The unhappy white majority
This is an interesting research piece I saw in the LA Times that may give some insight into the state of our culture. It is a challenge for youth ministry in general, and Christianity, specifically.
The UnHappy White Majority
by Gregory Rodriquez | LA Times | May 30, 2011“White Americans See Anti-White Bias on the Rise.” That was a headline in the Wall Street Journal this month, and more than any other domestic index or statistic, it’s that sentiment that should worry you about America’s future. While many commentators saw Barack Obama’s election as signaling the emergence of a post-racial America, it might one day be seen instead as the symbolic moment all Americans became minorities.
Norton and Sommers don’t waste time pondering the veracity of that conclusion. By any metric, they write, “from employment to police treatment, loan rates to education — statistics continue to indicate drastically poorer outcomes for black than white Americans.” Instead, they figure this historic flip-flop is not about objective conditions but about how whites conceptualize bias. Norton and Sommers conclude that whites, unlike blacks, view racism as a zero-sum game, a situation in which one side’s gain automatically results only from the other’s loss.
These findings aren’t unexpected. Over the past decade, we’ve seen a rising tide of aggrieved white folks. Accusations of reverse discrimination have increased, along with high-profile court cases like the one filed by firefighters in New Haven, Conn., in which white men claimed they were denied potential promotions because of their race. (The Supreme Court agreed.)