Racial Differences in the Perception of Racial Equality in the Obama Era

Abstract

In 1968, the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders stated that “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white, separate and unequal.” Forty years later, the first person of African ancestry was elected to the office of the presidency of the United States of America. Have we reached the post-racial, color-blind society that so many have struggled to attain for over 400 years? Have the racially divided views of blacks and whites finally converged? Does the election of Barack Obama provide proof of this convergence? This chapter addresses two questions: (1) In the Obama era, have racial differences in perceptions of racial inequality and justice converged, widened, or stayed the same and (2) Are differences in perceptions of racial inequality and justice primarily race-based, education-based, or both? Overall, our results suggest that (1) with respect to racial inequality and justice attitudes, race continued to be an important determinant of outlooks; (2) blacks at all educational levels continued to be more similar to other blacks with different educational attainments than to whites with educations similar to their own; (3) the black community did not undergo social and political polarization; and (4) socioeconomic standing did not become more important than race as a determinant of the social and political attitudes and outlooks examined. Because blacks have continued to endure conditions that differ from those of other Americans, they continue to apprehend the world in terms that differ from those of the mainstream even during the Obama era.