Generation X and Millennials: Does Race Matter?
Posted by Blessy - taken from Reflecting Runes the Blog of Blessy Mathew
Has America proven to be post-racial just because Barrack Obama is the first African-American to be elected president? How about the attitudes of Generation X and Generation Y: Millennials? Let's take a closer look.
I fall into the Generation X group, and living among Millennials and interacting with them, I can see how diversity is embraced more today. We might be moving forward—interracial dating, practicing tolerance, seeking higher education, accepting immigrants in the US, however, young people (Millennials) are seeing unfair practices in the criminal justice system, unequal employment opportunities, and biased decisions based on socioeconomic classes still negatively affecting people of color. How can we all—no matter what generation—become more open to change and show compassion while living in a more diverse society than before?
In a recent article, "Don’t Call Them “Post-Racial.” Millennials Say Race Matters to Them" by Dom Appollon, he says: "The parlor game of naming and identifying themes for every crop of Americans can be inane, but there’s no denying that people are a product of their times—and, in turn, that each generation collectively gives birth to a new cultural, political and economic ethos. Children of the Depression intuitively grasp sustainability and saving. Baby Boomers can’t stop thinking about tomorrow. Generation X took its own revolution online. And the young people born after 1980 have been correctly recognized as the largest, most racially and ethnically diverse generation the United States has ever known."
Growing up in the 80s and 90s, I lived in a pre-dominantly African-American working-middle class neighborhood with a few Caucasians, Latinos, and South Asians in the mix, however, as a child, race didn't matter to me. As I got older and moved into a more affluent neighborhood, I saw less diversity. Then it dawned on me: I didn't see many African-Americans or Latinos living or attending schools in affluent neighborhoods. The Gen-Xers, who accepted diversity and worked & lived in multicultural settings, were slowly separating from each other.
When we see African-Americans or Latinos in a town/metropolis today, why is there a perception that the presence of these ethnic groups in a neighborhood makes the area less desirable? When we see more Asians and Caucasians, we assume prolific neighborhoods and great school systems. Though some of us interpret and process this as normal and brush it under the rug, some of us see it differently and come to the conclusion that something isn't right. There is still a clear divide within our country's melting pot based on socioeconomic status. Is this a form of modern day racism?
What about higher education? Studies have shown that African-Americans and Latinos are underrepresented in our state colleges and universities. Often people of color who are well-qualified for faculty positions are offered less paying ones. Though we openly denounce racial inequalities in our American society, race still matters today.
According to Applied Research Center and the groups they studied in the Los Angeles area made up of young African American, Caucasian, Latino and Asian people of varied socioeconomic, educational, and ideological backgrounds, issues of racism still exist in the American culture today. "There’s little question that most Millennials struggle to articulate their views on how race and racism operate in their lives. But our focus groups’ deeper discussions revealed that a structural understanding of racism—of racism as something that grows out of political and economic systems rather than individual animus—is not completely lost on this generation. And that, of course, has serious implications for how they will go about eradicating it from our society."
http://www.reflectingrunes.com/content/generation-x-and-millennials-does-race-matter#.U0cMtqIVCQw
