Essay 338

Interesting article from DiversityInc.com…

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Do Race Issues Exist for Generation Y?
Compiled by the DiversityInc staff
© 2005 DiversityInc.com®
January 14, 2006


Generation Y’s perception of diverse cultures and racial issues has been shaped by pop culture and mass media, and although many in this age range say they are more culturally and racially sensitive than previous generations there is a disconnect that has some sociologists concerned.

For many Generation Yers, the world is fairly diverse. Popular television programs and movies regularly feature racially diverse casts and the Internet has brought the world’s cultures to their fingertips. But does all of this exposure make them racially sensitive? Some say no.

“The discussion of the racial history in this country is severely limited. And when racism is discussed, it’s always in the past tense,” says Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, associate professor of sociology at Duke University.

It is fairly accepted that those who can understand the perspective of other races and cultures will be more prepared to live and work in an increasingly multicultural world. But what is happening among many in Generation Y is that many of them believe racism was eliminated by their parents’ and grandparents’ generations, when laws that upheld segregation were abolished, The Dallas Morning News reports.

When Ashley “Woody” Doane, sociology professor at the University of Hartford and an expert on race relations, talks to his students, he finds that they have little understanding of institutional racism—how social, economic and political institutions in the United States were set up historically to benefit whites and discriminate against non-whites and of the persistent effect of those policies.