Professor of Afro-American Studies and of Sociology Lawrence D. Bobo spoke in Washington yesterday on racial attitudes in the United States.
At an advisory board meeting that was part of President Clinton's yearlong Initiative on Race, Bobo addressed the question of "whether America is moving toward becoming a genuinely 'color-blind' society or remains deeply polarized by race," he said in his speech.
Bobo's speech, "What Do we Think About Race," was part of a meeting at the Mayflower Hotel that drew about 100 people, Bobo said in an interview yesterday.
Acknowledging that "studies of racial attitudes present a difficult puzzle," Bobo discussed the conflicting messages offered by several recent studies.
For example, some indicators show improvement in white Americans' racial attitudes. But others show "evidence of persistent negative stereotyping of racial minorities," Bobo said.
"We now have a deeply-rooted national consensus on the ideals of racial equality and integration," Bobo said. Yet those ideals "founder on sharp racial differences in beliefs about racial discrimination," and those ideals also are challenged by "mutual misunderstanding."
The first-year Harvard sociologist, who arrived this year from the University of California at Los Angeles, emphasized that continued progress in race relations is sorely needed.
"It is important to seize upon the steady commitment to ideals of racial equality and integration," Bobo said. "The risk of failing to do so is that a new, free-market ideology of racism-laissez-faire racism-may take hold, potentially worsening an already serious racial divide."
Bobo also discussed racial segrega- In the interview yesterday, Bobo said he was pleased with the meeting. "It was a very impressive session," he said. "[I was] impressed with the depth of the president's commitment on the issue of race." The advisory board Bobo addressed is chaired by Dr. John Hope Franklin, the African-American historian, and advises Clinton on "the means to promote a national dialogue on race issues," according to a statement from the White House press Office
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