Black Youth Divided Over View of U.S.

By Matthew Bigg
Monsters and Critics
February 2, 2007

ATLANTA - Young black people in the United States struggle to reconcile the rhetoric of a society that promises opportunity for all with the discrimination they often face, according to a survey published on Thursday.

Nearly 80 percent of all youths said it was worth participating in politics, but a majority of black and Hispanic young people and just under half of white youths said the government cared little for people like them, said the survey, which was conducted in 2005.

The Black Youth Project looked at opinions on politics, sex and health among nearly 1,600 black, white and Hispanic people between 15 and 25 in what researchers called one of the most comprehensive reports of its kind.

The project focused on the ‘Hip-Hop Generation’ and the later ‘Millennium Generation,’ groups whose parents or grandparents lived through the civil rights era, said Cathy Cohen of the University of Chicago, the survey’s lead investigator.

‘They are confronted with the rhetoric of hope and an open society and many of them believe that the country is fair but they are also confronted with a reality of racism and discrimination,’ Cohen said in an interview.

Debate over black youth has often focused on the view, expressed by African-American entertainer and activist Bill Cosby, that many have squandered gains made during the civil rights struggle with poor academic grades, high teen pregnancy rates, crime and drug use.

But the views in the survey reflect a complex generation that is misunderstood, said Bakari Kitwana, author of ‘The Hip Hop Generation,’ who was associated with the study.

‘For these kids, the civil rights movement is like ancient history — it was two generations ago,’ said Kitwana in an interview.

In one measure of the disconnection of today’s young people from mainstream politics, many blacks saw hip-hop artists rather than politicians as role models, the survey said.

Political figures, including black leaders, were viewed as too remote, with hip-hop artists seen as more relevant models of success, researchers said.

‘When our grandparents were growing up (during the civil rights era) they were fighting for something that everybody could see. And now we’re fighting for things that are not as obvious,’ a black woman, 23, told the survey.

Black, white and Hispanic youths said blacks faced more police discrimination than any other group and 48 percent of blacks said the government treated young immigrants better than it treated them, according to the survey.

‘What concerns me is having a job and living. Will I be alive? … It’s a very tough struggle because the United States isn’t a fair country,’ one black man, 21, told the survey.

Source: monstersandcritics.com