More Poll Smoking on MLK Day

An interesting article about a poll conducted by CNN regarding people's views on race relations in the U.S.: Most blacks say MLK's vision fulfilled, poll finds.

What's most interesting is the seeming contradictions in the poll's findings. First, the fact that blacks are apparently much more content than whites in regards to the current condition of race relations in the U.S. (69% of blacks and 46% of whites saying MLKing's dream has been realized) makes me wonder what thought processes members of the two different groups used. A concept like "race relations" can be very broad indeed, and perhaps the black respondents were thinking about entirely different aspects than the white respondents. One possibility, however likely or unlikely, is that the white respondents genuinely realize how far there still is to go in a way that the black respondents don't. Another possibility is that it's a form of "well-meaning hippy disease," where the whites don't realize how condescending and patronizing their well-meaning is ("They have such beautiful children!" says Larry Wilmore). Then you also have the very likely possibility that the blacks were thinking "Yeah, I feel I can be an equal, contributing, respected member of society" whereas the whites were thinking "They're all criminals and crackheads!" The irony being, anyway, that the discrepancy itself suggests there are at least a few kinks left in the area of race "relations".

Then you have the fact that, even though more than half of whites say MLK's dream hasn't been fulfilled, half of them answered that the Voting Rights Act was no longer necessary. So apparently ability to exercise the right to vote was not one of the areas where they felt race relations needed improving. (Sadly, that puts my "They're all criminals and crackheads!" theory in the lead.)

Also amazing is the fact that as late as March 2008 it was only 34% of blacks and 35% of whites that said MLK's dream had become a reality. I guess we can all guess what event of the last 10 months triggered this doubling. But the article goes on to state that a majority of blacks no do NOT believe that Obama's presidency will trigger a new era in race relations and that, in contrast to how they felt right after the election, the majority believed that race will always be an issue in America. A similar drop in whites' enthusiasm was noticed, it says. So race is and always will be a problem, even though we live in a nation where MLK's four children are judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character?

I want them to do a new poll, but this time I demand answers in the form of a 1000-2000 word persuasive essay.