A recent article in Salon, reveals some fantastically unsurprising data about prevalent attitudes about race and mobility in America. Turns out, according to a a quoted poll, many believe that things are just great for mobility prospects in America as long as you work hard and act responsibly. In America, we like to believe that "poor choices" determine one's fate exclusively. If we stopped believing that good old fashioned hard work and flawless personal character could propel us at least into the middle class and beyond, we might actually be out on the streets agitating for social change instead of soothing our insecurities with myths and buying stuff if we can afford it, to make ourselves feel better.
Drawing weighty conclusions from one poll is always questionable. The salon article focused in on the fact that Juan Williams honed in on one aspect of the poll, that 53% of black Americans in this particular poll indicated a belief that blacks who don't get ahead are responsible for themselves. A snapshot of the poll results can be found here. The Salon writer took an opportunity to take a swipe at Williams noting that
pretending we are closer to racial justice relieves black folks who, like Williams, have achieved a great deal of professional success in predominantly white fields. Although the article hints at but never overtly states is that it also provides a great deal of relief to white Americans. That same pew pol also notes that blacks believe that anti-black discrimination is still pervasive in every day life and whites don't. In the same way that we often hear we are in a "post feminist era", many would like to believe we are in a similar era with race relations. Why? It lets us off the hook. Feminist critiques and critiques about racism are still seen as being oppositional in our mainstream culture. Indeed, when faced with such critiques how often is one accused of playing a "race" or "gender" card. It is an attempt to isolate and dismiss the critique as being self interested and wrong headed.
As the Salon article asks,if virtually everybody believes something,does that then make it true. Clearly, even the pew poll despite the attempt to focus in on the vast similarities in beliefs about some issues between blacks and white noted there is a vast difference in how blacks and whites perceive the absence or presence of discrimination. Black Americans still see it as a feature of American life, whites much less so. Part of the reason might be the myth of the American dream: it requires an personal investment in social harmony and a rejection of oppositional critiques and paradigms. White Americans want to believe we can all get ahead, so they reject any hints that there are still broad based structures of discrimination. There may be a class element. I wonder how many of those 53 percent of black Americans who agree with the notion that those who fail to "get ahead" are fully responsible perceive themselves to be occupiers of the middle class. How many poor and working class black Americans hold that belief? How many poor and working class white Americans hold that belief? The poll does not give any indications.
There is some evidence that black Americans face structural discrimination with respect to mortgage assignments. A local television station in Raleigh North Carolina did a story about it and found that when they sent a black tester and a white tester to local banks the results were startling. The black tester was always offered a different rate. While the article dutifully noted the discrimination and offered a tone of surprise, the word racism did not appear. Even when there are differences, even if it appears there might be some racism, too often the discussion is simply avoided. The Charlotte Observer noted that,blacks with incomes above a 100,000 a year, were charged high rates more often than whites with incomes below 40,000.
An NYT article quoted a study that revealed,that even when median incomes were comparable, home buyers in minority neighborhoods were more likely to get a loan from a sub-prime lender. The study did not include details about borrower's assets, down payments or debt loads. Because this information was not included, a economist with the Mortgage Bankers Association, is quoted as claiming that that there was not enough information to draw conclusions about whether discriminatory practices had been used.
Seems one might be able to make a stronger case for the lack of discrimination if a spokesperson from the Mortgage bankers Association wasn't used. This is clearly an example in which a potential discussion about racism is circumvented by relying on a self interested observer. The critique may well be accurate, that more information is needed in order to draw conclusions. But when the starting point is an assumption that all is color blind in the market, it is not that hard to speculate the ending with be painted with that assumption as well. Nor can we assume without the information, that the minority home buyers had higher debt loads, fewer assets, or lower down payments. In summarily rejecting the possibility of discrimination, the spokesperson might also be trying to leave us with that conclusion.
The idea that the market is color blind, is also essential to the belief that we are all competing equally, that we can all get ahead. Examples like the differing approaches to mortgage lending, might explain the gap between whites and blacks in whether discrimination is a common occurrence in daily life. White Americans may prefer to assume that their treatment is not preferential, rather than to ask if it is. Until they start doing that, dialog about race is hindered, and wishing it would all just "go away" simply perpetuates the myth of harmony while there are in fact several parallel Americas that never truly meet.