Millennials & El mito de lo posracial
Sociedad: Black Youth, Intra-generational
Divisions & the Continuing Racial Divide
in American Politics
Cathy J. cohen
Since the election of Barack Obama, much has
been made of the generational divide in the popu-
lace. Some have suggested that once the so-called
millennials come to dominate the political domain,
many of the thorny social issues that have caused
great debate and consternation among the Ameri-
can public will be resolved. This line of reasoning
implies that young people who embrace and per-
sonify a more inclusive society will eventually take
over policy-making and thought leadership, mov-
ing both areas in a more liberal direction. Com-
mentators point to the signi½cant differences in
opinion registered among various generations on
topics such as same-sex marriage and abortion as
evidence of the more inclusive worldview held by
the majority of young people. According to a 2009
cnn.com story, “Fifty-four percent of people ques-
tioned in a cnn/Opinion Research Corporation
Poll released Monday said marriages between gay
or lesbian couples should not be recognized as valid
con 44 percent suggesting they should be consid-
ered legal. But among those 18 a 34 years old, 58
percent said same-sex marriages should be consid-
ered legal.” The article closes with a quote from
cnn political analyst Bill Schneider that under-
scores the potential of young Americans to change
the trajectory of equal rights in the country: “Young
voters strongly favor marriage equality. They’re
the future of American politics.”1 A USA Today
story makes a similar argument, proclaiming that
“younger Americans, more eclectic in their views
© 2011 por la Academia Americana de las Artes & Ciencias
CATHY J. COHEN is the David
and Mary Winton Green Profes-
sor of Political Science at the Uni-
versity of Chicago. She is the au-
thor of Democracy Remixed: Negro
Youth and the Future of American
Política (2010) and The Boundaries
of Blackness: AIDS and the Break-
down of Black Politics (1999). Ella
is the Principal Investigator for
the Black Youth Project and the
Mobilization, Cambiar, and Politi-
cal and Civic Engagement Project.
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197
Millennials
& the Myth
del
Post-Racial
Sociedad
on social issues and more likely to have
friends or family members who are open-
ly gay, are more tolerant of same-sex
couples than their parents or grandpar-
ents and appear to be more interested
in compromise.”2
The promised harmony around social
issues that is presumably evident among
younger Americans extends beyond the
con½nes of sexually infused social policy
to the prominent and always simmering
issue of race. An article published in The
New York Times suggests that much of the
problem of race and racism found in the
Tea Party and the naacp has to do with
the fact that they both are largely com-
prised of older members who grew up as
the targets or bene½ciaries of Jim Crow.
Columnist Matt Bai writes, “The Tea Party
and the N.A.A.C.P. represent dispropor-
tionately older memberships. And here-
in lies a problem with so much of our dis-
cussion about race and politics in the Oba-
ma era: we tend not to recognize the
generational divide that underlies it.”3
As evidence of this substantial genera-
tional divide, Bai cites pre-midterm data
from the Pew Research Center indicat-
ing that “there is nearly a 20 point spread
between Mr. Obama’s approval ratings
among voters younger than 30 and those
older than 65.” Perhaps Bai’s most impor-
tant observation is one that he seems to
add almost as a throwaway: his comment
that “These numbers probably do reflect
some profound racial differences among
the generations.” I would contend that,
En realidad, the signi½cant and profound dif-
ferences in how young whites, blacks, y
Latinos think about such topics as racism,
citizenship, and gay and lesbian issues
are a de½ning and often ignored feature
of American politics as practiced by the
young today, even in the age of Obama.
Far from the generation of millennials
signaling the end of race or even the be-
ginning of a post-racial society, datos
from the Black Youth Project (byp)4
and the Mobilization, Cambiar, and Po-
litical and Civic Engagement Project
(mcpce)5 suggest that deep divides
still exist among young people, con
black youth particularly skeptical about
the idea of a post-racial anything. Cuando
we ½rst administered the byp in 2005,
we asked respondents–who were then
siglos 15 to 25–a series of questions re-
garding the impact of race in the lives
of young black Americans. Repeatedly,
we discovered a signi½cant gap in how
young whites and young blacks thought
about such issues, with young Latinos
often landing somewhere in the middle.
Por ejemplo, 61 percent of black youth
agreed with the statement, “It is hard for
young black people to get ahead because
they face so much discrimination,” com-
comparado con 43 percent of white youth and
45 percent of Latino respondents. Sim-
ilarly, 54 percent of black youth agreed
with the statement, “On average, negro
youth receive a poorer education than
white youth,” compared to 31 por ciento
of white youth and 40 percent of Latino
youth. When asked if they agreed with
la declaración, “In the health care sys-
tema, Blacks are treated less fairly than
Whites,” the majority of black (59 por-
centavo) and Latino (52 por ciento) youth in-
dicated their agreement, while only 32
percent of young whites agreed. Sobre el
speci½c topic of aids, when asked if
they agreed that “if more white people
had aids, the government would do
more to ½nd a cure,” over two-thirds of
black respondents (68 por ciento) agreed,
compared to only 34 percent of white
youth and 50 percent of Latino youth.
When we turned our questions to the
treatment of blacks by the government,
compared to its treatment of other groups,
we continued to see marked disagree-
mento. Por ejemplo, when black youth
198
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were asked if the government treats im-
migrants better than most blacks, cerca de
a majority of black youth agreed (48 por-
centavo), compared to the expected much
smaller percentage of Latinos (18 por ciento)
y 29 percent of white youth. Interest-
ingly, the one area in this battery of ques-
tions where we can identify relative agree-
ment across racial and ethnic groups is
on the topic of how the police treat black
youth. Speci½cally, when asked if “the
police discriminate much more against
black youth than they do against white
youth," 79 percent of black youth, 73 por-
cent of white youth, y 63 por ciento de
Latino youth agreed.
Quizás no sea sorprendente, when asked
whether racism would be eliminated in
their lifetime, respondents were pessimis-
tic, with about only one-third in each
racial/ethnic category believing the elim-
ination of racism in their lifetime was
very or somewhat likely. Curiosamente,
black respondents, who were most neg-
ative when asked about the speci½c ex-
periences of black youth, were slightly
more likely to believe racism would be
eliminated in their lifetime, con 33 por-
cent of blacks, 25 percent of whites, y
31 percent of Latino youth stating that it
was very or somewhat likely that racism
would be eliminated in their lifetime.
Finalmente, there are two positive notes
that should be highlighted as we seek
to represent the complexity of political
thinking by young people today. Primero,
black and Latino youth registered lower
levels of encounters with discrimination
than might be imagined. When asked
how often they experienced racism be-
cause of their race, young blacks most
often chose the category “every now
y luego,” with 32 percent of black re-
spondents marking this answer. Among
whites, an equal percent declared they
had rarely (41 por ciento) or never (41 por-
centavo) been discriminated against be-
cause of their race. Latino respondents
demonstrated a pattern similar to whites,
with most respondents choosing the
answer “rarely” (32 por ciento) or “never”
(36 por ciento). (The choice of “rarely” or
“never” among Latinos may have to do
with the fact that we asked about dis-
crimination based on race and not on
ethnicity.) Segundo, a majority of respon-
dents from all racial and ethnic groups
agreed that they felt like full and equal
citizens with all the rights and protec-
tions that other people have, con 60
percent of blacks, 82 percent of whites,
y 70 percent of Latino youth agreeing.
Por supuesto, we should note the 22-per-
centage point gap between those black
and white youth who feel like full and
equal citizens.
The reality of such a monumental ra-
cial divide, between whites and blacks in
particular, has long been documented in
the research of scholars such as Michael
Dawson, Lawrence Bobo, Donald Kinder,
and Lynn Sanders.6 These scholars and
others have painted a detailed picture of
the differences in public opinion among
black and white Americans on topics
ranging from the role of the state, sup-
port for redistributive policies and pro-
gramos, social issues, and the belief that
racism plays a major role in American
sociedad. Again and again, the data across
studies reveal that black Americans, mientras
generally socially conservative, believe
in a more activist state; register higher
support for redistributive programs such
as welfare and food stamps; and are more
likely to indicate that they believe that
racism continues to play a major role in
limiting the opportunities available to
blacks and Latinos.
Given this line of research, it may not
seem surprising that young black Amer-
icans continue to believe that racism is
still a major problem in the country. Más-
encima, the continuing reality of race and
Cathy J.
cohen
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140 (2) Primavera 2011
199
Millennials
& the Myth
del
Post-Racial
Sociedad
racism in structuring the opportunities
presented to young people, especially
black youth, seems to scream out from
the many statistics offered up to high-
light the lived experience of marginal
youth of color. Por ejemplo, by now most
people know that black youth suffer dis-
proportionately from social crises such
as poverty, hiv/aids, childhood obe-
sity, incarceration, and unemployment,
among other problems. More recently,
black youth and their families have also
been hit especially hard by the recession.
As others have noted, the combination
of lost manufacturing jobs, predatory
lending practices, unparalleled foreclo-
sures, a shocking drop in property val-
ues, and the continued use of discrim-
inatory hiring practices in a jobless re-
covery has meant that black youth and
their families face, not a recession, pero
“a silent depression” and the loss of any
generational progress for young blacks.7
De este modo, given these lived realities, es
hard to imagine that there would not be
signi½cant racial and ethnic differences
in how young people think about race
and their lives more broadly.
Sin embargo, for many Americans, especialmente-
cially white Americans, the election of
Barack Obama marked what they believed
to be a major shift in the racial conscious-
ness of the country, with a color-blind
framework predicted as rightfully com-
ing to dominate the racial landscape.8
In the wake of the election, commenta-
tors and politicians felt empowered to
tell black people, and black youth in par-
particular, that it was now time to stop the
“whining” because they had no more
excuses. The running dominant narra-
tive–that the country has arrived at a
lugar, in part through the victories of
the civil rights movement, where color
blindness is the fair way to make deci-
siones, create policy, and distribute re-
sources–helps produce such disparities
in the political thinking of young people
hoy. For while many whites see Presi-
dent Obama’s election as the best exam-
ple of how color blindness works, muchos
black youth, who enthusiastically sup-
ported Obama, believe that his election
reflects the desperate yearning for change
in the midst of political and economic
crisis. It was this desire that led whites to
vote for change rather than using their
votes to preserve the racial order.
En 2008, the country witnessed the larg-
est outpouring of black youth voting
during any presidential election. Estafa-
trary to the myth that black youth are
apolitical, it seems that when presented
with a candidate they care deeply about,
they will go to the polls. For many jour-
nalists and commentators, the large turn-
out of young people was yet another sign
that more political agreement and toler-
ance existed among our younger voters
than we can ever hope to see among old-
er voters. While it is true that young peo-
ple joined together in force to vote for a
new direction as represented by Barack
Obama (and against the old path as laid
out by the Bush administration), it seems
that the meaning of and agenda attached
to those votes were different for various
racial and ethnic groups of young people.
Seven months after the 2008 election, nosotros
asked respondents to the mcpce study,
including a signi½cant number of those
eighteen to thirty-½ve years old, si ellos
believed racism was still a major prob-
lem. The divide between black and white
young people (ages eighteen to thirty-
½ve) was stark: 68 percent of black youth
stated that racism remains a major prob-
lem, compared to 33 percent of white
respondents and 58 percent of Latino
respondents (ver tabla 1). A similar split
was evident when we asked if blacks had
achieved racial equality. A near majority
of whites (48 por ciento) thought blacks
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Mesa 1
Perspectives on Racism since the Election of President Obama
Cathy J.
cohen
Respondents by
Race/Ethnicity
Racism Remains
a Major Problem
Racism Exists
but Not a Major
Problema
Racism No
Longer Exists
in Our Society
Racism Never
a Major Problem
in Society
Black Youth
n=310
White Youth
n=226
Latino Youth
n=440
68%
33%
58%
29%
63%
32%
1%
3%
8%
2%
1%
2%
Fuente: 2008 Mobilization, Cambiar, and Political and Civic Engagement (Wave 2).
had achieved equality, compared to
15 percent of blacks and 39 por ciento de
latinos (ver tabla 2).
As we know, the racial landscape is far
more expansive than one that accounts
for just blacks and whites. When asked
if Latinos had achieved racial equality,
support for this assertion dropped among
whites. De hecho, solo 29 percent of whites,
16 percent of blacks, y 20 por ciento de
Latinos believed that Latinos had achieved
racial equality (ver tabla 3).
Finalmente, on the question of whether
our respondents felt like full and equal
los ciudadanos, Encontramos eso, en 2008, allá
remained a substantial split in the level
of inclusion black and white young peo-
ple feel, con 55 percent of young blacks
agreeing with the statement that they
felt like full and equal citizens, com-
comparado con 69 percent of young whites
(ver figura 1). This 14-percentage point
difference is less than the 23-percentage
point gap registered between blacks and
whites in the byp data, but we should
remember that respondents to the byp
data were younger (ages ½fteen to twen-
ty-½ve) than the eighteen to thirty-½ve
year olds who participated in the mcpce
estudiar. Además, while a gap contin-
ues to exist between young blacks and
whites, the most sizable difference in
feelings of inclusion was registered among
young Latinos and whites, con solo 39
percent of young Latinos believing them-
selves to be full and equal citizens. Y-
doubtedly, the word citizen has a signi½-
cant bearing on their feeling of not being
included in the larger political commu-
nity. Sin embargo, their responses are not
simply a reflection of their actual legal
status as citizens; they also represent the
myriad ways in which Latino citizens are
perceived as “illegal,” resulting in their
exclusion from fully lived citizenship.
Like many young people, blacks, whites,
latinos, americanos asiáticos, and other cit-
izens who turned out to vote on Novem-
ber 4, 2008, the young black people at the
heart of this data were generally exuber-
ant over the election of the nation’s ½rst
African American president. In a Febru-
ary 2009 focus group discussion with
140 (2) Primavera 2011
201
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Millennials
& the Myth
del
Post-Racial
Sociedad
Mesa 2
Perspectives on Whether Blacks Have Achieved Racial Equality
Respondents by
Race/Ethnicity
Have Achieved
Racial Equality
Will Soon
Achieve Racial
Igualdad
Will Not
Achieve Racial
Equality in Your
Lifetime
Will Never
Achieve Racial
Igualdad
Black Youth
n=303
White Youth
n=225
Latino Youth
n=432
15%
48%
39%
47%
30%
34%
23%
16%
22%
14%
6%
6%
Fuente: 2008 Mobilization, Cambiar, and Political and Civic Engagement (Wave 2).
Mesa 3
Perspectives on Whether Latinos Have Achieved Racial Equality
Respondents by
Race/Ethnicity
Have Achieved
Racial Equality
Will Soon
Achieve Racial
Igualdad
Will Not
Achieve Racial
Equality in Your
Lifetime
Will Never
Achieve Racial
Igualdad
Black Youth
n=295
White Youth
n=226
Latino Youth
n=432
16%
29%
20%
51%
41%
51%
25%
24%
22%
9%
6%
7%
Fuente: 2008 Mobilization, Cambiar, and Political and Civic Engagement (Wave 2).
young blacks ages eighteen to twenty-
four living in Chicago, participants ex-
pressed their pride in the country having
just elected Barack Obama. Al mismo
time that they expressed great pride and
hope in Obama, they also made it clear
that no one politician–not even the pres-
ident–would be able to change drasti-
cally the lives of young black Americans.
They stated that for their lives to im-
prove, a number of entities would have
to change: el gobierno, empleadores,
profesores, padres, and young people them-
selves. Curiosamente, in both our survey
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Cifra 1
Percent of Respondents Who Believe They Are Full and Equal Citizens
Cathy J.
cohen
69%
55%
39%
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Negro
Blanco
Latino
Black respondents: n=304; white respondents: n=231; Latino respondents: n=451.
Fuente: 2008 Mobilization, Cambiar, and Political and Civic Engagement (Wave 2).
data and our focus group responses, negro
youth conveyed their belief that change,
en general, and in the racial landscape,
En particular, is possible, but not direct-
ed by one person. Even given their very
realistic assessment of the impact of the
2008 election on their lives and the need
for change among many entities, Siete
months after the election, young blacks
were more likely than young whites to be-
lieve that there had been “big change”
or “some change” in the country since
President Obama took of½ce (ver tabla 4).
Although young black Americans be-
lieve in the change promoted by Presi-
dent Obama, they also seem to subscribe
to a vision of American politics in which
collectives of concerned individuals and
groups produce change. During a focus
group with young people in Chicago, uno
young woman stated that the election of
President Obama “told us American peo-
ple that the power is in our hands and
however you want this country ran we
pretty much can decide that. I think every-
one realized that and saw it for themselves
this time around.” Another young per-
son in the same focus group went on to
explain, “It’s not good enough if one guy
makes it. That’s not good for everybody
en general, so everyone, if all of us can
come out of it, then we can say we’ve
done something to make change hap-
pen. But for one man to come out of it,
that’s not good enough. De hecho, that’s
not doing anything at all.”
In the many articles written about the
generational shift in attitudes on social
asuntos, such as gay marriage or even race,
pocos, if any, take the time to disaggregate
the data by race and ethnicity to deter-
mine whether there might be divergent
trends among the many groups compris-
ing “youth.” When researchers disaggre-
gate their data (eso es, if they have sam-
pled enough people of color to pursue
statistical analysis of different racial and
140 (2) Primavera 2011
203
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3
Millennials
& the Myth
del
Post-Racial
Sociedad
Mesa 4
Change since President Obama Took Of½ce
Respondents by
Race/Ethnicity
Big Change
Some Change
Very Little
Cambiar
No Change
Black Youth
n=297
White Youth
n=229
Latino Youth
n=429
18%
64%
15%
4%
12%
45%
34%
10%
15%
52%
29%
4%
Fuente: 2008 Mobilization, Cambiar, and Political and Civic Engagement (Wave 2).
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3
ethnic groups) they often ½nd that there
are signi½cant differences in how young
people from the various racial and ethnic
groups that make up the American pop-
ulace think about not only same-sex
marriage and abortion, but also race. Si
opinion leaders continue to make policy
and write articles with data assuming
that the ideas of white youth represent
the attitudes of all young people, ellos
are in for a rude awakening.
As the demographics of the country
continue to move from one dominated–
in population and power–by whites to
one increasingly populated by individu-
als of color, our analyses must start pay-
ing attention to the ideas, attitudes, y
actions of young people of color. En el
case of sensitive social issues such as
abortion, sexo, and homosexuality, negro
youth signal, a lo mejor, a position of limit-
ed tolerance. In the realm of race, el
experience of black youth and, at times,
Latino youth is that race still ½gures
prominently in their lives, shaping where
they can live, if and where they work,
and how state authorities, como el
police, treat them. For these young peo-
por ejemplo, racism still blocks their access to full
citizenship, in particular the psychologi-
cal aspects of believing that one belongs
to and is valued in the larger political
comunidad.
Far from signaling a signi½cant change
in racial politics that can be sustained in
some sectors of the country, Obama’s
election has unleashed an unbridled rac-
ism that has not been witnessed in such
regularity for some time. Whites who
have been affected by layoffs and the fail-
ing economy, the escalating cost of health
care, the bottoming out of the housing
market, and the decline in our public
schools have been motivated by radio
and talk show hosts to rebel and once
again to blame black people, immigrants,
y, por supuesto, our ½rst black president
for their declining predicament. In re-
respuesta, they have held Tea Party and
9-12 rallies where President Obama has
been demeaned and depicted as “other,"
an unspeakable evil on par with Hitler.
As many traditional journalists and
pundits have claimed, vili½cation of a
204
Dédalo, la Revista de la Academia Estadounidense de las Artes & Ciencias
Cathy J.
cohen
sitting president is part of the vitriol we
call American politics. But others, semejante
as former President Carter, have suggest-
ed that what we are witnessing in the
backlash against President Obama is
the continuing racist attitudes and be-
haviors of some whites. These individ-
uals instinctively focus on racial expla-
nations for their dif½culties instead of
pointing to capitalist greed and neolib-
eral policies that have dismantled many
of the protections middle- y trabajando-
class people depend on. In the midst of
such a backlash, both structurally and
symbolically, it is not surprising that
many black youth continue to believe
and assert that racism remains a major
problem for the country and in their
lives. What I hope this essay has made
clear is that waiting for the generational
shift will not be enough to change the
diverging experiences and perceptions
of young people. We must pay attention
to existing racial and ethnic differences
that are evident among the millennial
generation today.
notas finales
1 Paul Steinhauser, “cnn Poll: Generations Disagree on Same-sex Marriage,” cnn.com,
Puede 4, 2009, http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/05/04/samesex.marriage.poll/index
.html?iref=mpstoryview.
2 Chuck Raash, “Generations Reshape Gay Marriage Debate,” USA Today, Puede 21, 2009,
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/columnist/raasch/2009-05-21-new-politics
_N.htm.
3 Matt Bai, “Beneath Divides Seemingly about Race Are Generational Fault Lines,” The New
York Times, Julio 17, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/us/politics/18bai.html.
4 Data from the byp were collected from July 2005 a noviembre 2005. Había 1,590
total respondents to the survey, ages ½fteen to twenty-½ve, including an oversample of
blacks. The byp research team developed and tested the questionnaire. The survey was
administered by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago
under the title of “Youth Culture Survey.” For more information on the survey and
methodology or to download the data, see http://www.blackyouthproject.com.
5 Panel data from the mcpce project are drawn from a random sample of the population
of households in the United States. The survey sample for this study is a nationally repre-
sentative panel survey that includes oversamples of blacks, latinos, Asians, and young peo-
ple ages eighteen to thirty-½ve. One-third of the Latino respondents came from Spanish
language–dominant homes who received the questionnaire in Spanish. The questionnaire
was administered through Knowledge Networks. For more information on the survey and
methodology or to download the data, see http://www.2008andbeyond.com.
6 miguel c.. Dawson, Behind the Mule: Race and Class in African-American Politics (Princeton,
NUEVA JERSEY.: Prensa de la Universidad de Princeton), 1994; Donald R. Kinder and Lynn M. Lijadoras, Divided
by Color: Racial Politics and Democratic Ideals (chicago: University of Chicago Press), 1996;
Lawrence Bobo, “Whites’ Opposition to Busing: Symbolic Racism or Realistic Group
Conflicto?” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 45 (1983): 1196–1210.
7 Kathy Bergen, “African-Americans Hit Inordinately Hard by Recession: Staggering
High Unemployment among Black Middle Class Wipes Out a Generation of Wealth,"
Chicago Tribune, Noviembre 6, 2009, http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-11-06/
news/0911050858_1_african-americans-recession-unemployment.
8 Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence
of Racial Inequality in America, 3rd ed. (Lanham, Maryland.: Rowman and Little½eld, 2009).
140 (2) Primavera 2011
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