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Black people are less likely to get that deference, while white people are often afforded more.

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Black people are less likely to get that deference, while white people are often afforded more.

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This is because many white people, particularly white people with lower levels of education and income, realize that whiteness comes with a premium that extends beyond economics to include cultural and social capital. 

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This is because many white people, particularly white people with lower levels of education and income, realize that whiteness comes with a premium that extends beyond economics to include cultural and social capital. 

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Scott recounting the nearly 20 times he has been pulled over by police, where being an elected official potentially made the interaction worse.   

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Scott recounting the nearly 20 times he has been pulled over by police, where being an elected official potentially made the interaction worse.   

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South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott shocked many people when, in response to President Joe Biden's congressional address, he stated that " America is not a racist country ." He admitted that he himself had experienced " the pain of discrimination, " and noted, " I know what it feels like to be pulled over for no reason, to be followed around a store while I'm shopping. " When asked o n ABC's Good Morning America the following day , Vice President Kamala Harris s eemed to agree with Scott when she s aid , "I don't think America is a racist country." Yet immediately following this sentence she quickly pointed out , "But we also do have to speak truth about the history of racism in our country and its existence today."

As Soledad O'Brien said, "It sounds like a racist country to me," in to Scott-but it seemingly applies to comments by Harris as well. President Biden, who seemed to not pull any punches during his speech, stated, "W e have a real chance to root out systemic racism that America ." However, Biden appeared to his remarks on The Today Show to align more with Harris and Scott (to a certain degree) by noting that slavery and Jim Crow laws had a cost.

It is almost as if simply saying America is not racist, but then turning the other cheek and saying it is racist in subtler terms and that racist things have been done to you makes it ok. It is confusing to Americans and the international community. To supporters, these comments are disappointing . To others, they were shocking. For me , the cognitive dissonance of some of our elected leaders is real and explainable . The re is an oversimplification of racism in America, because as sociologist Eduardo Bonilla-Silva notes, there can be systemic racism without racists.

W hen a person critique s America for the racism that i s deeply embedded in our social institutions, some feel they are being personally attacked. This is because deep down they realize that they benefit from unearned assets associated with whiteness. Scott, Harris, and Biden recognize this and try to balance these varying perspectives as they worry about voters nationally and in a state like South Carolina.

Recently, a at a city council meeting had a meltdown when trying to explain why she does not want critical race theory taught in her children's school. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that s ystemic racism as a concept is " a bunch of horse manure ." So, not only has Florida made it legal to harm people protesting, but he banned teaching critical race theory in schools. For a deeper dive on critical race theory , people should read the work of sociologists Victor and Ted , who lay out why DeSantis' perspective is problematic .

I conducted with Matt Hunt on what predicts who believes they are middle class. For education, income, and occupational prestige, Black people are less likely to identify as middle class compared to whites with comparable levels of these socioeconomic outcomes. Why? It is because social class is not just about what a person looks like on paper , but how people experience social class in everyday life and t he deference that one receives for their socioeconomic status. Black people are less likely to get that deference, while white people are often afforded more. It is so commonplace for white people that some cannot fathom living without it. This is because many white people, particularly white people with lower levels of education and income, realize that comes with a premium that extends beyond economics to include cultural and social capital. As Pr esident Lyndon Johnson said, " If you can the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and h e'll empty his pockets for you."

Harris and Scotts' comments are puzzling at a broader level as well considering how much of a collective memory their experiences with racism are- Harris reliving her systemic experiences with bussing and Scott recounting the nearly 20 times he has been pulled over by police, where being an elected official potentially made the interaction worse.

These stories acknowledge that life is different if you are Black, and unfortunately systemic racism seems to ripple through our social institutions and into our daily social interactions, whether in Congress or at a coffee shop down the street from the Capitol. These type s of experiences-racialized cuts and hurdles- have a cumulative effect on . Sociologist s Pam Jackson and Jason Cummings' research documents that middle-class Blacks have worse health profiles than working-class whites. They attribute this difference to the daily racialized trauma experienced in predominately white environments like work and neighborhood settings.

Systemically, we know that Black people compared to whites are more likely to attend schools with less funding per student, less likely to obtain a job because of our "Black-sounding" name or even when attending an Ivy League university , less likely to obtain a (even when having the same credit score ), have their homes appraised for equitable value, more likely to experience pregnancy complications and maternal mortality , and more likely to have contact with police and the criminal justice system .

Systemic racism inhibits (rather than prohibits like in the past) people's ability to actualize all aspects of the American Dream. This occurs  even for highly-educated Black people with high incomes and no criminal record. In fact, research documents that white people with a criminal record are more likely to get called back for a job than Black people without one.

Research documents that hard work (or lack thereof ), intellect, or criminality do not explain these outcomes. Instead, it is the embedded deeply within our social institutions' , rules, regulations, and laws that segment people's experiences along racial lines. It is the same for gender. Women can achieve but have a much harder time doing so. If not, America would have had a woman vice president and speaker of the House sitting behind the p resident long before 2021.

What people do not seem to realize is that being upwardly mobile does not negate encountering racist hurdles on the pathway to success. Our current system is set up for some people to have to jump over hurdles to succeed, while others get to simply run to the finish line without those sa me racial hurdles. Rather , it is about whether the pathways to success are equitable . This is what America says it is: an equitable democracy. People are pushing for America to reach its true ideal s and the only way this can properly occur is acknowledging the systemic barriers that prevent us from getting there. Moreover, it is not that racial progress has not been made. It is that the United States has yet to make enough progress. In this regard, comment s of our top elected officials are disappointing, yet predictable.

Black people who succeed often walk on pins and needles because they realize that their success, and more so maintaining it, is precarious.   As a result, some Black people aim to make white pe ople feel comfortable. Many of us are mostly socialized to do so. I t is often a survival strategy for our lives during police encounters or economic survival in boardrooms. Some of us who succeed may experience "survivor's remorse" because we are some of the few to "make it." We actually embody the American Dream and become the in-person example to people who do not want to admit that systemic racism exists. We may even convince ourselves that racism is more prominent on the individual level than the institutional level. We simultaneously represent racial progress but are also most likely to be subjugated to racial discrimination because of the predominately white spaces we are embedded within. We experience a chronic form of double-consciousness   and admitting as such can often lead us to being conscious of the slow death we often experience through the cumulative racist cuts and hurdles we encounter.   The American Dream being achievable for a few does not absolve the system and an imperfect union, even when some of those successful people try to rationalize systemic racism away.

In most instances: When Black parents worry about their straight-A student's traffic encounters with the police more than they do a potential accident, this is because of experiences with racism. When a Black couple is about to have a baby and has to think consciously about what hospital to deliver in so they can obtain equitable care, this is racism. When a Black parent worries about their child attending a prestigious university outside of an urban area, this is often because of the racism they worry about them encountering driving to the school and even once physically on the campus of the school. And even more urban universities are not absolved from .

Systemic racism is not simply a thing of the past. It is up close and personal in the present.

R acism may be no more transparent in an institution with the least representative racial progress like the Senate. There have only been 11 Black senators in roughly 232 years. Clearly, the Senate is the exact space we need people with the courage to say the blunt, honest truth about our nation's past and present. Only then can we actualize a future where systemic racism does not exist. It is imperative for a , reconciliation, and reparative process to commence. This starts with atoning for the enslavement of of Africans whose descendants contin uously fall systemically behind , whether they end up being the lone Black Republican senator or a Black police officer who might have the power to pull him over.   We must have the courage to speak truth to power and one of the places it starts is in Congress.   "If not now, then when?"

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South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott shocked many people when, in response to President Joe Biden's congressional address, he stated that " America is not a racist country ." He admitted that he himself had experienced " the pain of discrimination, " and noted, " I know what it feels like to be pulled over for no reason, to be followed around a store while I'm shopping.

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Although President Biden’s proposed Cabinet reflects the 40% of Americans who are minorities, Congress and the federal judiciary are far below that mark. 

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Although President Biden’s proposed Cabinet reflects the 40% of Americans who are minorities, Congress and the federal judiciary are far below that mark. 

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While many large cities have a majority-minority population, only about a third of large cities have Black mayors, and Latinx mayors are even more underrepresented. 

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While many large cities have a majority-minority population, only about a third of large cities have Black mayors, and Latinx mayors are even more underrepresented. 

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In total, 124 of the 535 voting House and Senate members are Black, Latinx, Asian/Pacific Islander or Native American.

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In total, 124 of the 535 voting House and Senate members are Black, Latinx, Asian/Pacific Islander or Native American.

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Members of minority groups constitute a growing segment of the U.S. population, although their share of government leadership roles doesn't always reflect that. While non-Whites are fairly well-represented in appointed positions, such as in President Biden's Cabinet, elected bodies at the federal and state levels have a way to go before they truly reflect the diversity of the American people.

Here's a look at the racial makeup of various leadership positions in the United States.

Racial Representation in Federal Government

Shortly before entering the White House, then-President-elect Joe Biden pledged to "build an administration that looks like America." While many mid- and lower-level appointments have yet to be made, he appears to be making good on that promise so far.

Of course, Biden already had a major head start in that endeavor by choosing Kamala Harris as his running mate. Her rise to the second-highest post in the executive branch was historic in more ways than one. In addition to becoming the first female vice president, Harris-born to a mother from India and a father from Jamaica-is also the first non-White individual to serve in that office.

From a racial perspective, Biden's Cabinet is also shaping up to reflect a country in which roughly 40% of the populace are minorities. According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau figures, 60% of Americans identify as White only. Roughly 18.5% are Latinx, 13.4% are Black, and 6.1% claim Asian or Pacific Islander heritage. Another 1.3% identify as Native American.

Of the 15 highest-ranking posts in Biden's Cabinet-those who are in the line of succession to the presidency-Biden's six non-White nominees represent exactly 40%. The choice of Deb Haaland as Secretary of the Interior, now the first Native American to serve in a presidential Cabinet, was particularly noteworthy. Biden also tapped Lloyd Austin as the first Black person to serve as Secretary of Defense and Alejandro Mayorkas as the first Latinx head of Homeland Security.

In all, Biden's "core" Cabinet appointments include three Latinx members (Mayorkas as well as Miguel Cardona as Education Secretary and Xavier Becerra at Health and Human Services), two Black members (Austin as well as Marcia Fudge at Housing and Urban Development) and one Native American (Haaland).

As a percentage of the key appointees-presidents can expand or contract the size of a Cabinet somewhat-Biden's Cabinet has greater minority representation than former President Donald Trump's, which had non-Whites serving in 20% of posts, according to a Brookings Institution analysis. He's essentially on par with Barack Obama (40% of his Cabinet were minorities) and George W. Bush (36%). Bill Clinton's mark of 43% minority representation in the Cabinet is still the record and marked a steep increase from previous administrations.

The new 117th Congress made history as the most racially diverse in American history. That continues an upward trend toward greater diversity, as it's the sixth Congress in a row to set such a record, according to the Pew Research Center.

In total, 124 of the 535 voting House and Senate members are Black, Latinx, Asian/Pacific Islander or Native American. That's a significant increase from just 20 years ago, when the 107th Congress had 63 members of minority groups.

Here's how that minority membership breaks down (members are allowed to choose more than one ethnic group):

Even so, the 23% minority representation on Capitol Hill today is far from mirroring the U.S. as a whole, where roughly 40% of the population identifies as non-White. While the 11% who are Black nearly match the 13% African American population in the U.S., other groups are significantly underrepresented.

Latinx residents, for example, constitute 18.5% of the United States population but less than 9% of Congress membership. Asians and Pacific Islanders represent 6.1% of all Americans but make up just over 3% of federal lawmakers.

Advocates for diversity state that lack of equitable representation can have an adverse impact on the people being represented. "Beyond making Congress look a bit more like the people it's supposed to represent, this kind of diversity matters because people's backgrounds and life experiences can influence what issues they think are most important," German Lopez wrote in a 2019 column for Vox.

Overwhelmingly, the minority members on Capitol Hill are on the left side of the aisle-83% are Democrats versus 17% from the Republican Party. However, that ideological gap has shrunk considerably, even compared with the 116th Congress. Just two years ago, only 10% of non-White members belonged to the GOP.

With two minority judges, the U.S. Supreme Court isn't any better than Congress in terms of reflecting the American ethnic landscape. The two non-White justices-Sonia Sotomayor has Hispanic heritage, and Clarence Thomas is the lone Black-represent only 22% of the court's membership.

When looking at the history of the court, the lack of minority justices is particularly striking. Of the 115 individuals to serve on the nation's highest bench, only three have been non-White (besides the two just mentioned, Thurgood Marshall, who served from 1967 to 1991, is the third). Remarkably, only five have been women.

When looking at the federal courts as a whole-including circuit and district courts-minority representation is no higher. Of the 1,437 active federal judges, only 20% are non-White, according to data from the Federal Judicial Center. Here's the breakdown by race:

White: 1,154 (80.3%)

Black: 136 (9.5%)

Hispanic: 93 (6.5%)

Asian: 38 (2.6%)

Native American: 2 (0.1%)

Representation at the State Level

While minorities have made important gains at the federal level, state and local governments are behind in terms of achieving racial diversity.

Nowhere is lack of diversity more evident than in governors' mansions across the country. Today, only two of the 50 states are led by someone who identifies as non-White: Hawaii, where Okinawan-American Dave Ige is governor, and New Mexico, whose chief executive is Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Latina.

There are currently no African American governors, which has been true for most of American history. There have been only four Black governors, and just two-Douglas Wilder of Virginia and Deval Patrick of Massachusetts-were elected. The other two, including David Paterson, who served as New York's governor from 2008 to 2010, assumed the job after their predecessor was pushed out of office.

State legislators

Despite modest gains for ethnic minorities over the past few years, state legislatures are still overwhelmingly White. African Americans represent 10% of all state lawmakers across the country, up from 9% in 2015, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).

Latinx membership in state legislatures remains at 5%, less than a third of their share of the overall population (New Mexico has the highest percentage, at 35%). With only 2% of legislative seats, Asians and Pacific Islanders are also significantly underrepresented. Native Americans comprise 1% of such posts, according to NCSL figures.

Mayoral Representation

America's cities are more diverse than the U.S. population as a whole. And while that's somewhat reflected in the list of big-city mayors, they're not equitably represented.

Currently, a little more than one-third of America's 100 largest cities are led by an African American, according to the City Mayors Foundation. That list includes several prominent female mayors: Lori Lightfoot (Chicago), London Breed (San Francisco), Muriel Bowser (Washington, D.C.), and Keisha Lance Bottoms (Atlanta).

The overwhelming majority of Black mayors are Democrats, according to the City Mayors Foundation. Of 55 African American mayors of cities and large towns, only one is a Republican and four are Independents.

Considering the size of the Latinx population in many of America's urban areas, the dearth of Latinx urban leaders is particularly conspicuous. Among the nation's 50 largest cities, only Regina Romero of Tucson, Ariz., has Latin heritage, according to a 2020 USA Today piece (Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles has Mexican grandparents, but does not identify primarily as Latino).

Among the possible explanations, experts say, are election laws that sometimes hurt Latinx voter turnout, as well as a political system that rewards candidates-often Whites-who are supported by their party's establishment.

"These parties and their donors, they're very influential, but in many cases, Latinos are receiving limited support from the important actors as they're trying to launch their campaign," Angela Ocampo, a University of Michigan political science professor, told USA Today.

Notable Asian American mayors include Karen Goh of Bakersfield, Calif., and Harry Sidhu of Anaheim, Calif., both of whom were born in India. Each is the first Asian American to assume their respective office.

The Bottom Line

Minority groups tend to be better represented in appointed positions, particularly at the federal level. But in Congress, and especially at the state and local levels, non-White candidates for elected office still often struggle to gain traction.

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Members of minority groups constitute a growing segment of the U.S. population, although their share of government leadership roles doesn't always reflect that. While non-Whites are fairly well-represented in appointed positions, such as in President Biden's Cabinet, elected bodies at the federal and state levels have a way to go before they truly reflect the diversity of the American people.

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About two-thirds of Democrats (67%) say race relations are bad

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About two-thirds of Democrats (67%) say race relations are bad

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Overall, 53% of the public says race relations are getting worse

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Overall, 53% of the public says race relations are getting worse

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Trump’s presidency, 56% of Americans say Trump has made race relations worse.

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Trump’s presidency, 56% of Americans say Trump has made race relations worse.

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Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends Project

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A majority of Americans say race relations in the United States are bad, and of those, about seven-in-ten say things are getting even worse. Roughly two-thirds say it has become more common for people to express racist or racially insensitive views since Donald Trump was elected, even if not necessarily more acceptable.

Opinions about the state of race relations, Trump's handling of the issue and the amount of attention paid to race vary considerably across racial and ethnic groups. Blacks, Hispanics and Asians are more likely than whites to say Trump has made race relations worse and that there's too little attention paid to race in the U.S. these days. In addition, large majorities of blacks, Hispanics and Asians say people not seeing discrimination where it exists is a bigger problem in the U.S. than people seeing it where it doesn't exist, but whites are about evenly divided on this.

This chapter also explores Americans' views of intergroup relations; whether they think the better approach to improving race relations is to focus on what different groups have in common or on the unique experiences of each racial and ethnic group; whether they have ever heard friends or family members make potentially racist or racially insensitive comments or jokes and, if so, did they confront them; and views about white people and black people using the N-word.

Majorities of whites, blacks and Hispanics say race relations are bad

About six-in-ten Americans (58%) say race relations in the U.S. are generally bad, a view that is held by majorities across racial and ethnic groups. Still, blacks (71%) are considerably more likely than whites (56%) and Hispanics (60%) to express negative views about the state of race relations.

Democrats have more negative views of the current state of race relations than Republicans. About two-thirds of Democrats (67%) say race relations are bad, while Republicans are more evenly divided (46% say race relations are bad and 52% say they are good). These partisan differences are virtually unchanged when looking only at white Democrats and Republicans.

Overall, 53% of the public says race relations are getting worse. Views are particularly pessimistic among those who say race relations are currently bad: 69% of this group says race relations are getting even worse, and 22% say they're staying the same. Just 9% think they're getting better. Among those who say race relations are good, 30% see things getting even better, while 30% say they're getting worse and 40% don't see much change.

Majority of Americans say Trump has made race relations worse

Two years into Donald Trump's presidency, 56% of Americans say Trump has made race relations worse. A relatively small share (15%) say the president has made progress toward improving race relations, and 13% say he has tried but failed to make progress; 14% say Trump has not addressed race relations.

Assessments of the president's performance on race relations vary considerably along racial and ethnic lines. Most blacks (73%), Hispanics (69%) and Asians (65%) say Trump has made race relations worse, compared with about half of whites (49%).

Democrats and Republicans have widely different opinions of the president's handling of race relations. Fully 84% of Democrats say Trump has made race relations worse, compared with 20% of Republicans. And while 34% of Republicans say Trump has made progress toward improving race relations, virtually no Democrats (1%) say the same. Among Democrats, views on this don't vary much along racial or ethnic lines, but white Democrats (86%) are somewhat more likely than black Democrats (79%) to say Trump has made race relations worse.

Most Americans say it's become more common for people to express racist or racially insensitive views since Trump's election

Majorities across racial and ethnic groups say it has become more common for people to express racist or racially insensitive views since Trump was elected, but blacks (76%) and Hispanics (75%) are more likely than whites (60%) to say this is the case. Whites are more likely than blacks and Hispanics to say expressing these views is about as common as it was before Trump's election.

Democrats are twice as likely as Republicans to say it has become more common for people to express racist or racially insensitive views since Trump was elected (84% vs. 42%). Half of Republicans - vs. 12% of Democrats - say people expressing these views is about as common as it was before, while small shares in each group say it is now less common than before Trump's election. These partisan differences remain when looking only at white Democrats and Republicans.

Among whites and blacks, the view that expressing racist or racially insensitive views is now more common is particularly prevalent among those with more education. Some 84% of blacks with a bachelor's degree or more education and 86% with some college experience offer this opinion, compared with 66% of blacks with a high school diploma or less education. Among whites, the difference is between those with at least a bachelor's degree (71% say expressing these views has become more common) and those with some college (55%) or no college experience (53%).

More than four-in-ten say it's now more acceptable for people to express racist or racially insensitive views

While most Americans say it's become more common for people to express racist or racially insensitive views since Trump's election, fewer (45%) say this has become more acceptable. About a quarter (23%) say it's now less acceptable for people to express these views, and 31% say it's about as acceptable as it was before Trump was elected.

Overall, blacks (53%) are more likely than whites (43%) or Hispanics (45%) to say it's become more acceptable for people to express racist or racially insensitive views. Among Democrats, however, whites are the most likely to say this (70% of white Democrats vs. 55% of black and 57% of Hispanic Democrats).

Again, educational attainment is linked to these views. Among whites, blacks and Hispanics, the view that it has become increasingly acceptable for people to express racist or racially insensitive views is more prevalent among those with more education. Overall, 58% of adults with at least a bachelor's degree say this has become more acceptable since Trump's election, compared with 44% of those with some college and 36% of those with a high school diploma or less education.

Views on whether it's become more acceptable for people to express racist views since Trump was elected are also strongly linked with partisanship. More than six-in-ten Democrats (64%) say this is now more acceptable; 22% of Republicans say the same. Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to say this is about as acceptable as it was before Trump's election (50% vs. 15%).

For the most part, Americans see positive intergroup relations

Despite their generally negative assessments of the current state of race relations, Americans tend to say that most racial and ethnic groups get along well with one another. Among those who gave an answer, about six-in-ten or more say this is the case for whites and Asians (88% say these groups get along very or pretty well), Hispanics and Asians (73%), blacks and Hispanics (65%), whites and Hispanics (63%) and blacks and Asians (62%). Relatively large shares do not know enough about how some of these groups get along to give an answer.

Assessments of how well blacks and whites get along are more divided. Among those who gave a rating, 51% say these groups generally get along well, while 49% say they don't get along too well or at all. Whites are far more positive than blacks in their views of how the two groups get along. About six-in-ten whites (58%) say blacks and whites get along well; the same share of blacks say these groups do not get along well.

There's a significant age gap among blacks on this issue: Blacks ages 50 and older express more positive views of black-white relations than do their younger counterparts. Among those in the older group, 53% say blacks and whites get along very well or pretty well, compared with 33% of black adults younger than 50.

Whites and Hispanics also offer considerably different views of how their groups get along, though majorities of each say they get along very well or pretty well (70% of whites vs. 54% of Hispanics). And while large shares of blacks and Hispanics say their groups generally get along, blacks (83%) are more likely than Hispanics (69%) to say this.

While those who say race relations are good are consistently more positive about how these groups get along, more than half of those who say race relations are bad also say intergroup relations - with the exception of black-white relations - are also generally positive. When it comes to how blacks and whites get along, just 36% of those who say race relations are bad say these groups get along well, compared with 76% of those who say race relations are good.

No consensus on best approach to improving race relations

More than half of Americans (55%) say that, when it comes to improving race relations, it is more important to focus on what different racial and ethnic groups have in common; 44% say it's more important to focus on each group's unique experiences.

Asians (58%), blacks (54%) and Hispanics (49%) are more likely than whites (39%) to say it's more important to focus on the unique experiences of different racial and ethnic groups. Still, about four-in-ten or more of these racial and ethnic minorities say the better approach to improving race relations is to focus on what different groups have in common.

Among whites, opinions vary considerably across age groups. Younger whites are the most likely to say that, when it comes to improving race relations, it's more important to focus on what makes different groups unique: 54% of those younger than 30 say this. In contrast, majorities of whites ages 30 to 49 (57%), 50 to 64 (63%) and 65 and older (67%) say it's more important to focus on what different racial and ethnic groups have in common. Age is not significantly linked to views about this among blacks or Hispanics.

Opinions about the amount of attention paid to race vary across racial and ethnic groups

About four-in-ten Americans (41%) say there's too much attention paid to race and racial issues in the country these days; 37% say there's too little attention, and 21% say it's about right. Whites are far more likely than other racial and ethnic groups to say there's too much attention paid to race, while blacks are more likely than other groups to say too little attention is paid to these issues.

Half of whites say too much attention is paid to race and racial issues these days, while smaller shares say there is too little (28%) or about the right amount of attention (21%). In contrast, about two-thirds of blacks (67%) and half of Hispanics say there's too little focus on race. Asians are more divided, with similar shares saying there's too little (39%) and too much (36%) attention paid to race and racial issues. A quarter of Asians say the amount of attention paid is about right.

Among whites, the view that the country is too focused on race is more common among those who are older and without a bachelor's degree. Opinions also differ considerably across party lines: Three-quarters of white Republicans think there's too much attention paid to race and racial issues, compared with 21% of white Democrats. About half of white Democrats (48%) say there's too little attention paid to these issues and 29% say it's about right. Black Democrats are far more likely than their white counterparts to say there's too little attention paid to race: 71% say that's the case.

Majority of Americans say racial discrimination is overlooked

When it comes to racial discrimination, a majority of Americans (57%) say the bigger problem for the country is people not seeing discrimination where it really exists, rather than people seeing racial discrimination where it really does not exist (42% say this is the bigger problem).

More than eight-in-ten black adults (84%) and somewhat smaller majorities of Hispanics (67%) and Asians (72%) say the bigger problem is people not seeing racial discrimination where it really exists. Among whites, about as many say the bigger problem is people overlooking discrimination (48%) rather than seeing it where it doesn't exist (52%).

Younger whites, as well as whites with a bachelor's degree or more education, are more likely than older and less-educated whites to say the bigger problem for the country is people not seeing racial discrimination where it really exists. Views also differ sharply by party, with white Democrats and white Republicans offering views that are the mirror image of each other: 78% of white Democrats say the bigger problem is people not seeing discrimination where it really exists, while 77% of Republicans say the bigger problem is people seeing discrimination where it doesn't exist.

One-in-five black adults say all or most whites in the U.S. are prejudiced against black people

Relatively small shares of Americans overall think all or most white people in the country are prejudiced against black people (9%) or that all or most black people are prejudiced against whites (13%). But majorities say at least some whites and blacks are prejudiced against the other group (70% say this about each group).

Among blacks, one-in-five say all or most white people in the U.S. are prejudiced against black people; 6% of whites say the same. The difference, while significant, is less pronounced when it comes to the shares of blacks (10%) and whites (14%) who say all or most black people are prejudiced against white people; 12% of Hispanics and 16% of Asians say this.

Whites (46%), blacks (44%), Hispanics (47%) and Asians (47%) are about equally likely to say they often or sometimes hear comments or jokes that can be considered racist or racially insensitive from friends or family members who share their racial background. About half in each group say this rarely or never happens.

Among those who say they hear these types of comments, even if rarely, majorities of whites (64%) and blacks (59%) say they have confronted a friend or family member who shares their racial background about this; 50% of Hispanics and 43% of Asians say they have done this.

While many say they have confronted a friend or family member who has made a racist comment, the public is skeptical that others would do the same. Only 6% of all adults think all or most white people would confront a white friend or family member who made such a comment about people who are black, and 3% say that all or most black people would do the same if a black friend or family member made a racist comment about people who are white.

Seven-in-ten say a white person using the N-word is never acceptable; about four-in-ten say it's never acceptable for blacks

Most Americans (70%) - including similar shares of blacks and whites - say they, personally, think it's never acceptable for a white person to use the N-word; about one-in-ten say this is always (3%) or sometimes (6%) acceptable. Opinions are more divided when it comes to black people using the N-word: About half say this is rarely (15%) or never (38%) acceptable, while a third say it is sometimes (20%) or always (13%) acceptable. Again, black and white adults offer similar views.

Among blacks, opinions about the use of the N-word by black people vary across genders and age groups. Black women are more likely than black men to say this is never acceptable (43% vs. 31%). And while half of blacks ages 50 and older say it's never acceptable for black people to use the N-word, 29% of blacks younger than 50 say the same.

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How Americans see the state of race relations

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A majority of Americans say race relations in the United States are bad, and of those, about seven-in-ten say things are getting even worse. Roughly two-thirds say it has become more common for people to express racist or racially insensitive views since Donald Trump was elected, even if not necessarily more acceptable.

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Many Republican lawmakers, who are fighting what they label as the teaching of critical race theory in schools, contend it divides Americans.

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Many Republican lawmakers, who are fighting what they label as the teaching of critical race theory in schools, contend it divides Americans.

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The issue is shaping up to be a major cultural battle ahead of next year's midterm elections.

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The issue is shaping up to be a major cultural battle ahead of next year's midterm elections.

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He said critical race theory posits that racism is endemic to American society through history and that, consequently, Americans have to think about institutions like the justice system or schools through the perspective of race and racism.

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He said critical race theory posits that racism is endemic to American society through history and that, consequently, Americans have to think about institutions like the justice system or schools through the perspective of race and racism.

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Last month, Republican lawmakers decried critical race theory, an academic approach that examines how race and racism function in American institutions.

"Folks, we're in a cultural warfare today," Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said at a news conference alongside six other members of the all-Republican House Freedom Caucus. "Critical race theory asserts that people with white skin are inherently racist, not because of their actions, words or what they actually believe in their heart - but by virtue of the color of their skin."

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., added: "Democrats want to teach our children to hate each other."

Republicans, who are fighting the teaching of critical race theory in schools, contend it divides Americans. Democrats and their allies maintain that progress is unlikely without examining the root causes of disparity in the country. The issue is shaping up to be a major cultural battle ahead of next year's midterm elections.

Academics, particularly legal scholars, have studied critical race theory for decades. But its main entry into the partisan fray came in 2020, when former President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning federal contractors from conducting certain racial sensitivity trainings. It was challenged in court, and President Biden rescinded the order the day he took office.

Since then, the issue has taken hold as a rallying cry among some Republican lawmakers who argue the approach unfairly forces students to consider race and racism.
"A stand-in for this larger anxiety"
Andrew Hartman, a history professor at Illinois State University, described the battle over critical race theory as typical of the culture wars, where "the issue itself is not always the thing driving the controversy."

"I'm not really sure that the conservatives right now know what it is or know its history," said Hartman, author of A War for the Soul of America: A History of the Culture Wars.

He said critical race theory posits that racism is endemic to American society through history and that, consequently, Americans have to think about institutions like the justice system or schools through the perspective of race and racism.

However, he said, "conservatives, since the 1960s, have increasingly defined American society as a colorblind society, in the sense that maybe there were some problems in the past but American society corrected itself and now we have these laws and institutions that are meritocratic and anybody, regardless of race, can achieve the American dream."

Confronted by the Black Lives Matter protests of last summer, as well as the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1619 curriculum, which roots American history in its racist past, Hartman said many Americans want simple answers.

"And so critical race theory becomes a stand-in for this larger anxiety about people being upset about persistent racism," he said.
Legislative action
States such as Idaho and Oklahoma have adopted laws that limit how public school teachers can talk about race in the classroom, and Republican legislatures in nearly half a dozen states have advanced similar bills that target teachings that some educators say they don't teach anyway.

There's movement on the national level too.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., has introduced the Combating Racist Training in the Military Act, a bill that would prohibit the armed forces and academics at the Defense Department from promoting "anti-American and racist theories," which, according to the bill's text, includes critical race theory.

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., said he is co-sponsoring legislation that would prevent federal dollars from being spent on critical race theory in schools or government offices.

"The ideas behind critical race theory and [its] implementation is creating this oppressor-oppressed divide amongst our people," Donalds told NPR. "And so no matter how you feel about the history of our country - as a Black man, I think our history has actually been quite awful, I mean, that's without question - but you also have to take into account the progression of our country, especially over the last 60 to 70 years."

Donalds said the country's history, including its ills, should be taught, but that critical race theory causes more problems than solutions.

"It only causes more divisions, which doesn't help our union become the more perfect union," he said.
A post-racial country?
Nearly half of the speakers at the Republican news conference in May invoked Martin Luther King Jr., expressing their desire to be judged "by the content of their character, not the color of their skin."

But Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, a sociology professor at Duke University, said King's dream was about the future. "He didn't say, 'We are now in a colorblind society,' " he said.

Bonilla-Silva, whose book Racism Without Racists critiques the notion that America is now "colorblind," says he too shares King's dream, "but in order for us to get to the promised land of colorblindness, we have to go through race. It's the opposite of what these folks are arguing."

He says the idea that American society is post-racial is nonsense.

"We are not, because we watched the video of George Floyd, and we are not because we have the data on income inequality, on wealth inequality, on housing inequality," he said.

As an example, Bonilla-Silva noted the opposition of whites to affirmative action in the post-civil rights era.

"Many whites said things such as, 'I'm not a racist. I believe in equal opportunity, which is why I oppose affirmative action, because affirmative action is discrimination in reverse,' " he noted.

"That statement only works if one believes that discrimination has ended," he added. "But because it has not ended, claiming that you oppose affirmative action because it's presumably discrimination in reverse ends up justifying the racial status quo and the inequalities."
Motivator for the midterms?
The fight over critical race theory will likely continue to be a heated issue ahead of next year's midterm elections. AlthoughNovember 2022 seems a long way away,Christine Matthews, president of Bellwether Research and a public opinion pollster, says pushback to anti-racism teaching is exactly the kind of issue that could maintain traction among certain voters.

"I think it's just one more addition to the culture war that the Republicans really want to fight and it's what they want to make the 2022 midterms about," she said.

Matthews noted that Biden's approval ratings, in the mid-50s, are significantly higher than Trump's were throughout his term in office, "so Republicans are wanting to make this about othering the Democrats and making them seem as extreme and threatening to white culture as possible."

"If Republicans can make [voters] feel threatened and their place in society threatened in terms of white culture and political correctness and cancel culture, that's a visceral and emotional issue, and I do think it could impact turnout."

These issues could be used to galvanize conservative voters and increase their numbers at the polls.

"We have seen evidence that the Republican base is responding much more to threats on cultural issues, even to some degree more than economic issues," Matthews said.

But Rep. Donalds said the Republican Party doesn't need to rally the base to get it to show up to vote.

"When it comes to the '22 elections, we don't need additional ammunition," he said, pointing to what he views as a list of failures from the Biden administration, from budget and taxes to shutting down the Keystone pipeline.

Doug Heye, the former communications director for the Republican National Committee, said in some ways, the attempts to mandate what schools can or can't teach highlights just how far the GOP under Trumphas moved away from traditionally conservative principles - like wanting less federal involvement in schools.

"A lot of what we might have described as conservative policy five years ago, 10 years ago, now just isn't that case," he said. "If we're pushing what is a current priority for the Trump base, that's defined as conservative, whether or not that's a federal top-down policy or not. So the old issues of federalism has really been upended under Donald Trump's reign as the leader of the party."

Heye said at this point, critical race theory is still politically a "niche issue" among conservative voters, but he expects it to play a larger role in state assemblies, governors races and school boards rather than in national politics.

He said he believes it's an issue some candidates will raise "to further rile up the base that is already pretty riled."

"So the question will be then for Republicans: What else are they really emphasizing?" he said.

From a strategy perspective, Matthews says she thinks it will all come down to messaging.

"The Republicans are trying to make it a bad thing," she said, "but I feel like if the Democrats got the messaging right, they could make it a good thing."

Both sides have a little more than a year to do that.

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The Brewing Political Battle Over Critical Race Theory

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subscribe to The NPR Politics Podcast podcast Last month, Republican lawmakers decried critical race theory, an academic approach that examines how race and racism function in American institutions. "Folks, we're in a cultural warfare today," Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said at a news conference alongside six other members of the all-Republican House Freedom Caucus.