DISPARATE VIEWS ON RACIAL EQUALITY BASED ON PERCEPTIONS

A recent Associated Press poll that examined how some groups view racial equality yielded interesting results: While most people believe blacks and other minorities have the same opportunities as whites in the United States, individual groups of citizens believe otherwise.

Of the total population represented in the poll, 60 percent of whites think minorities have equal opportunities, while Hispanics are split 50-50, and only 27 percent of blacks think that is the case.

Groups most likely to think racial equality exists in our nation: Republicans, Southern whites, men, those with no college education and those who earn less than $40,000 a year. Groups most likely to think blacks and other minorities are getting the short end of the stick: Democrats, women, blacks who don't live in the South, college graduates, and those who make more than $40,000 a year.

Asked whether the nation has done too much, too little or about the right amount to help blacks, 57 percent of blacks believe not enough has been done. Fifty-two percent of whites, on the other hand, believe the nation has done too much or about the right amount.

Who's right?

It has been said that perception is reality to those perceiving. If that is the case, then both sides are right. But why do whites and blacks apparently have such disparate views on the subject of racial equality?

One of the prime causes might be the very programs that well-meaning individuals have adopted to address minorities' past and present grievances. Many whites view social welfare programs as handouts for minorities. This despite statistics that show a majority of welfare recipients are white. Still, the perception of many whites when they think of public housing, food stamps, Medicaid, and other public assistance, is that such programs primarily benefit minorities.

But minorities see that despite such programs a general lack of economic opportunity persists in the black community. The breakdown of the family, unemployment, illegitimacy, drugs and crime, disproportionately plaque poor, economically depressed areas. When these areas are predominantly inhabited by minorities, whites often say: `We already have programs addressing those problems. Why do we need to do more?' Blacks respond: `What is being done is insufficient. Look at the problems that remain.'

When social safety-net programs, school integration schemes and tax-incentive enterprise zones fail to propel minorities into equal economic footing with whites, then civil rights policy moves into the affirmative action arena. Again, perceptions from both sides vary. Whites are threatened by what they see as racial quotas and reverse discrimination, and minorities must react to a hostile environment in the workplace.

But progress has been made toward achieving racial equality. Interestingly, Southern blacks, who suffered the most overt forms of racism a generation ago, believe that in greater numbers than other minorities.

Whites and blacks both must strive to attain the color-blindness that used to be the core of the civil rights movement. The alternative is misguided perceptions and angry reaction. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan told President Nixon in 1971 that the "issue of race could benefit from a period of benign neglect." We would welcome such a respite in 1994.