The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

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...because of the last past things that’s been going on, Rodney King and
everything like that. Things are starting to change.
Q: For better or for worse
A: Worse. I don’t think anything is getting better.
For the few youth who felt discrimination was not getting worse, a number of
interesting justifications were provided. One white youth pointed to the increasing
number of mixed communities as an indication of improving race relations. Another felt
that discrimination is getting better, “because a lot of people are sitting down and
realizing that we’re all the same, human beings. Somebody’s skin is darker than
somebody else’s. So what”
A few black youth also indicated in the interviews that they did not see
discrimination getting worse. One black male just did not see discrimination as a factor.
He felt the only thing that could hold a black person back is “their past, not their race.” A
14 year old black female picked up on a trend that made her think discrimination was
improving.
Most of the white people these days are trying to be black, and if white
people are trying to be black, then the white people won’t fight with the
black people as much.
At least one white picked up on this same trend, although he did not see it as an
indication of lessening discrimination. As a matter of fact, he is a self—proclaimed racist
who wants to see discrimination continue. He hates those “Vanilla Ice kids”, who act
black. He says, “I act like my color. I don’t think it should be right for a white person to
go around acting black.”