Self-Segregation: Why It's So Hard for Whites to Understand Ferguson

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Self-Segregation: Why It's So Hard for Whites to Understand Ferguson
One reason for the racial divide over Michael Brown's death is that white Americans tend to talk mostly to other white people.
ROBERT P. JONESAUG 21 2014, 1:21 PM ET

The shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, and the anger poured out in response by Ferguson’s mostly black population, has snapped the issue of race into national focus. The incident has precipitated a much larger conversation, causing many Americans to question just how far racial equality and race relations have come, even in an era of a black president and a black attorney general.

Polls since the incident demonstrate that black and white Americans see this incident very differently. A Huffington Post/YouGov poll finds that while Americans overall are divided over whether Brown's shooting was an isolated incident (35 percent) or part of a broader pattern in the way police treat black men (39 percent), this balance of opinion dissipates when broken down by race. More than three-quarters (76 percent) of black respondents say that the shooting is part of a broader pattern, nearly double the number of whites who agree (40 percent). Similarly, a Pew Research Center poll found that overall the country is divided over whether Brown’s shooting “raises important issues about race that need to be discussed” (44 percent) or whether “the issue of race is getting more attention than it deserves” (40 percent). However, black Americans favor the former statement by a four-to-one margin (80 percent vs. 18 percent) and at more than twice the level of whites (37 percent); among whites, nearly half (47 percent) believe the issue of race is getting more attention than it deserves.

Clearly white Americans see the broader significance of Michael Brown’s death through radically different lenses than black Americans. There are myriad reasons for this divergence, from political ideologies—which, for example, place different emphases on law and order versus citizens’ rights—to fears based in racist stereotypes of young black men. But the chief obstacle to having an intelligent, or even intelligible, conversation across the racial divide is that on average white Americans live in communities that face far fewer problems and talk mostly to other white people.

A 2012 PRRI survey found that black Americans report higher levels of problems in their communities compared to whites. Black Americans were, on average, nearly 20 percentage points more likely than white Americans to say a range of issues were major problems in their community: lack of good jobs (20 points), lack of opportunities for young people (16 points), lack of funding for public schools (19 points), crime (23 points), and racial tensions (18 points).

Disparities in Reported Community Problems, by Race

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Public Religion Research Institute, Race, Class, and Culture Survey, September 2012
These incongruous community contexts certainly set the stage for cultural conflict and misunderstanding, but the paucity of integrated social networks—the places where meaning is attached to experience—amplify and direct these experiences toward different ends. Drawing on techniques from social network analysis, PRRI’s 2013 American Values Survey asked respondents to identify as many as seven people with whom they had discussed important matters in the six months prior to the survey. The results reveal just how segregated white social circles are.

Overall, the social networks of whites are a remarkable 93 percent white. White American social networks are only one percent black, one percent Hispanic, one percent Asian or Pacific Islander, one percent mixed race, and one percent other race. In fact, fully three-quarters (75 percent) of whites have entirely white social networks without any minority presence. This level of social-network racial homogeneity among whites is significantly higher than among black Americans (65 percent) or Hispanic Americans (46 percent).

Racial and Ethnic Makeup of White Social Networks

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PRRI, American Values Survey, 2013
For me, a white man, hearing accounts of how black parents teach their sons to deal with police is difficult to grasp as reality. Jonathan Capehart’s Washington Post column after the Brown shooting contained a personal and poignant account of his mother’s lessons to him as a young black man:

How I shouldn’t run in public, lest I arouse undue suspicion. How I most definitely should not run with anything in my hands, lest anyone think I stole something. The lesson included not talking back to the police, lest you give them a reason to take you to jail—or worse. And I was taught to never, ever leave home without identification.

And national survey data suggests that the need for this kind of parental coaching persists in the black community today. When given a choice between two traits that respondents believe their child should have, a 2012 PRRI survey found that African Americans are far more likely than white Americans to favor “obedience” over “self-reliance.” By a margin of three to one (75 percent to 25 percent), African Americans preferred “obedience” to “self-reliance;” among white Americans, only 41 percent preferred “obedience,” compared to 59 percent who preferred “self-reliance.”

In discussing these survey findings during a panel discussion, Michael McBride, an African-American pastor who directs Lifelines to Healing, a campaign to prevent neighborhood violence, related his personal story of being beaten by two white police officers in March 1999. He described it this way:

This happened because they felt like I was not being obedient enough. The way they saw the world and me in their world created a certain kind of fear and reaction to my actions that caused me harm. I live with that experience as many folks of color live with that experience.

But these are not stories most whites are socially positioned to hear. Widespread social separation is the root of divergent reactions along racial lines to events such as the Watts riots, the O.J. Simpson verdict, and, more recently, the shootings of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown. For most white Americans, #hoodies and #handsupdontshoot and the images that have accompanied these hashtags on social media may feel alien and off-putting given their communal contexts and social networks.

If perplexed whites want help understanding the present unrest in Ferguson, nearly all will need to travel well beyond their current social circles.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics...hites-to-understand-ferguson/378928/#comments
 

DEAD7

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How I shouldn’t run in public, lest I arouse undue suspicion. How I most definitely should not run with anything in my hands, lest anyone think I stole something. The lesson included not talking back to the police, lest you give them a reason to take you to jail—or worse. And I was taught to never, ever leave home without identification.

And national survey data suggests that the need for this kind of parental coaching persists in the black community today. When given a choice between two traits that respondents believe their child should have, a 2012 PRRI survey found that African Americans are far more likely than white Americans to favor “obedience” over “self-reliance.” By a margin of three to one (75 percent to 25 percent), African Americans preferred “obedience” to “self-reliance;” among white Americans, only 41 percent preferred “obedience,” compared to 59 percent who preferred “self-reliance.”
:wow:
 

mc_brew

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the black cat is my crown...
whites just don't care. thats really it.

They're not dumb.
exactly... during slave times white slave masters had to know which slaves they could and couldn't trust... they couldn't just let any black person be their maid or butler.... so this 'whites don't know anybody black' narrative does not explain their bigotry.... it existed long ago and still exists to this day, regardless if whites knows blacks or not....
 

ORDER_66

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The main thing i hear from them was he stole and was a criminal and a thug, he deserved it.

a 17 year old kid that was on his way to college deserved to die???

:mindblown:

First thing's first, the shop owner was never fully interviewed, second we dont hear any audio just a physical altercation, 3rd since when does him if ever stealing cigars is a automatic death sentence?!?
 

Lifer11

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I'm white and not only do I completely understand the outrage, I'm outraged as well. Not just over this situation, but also, perhaps even more so, over the John Crawford murder in Ohio, which for some reason is getting nearly no coverage. For anyone who is unaware of the situation, John Crawford was a 21 year old black "man" (I put man in quotes because 21 is still basically a kid to me), who was killed on August 5th in Walmart for carrying a bb gun that they sold in that very Walmart. Cops told him to put the bb gun down, he told them it's only a toy, and they proceeded to shoot and kill him, absolutely disgusting. It's incredible.

Racism certainly still exists, I just want people to realize that not all white people are racist, and not all white people are unaware of white privilege and the disparity of opportunity between whites and blacks in this country. I also hope people realize that there are many white people who are underprivileged who would have a very hard time finding a job, going to college, etc. This is more a rich vs. poor thing than it is a white vs. black thing. PLEASE understand I am not making light of the black community's struggles and oppression in this country, just hoping to help unite the people who need to unite. The middle and lower classes of all colors need to come together and take a stand against the MEGA rich, and let them know that we will no longer tolerate the oppression, the militarization of our police forces, etc. We need to link up with the police officers that recognize how our government is taking away our constitutional rights, the ones who aren't racist savages, we need to realize we're all American citizens and have much more in common than we realize.

I'm an Italian from South Philly, racism is still very much alive in my neighborhood, but mainly amongst the older crowd, and even there it is not a true hatred. I see the younger generation all the time playing basketball together, hanging out at the local playground, whites, blacks, all races, it's a beautiful thing. We need to starve the system that bleeds us. Boycott the corporate structure that controls our government, and oppresses people of all races in the lower classes. The people in power and the mega rich love to see us divided and therefore conquered, they love to see us looting, rioting, etc. Which most of the time is done in our very own communities and only hurts people just like us, and gives our government a reason to send in savage cops, the National Guard, declare Martial law, etc. The thing they fear the most is a peaceful united populace of all races working together to take back our country, leaving behind the traditions of racism, and building something new, a true meritocracy where people of every race have the same opportunities based on their ability and willingness to work. I know this might sound like some corny popcorn utopia, but it is possible.
 

DEAD7

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The main thing i hear from them was he stole and was a criminal and a thug, he deserved it.

a 17 year old kid that was on his way to college deserved to die???

To be fair all outsiders have to go on is friends and family, the video(which contradicts friends and family), and his music(which contradicts friends and family).
Your second point still stands, but the perception of Mike brown as a "thug" isn't being conjured up out of nowhere.


:whoa:This isn't the thread for this discussion thigh, I'm just sayin.
 

mc_brew

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the black cat is my crown...
I just want people to realize that not all white people are racist
i agree 100%... many white people have sacrificed everything they have up to and including their very lives to help build a society that judges people by the content of their character and not the color of their skin.... it may not be said enough, but black people like me appreciate those sacrifices... i will say this, whites need to engage other white people and help them to understand why we all need to come together to support productive citizens no matter their race... it's not enough just to tell black people that all white people aren't racist, you need to tell white people all blacks aren't useless thugs....

welcome to the fight... :salute:
 
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