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‘AARP The Magazine’ and LCCR
release landmark race relations survey
Among key findings: Majori
ty of whites, blacks and Hispan
ics support affirmative action
and 73 percent of Americans
approve of interracial marriage.
Washington, DC- On
behalf of AARP and the Lead
ership Conference on Civil
Rights (LCCR), Gallup con
ducted its largest and most
comprehensive race-relations
survey of blacks, Hispanic
and whites to date and discov
ered among other key find
ings that over half of each
group supports affirmative
action for blacks and Hispan
ics and a majority of Ameri
cans approve of interracial
marriage. The survey, enti
tled “Civil Rights and Race
Relations”, marks this year’s
50th anniversary of "the
Brown vs. Board of Education
—the Supreme Court decision
that jumpstarted the Ameri
can Civil Rights Movement
and appears in the May-June
issue of AARP The Magazine -
WWW.aarpmagazin.org.
The AARP/LCCR Gallup
survey found astounding
progress in two areas that hit
close to home for most Amer
icans: interracial relationships
and the neighborhoods we
live in. Eighty-six percent of
blacks, 79 percent of Hispan
ics and 66 percent of whites
said they would not object to
a child or grandchild marry
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ing someone of another race.
Further buttressing the
idea that different races are
increasingly comfortable liv
ing together was the finding
that a majority of Americans
prefer to live in mixed neigh
borhoods. Seventy-eight per
cent of blacks, 61 percent of
Hispanics and 57 percent of
whites supported this notion.
There was also widespread
support for affirmative action,
with the majority of Ameri
cans voicing their support for
programs for blacks (57 per
cent) and Hispanics (57 per
cent).
But there were vast gulfs
between different groups’ per
ceptions of how minorities are
tredted today. Seventy-six
percent of white respondents
thought that blacks are treat
ed very or somewhat fairly,
while only 38 percent of
blacks agreed with them.
And while 61 percent of
whites believed that blacks
have achieved the same job
opportunities as whites, just
12 percent of African-Ameri
cans concurred.
“The major finding in this
survey is that individually,
most people have come to
accept, and even celebrate the
multiculturalism in this coun
try,” said AARP The Magazine
editor Steve Slon. “But when
you start addressing some of
the major societal issues of the
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Civil Rights movement like
fairness in front of the law and
access to educational and pro
fessional opportunities — there
are still gaps to be bridged.
Whites tend to think that fair
ness has essentially been
achieved, while most minori
ties still think it is very much
a work in progress.”
“This poll underscores the
progress we have made as a
society as well as the critical
need to do much more to
improve race relations,” said
Wade Henderson, Executive
Director of LCCR. “The fact
that a majority of each one of
the groups supports affirma
tive action is extremely
important and conveys a
strong commitment to equal
ity in the workplace and
beyond. As Americans we
must all work harder to
advance the cause of civil
rights and leave our children
and future generations with
institutions that promote
equality for all.
The mixed results of this
survey were reflected in ques
tions that explored the future
of American race relations.
Sixty-three percent of respon
dents thought that “race rela
tions will always be a problem
in the U.S.” However, when
asked to consider the predic
tion that by 2050 the majori
ty of Americans would be
nonwhite, only about 13 per
cent of each group said this
would be a bad thing; most
Americans said it simply
won't matter.
The “Civil Rights and Race
Relations” survey is one facet
of a major initiative by AARP
and LCCR to raise awareness
of the American civil rights
movement. To kick off the
program, the groups unveiled
ayearlong, multi-faceted proj
ect to build the world’s largest
archive of first-hand accounts
of the civil rights struggle in
America. The archive will
ultimately be donated as a
permanent collection of the
Library of Congress.
A cornerstone of the proj
ect will be an online collection
of previously untold personal
stories of the quest for justice
and equality. “Voices of Civil
Rights” is also the inspiration
for a book, My Soul Looks
Back in Wonder: Voices of the
Civil Rights Experience by
journalist Juan Williams (with
a Foreword by David Halber
stam and Afterword by Mari
an Wright Edelman), televi
sion and radip programs, edu
cational materials, public per
formances, commemorative
publications and more. The
Web site (www.voicesofcivil
rights.org) officially launched
on March 30.
“Civil Rights and Race
Relations,” a study commis
sioned by AARP and the
LCCR and conducted by the
Gallup Organization, is
based on telephone inter
views with 2,002 peopic 18
years of age or older from
households in the continen
tal United States. All polling
was conducted between
November 11 and December
14, 2003. The respondents
included 915 whites and over
samples of 446 blacks and
551 Hispanics. In addition,
90 who belonged to other
groups or gave no racial or
ethnic affiliation were inter
viewed. The results were
weighted to reflect the actual
representation of each group
in the U.S. population.
(“Whites” refers to non-
Hispanic whites; “blacks”
refers to non-Hispanic
blacks; and the “Hispanic”
category includes all Hispan
ics, whether they identified as
black or as white or did not
specify a racial category.) The
margin of error at the 95 per
cent confidence level for the
total national sample is +/-
5.1 percentage points, +/- 6.7
percentage points for whites,
+/- 8.5 percentage points for
blacks, and +/- 6.2 percent
age points for Hispanics.
AARP is a nonprofit, non
partisan membership organi
zation dedicated to making
life better for people 50 and
over. We provide information
and resources; engage in leg
April 29, 2004
islative, regulatory and legal
advocacy; assist members in
serving their communities;
and offer a wide range of
unique benefits, special prod
ucts and services for our
members. These include
AARP The Magazine, pub
lished bimonthly; AARP Bul
letin, the monthly newspa
per; AARP Segunda Juventud,
a quarterly newspaper in
Spanish; NRTA Live &
Learn, a quarterly newsletter
for 50+ educators; and the
sebsite, www.aarp.org. AARP
has staffed offices in all 50
states, the District of Colum
bia, Puerto Rico and the U.S.
Virgin Islands. ,
The Leadership Confer
ence on Civil Rights (LCCR)
is a coalition of more than
180 organizations commit
ted to social justice and
equality. Founded in 1950, it
is the nation’s oldest, largest
and most diverse civil and
human rights coalition.
LCCR member organiza
tions represent persons of
color, women, children, labor
unions, individuals with dis
abilities, older Americans,
major religious groups, gays
and lesbians and civil liberties
and human rights groups. Its
mission: to promote the
enactment and enforcement
of effective civil rights legisla
tion and policy.
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