New Poll Finds Blacks More Hopeful About Race Relations

A new poll has found that during President Obama's short time in office, he has positively influenced one of America's thorniest issues--race.

Released April 27, the CBS/New York Times poll revealed that 66% of Americans considered race relations to be generally good, and that the percentage of blacks who agreed had doubled since last July.

"In just over 100 days, Mr. Obama's presidency seems to have done much to alter the greater American public's perception of race relations," wrote Times reporter Susan Saulny in a May 2 article.

In light of the poll's findings, the paper dispatched reporters in the West, East and Midwest to interview the public about race. They located an elderly black man surprised to be addressed as "sir" after the election, a 33-year-old black man from Florida who'd been invited out by his white colleagues for the first time, as well as whites who reported feeling more comfortable talking to people from other races after the election.

I have mixed feelings about the poll. That's because it focuses on perception rather than reality. While blacks and whites may perceive an improvement in race relations, the facts suggest gaps that have traditionally existed between racial groups persist in the present. For instance, just a day after it released the poll findings, the Times reported that the achievement gap between white and minority students on federal tests hasn't narrowed since the 1970s, despite George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind act. Black 17-year-olds scored 29 points lower in reading and 26 points lower in math than their white counterparts, according to the Times. This equals a difference of about two to three grade levels. Meanwhile on April 22, the Los Angeles Times cited a study which found that white boys outperformed ethnic minority groups and girls on California's high school exit exam, resulting in them graduating in greater percentages.

Unfortunately, education isn't the only area in which grave disparities remain between whites and people of color. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 8% of whites suffered unemployment in April 2009 compared to 15% of blacks. Such disparities endure even among white and black professionals. Take journalism, for example. On average, newsroom reporters are experiencing a drop in employment of 11.3%, according to a recent survey by the American Society of News Editors. But black and Asian reporters in newsrooms have experienced an employment decline of 13.6% and 13.4%, respectively.

Look up the rates of foreclosures, chronic illness and incarceration, and you'll find that ethnic minorities fare worse than whites across the board. Accordingly, I'm not too heartened by the CBS/New York Times poll on perceptions of race relations. I'll know that the nation has progressed in that area once the gaps in all sectors of life vanish between whites and ethnic minorities.