in this modern age the only way to advance said race gap is to begin dismantling certain programs such as affirmative action in an effort to get communities to work within themselves to improve their overall status of life. affirmative action had a time and a place, by right now it tends to work as a divisive factor instead of one putting people on common levels.

What is a race gap? Does this mean are blacks less likely to succeed based on lingering racial prejudice in America? Or, does it mean, do blacks have less opportunity for success because of lingering racial prejudice in America? Are we attempting to pre-determine outcomes or assure equality of opportunity? I do believe that (unfortunately) young blacks are less likely to succeed economically in America than are young white kids. Do I attribute that disparity to lingering racial prejudice? Partially. It's hard to ignore illegitimacy rates, though, and that is not caused by racial prejudice, at least not on the part of the white population. Graduation rates and lower mean SAT scores would also be indicative of the disparity. Given the spectrum of contributing causes for the race gap it seems reasonable for the federal government to spend more money and initiate more schizophrenic programs to elevate (artificially) the performance of black individuals. We've already spent tril... Read more

in terms of education, yes. In most states (mine being pennsylvania) public schools are funded in large part by the real estate tax. So if you live in a more affluent neighboorhood where the houses go for more, more money is put towards your public education. Poorer neighborhoods, that in my area are inhabited by mainly minority groups recieve much less funding because of the cheaper housing. For example in one rich neighboorhood approximately 11,000 dollars is put towards one kid, it is a little less than 8,000 dollars at a school in a poorer all african american neighborhood

A majority of minorites are taught that they are entitled to things their whole lives and a good part do not have it enstilled in them to work hard and try to prosper on their own.The other major problems are crime and poor upbringing.Now that would go for all races in america.The absence of a father is the big factor in most cases.

Unfortunately, yes. Unemployment, military, residential and education. There are public schools where integration is not a factor. What we need to do is use the 'forced busing' issue to reintegrate our schools. And neighborhoods. Those damn real estators can be racist.

I have to say No, it's nothing like it was during the 1960's and prior. I believe there is still some racial bias in some communities but this is not the norm. I am against giving any race the upper hand. I took a pre-employment test for a job in 1989 and scored very well. A black individual scored less than me, but was then given 10 extra points for being a minority. This put his score higher than mine and he got the job. This kind of reverse discrimination is not acceptable. I think people should be judged and treated for who they are and for their qualifications, not by the color of their skin.

Yea there is do you wonder why there has never been a Black President.

The gap is about social class - not race. The media has sold the race gap and people are dumb enough to buy it. If people concentrated less on race (I mean EVERYONE) then more problems would be solved. True discrimination in this culture involves social class, not race. Very few people are left that really believe that one race is better or worse than another.

Yes, there is a race gap in America (usually thought of in terms of black and white), but it is becoming a smaller and smaller gap in many respects. I recently read a couple of interesting boks, one called Losing the Race, by John McWhorter (a conservative black college professor), and another (Who's Afraid of the Dark?)by a liberal white guy, married to a black woman, whose name I can't recall. Both had some very interesing statistics on economic progress, educational achievements, integration, etc. (actually, the liberal book had some really interesting charts and figures) - the upshot, in my mind, is that while inequities still exist, things are nowhere near as bad as the media would sometimes have you believe. There are now some segments of the black population (by no means miniscule)that are considerably better off than some segments of the white population.

Yes, there is, because the politicians, the Press, and our professors and social engineers are doing all they can to keep focusing on skin color. They love to keep things stirred up. I wish to goodness we could all be looked upon as individuals, not as members of various groups. I had a black room mate when I was in college and we were sitting around enjoying a TV show together one evening. Suddenly, one man on the program made an ugly racial remark to the other. The 2 of us who were watching became very uncomfortable and embarassed and couldn't enjoy the show anymore. It annoys me that an outside observer would have looked at us as black & white students instead of just 2 buddies watching television.

Unquestionably; in economic standing, unemployment, educational opportunities, military service, and the amount of people incarcerated. Observations speak for themselves and this gap must be closed.

What do you mean by that exactly?

There are far too many racial issues in the country to go into here. However, I don't think that when it comes to PERSONAL relationships that there is much of a race gap anymore. There are few people who hate blacks because they're black or people who hate whites because they're white, etc. any more. The problem we still have has become a political problem more than anything. The complaints about affirmative action and the PC crowd dictating that nonsense about if white guy says X, it's racist, but if black guy says X, it's not racist are the most divisive issues in the country right now. Individual people are a lot less racist as a whole and have been for a long time, but the inane politics of it all have kindled the racist fire longer than it would have been otherwise.

Yes and no. There is a race gap, but I believe it's largely due to such programs as affirmative action which breed resentment among races, programs which try to equalize the playing field without solving the problems which cause the inequality in the first place. We also live in a society where it's easy to place blame on someone else: it's always someone else's fault. They say it's the white person's fault because everything is run by white people, they say it's the black person's fault because of affirmative action, they say it's the asian person's fault because they took everyone else's jobs, but they NEVER say It's my own fault for not trying. Why? Because it's hard for some people to take responsibility in their lives. Another problem is identifying certain attributes with white or black, when I truly believe it's not a matter of color but of where you live. Why do people say a white kid in the city acts black and a black kid in the suburbs acts white? Maybe the white kid... Read more

People try to deny it all they want, but it exists. Go to any major city in America and find the ghettos...how many white people do you see living there? Those areas weren't always minority ghettos. What happened is a few black families moved into that area looking for jobs or a better life and all the white people got nervous and moved elsewhere. It still happens to this day and it's called white flight. The effect of this is that businesses in the area move out too and property values plummet and suddenly the area is economically depressed with no businesses or jobs. Then when a resident tries to open up a business in that area, the people who have disposable income won't go there because they claim that it's a dangerous area. If you aren't familiar with this problem, take a stroll (don't just drive through) around the south side of Chicago, the Bronx, Detroit, etc.

No way! We're not segregated at all. A lot of my friends are black, Hispanic, and Arab. My boyfriend is Chinese. I'm Caucasian. If there was a race gap, We wouldn't be together. And I'd like to point out that if we had a race gap, Oprah Winfrey wouldn't be popular with all the elderly and middle aged white female crowd in America. So America accepts diversity and embraces it and THAT is a good thing!