sleeper;1396467 wrote:It's their fault because they aren't doing anything about it. Get rid of affirmative action and stop indoctrinating children to believe anytime someone with different skin color wrongs you; it doesn't mean they are a racist. Racism is taught; it's not normal human nature to make an inference about the quality of an individual based on their skin color; it's taught by whites to whites and its taught by minorities to minorities.
We have been trying to do something about it as a country. These studies also do predate affirmative action, for example the one I referenced in my earlier post that is discussed in a footnote in Brown v. Board of Education. However, there is some opposition to affirmative action based on the negative effects it can have such as distrust/animosity towards individuals who are perceived as having benefited from it whether they really did or not. There is also the idea in education of the mismatch hypothesis, that is a person gaining access to a school that is statistically (based on standardized tests and GPA) out of their reach and then failing in that situation where they could have succeeded in one more suitable to their skills. There are plenty of studies out there that speak to these kinds of issues, some support one side, some the other. There is no clear cut answer at the moment.
Also your point about racism being taught, I disagree. Most stereotypes and prejudiced based off them is normal human behavior. It's survival instinct not to trust those you don't understand. If you don't understands someones language, culture, religion, etc. it makes sense from a survival aspect to distrust their motives and behavior. It is up to civil societies to try to bridge these gaps and better understand each other in order to relate to each other in ways that would be non-violent and fair.
Information is the most powerful tool we have when trying to fight prejudice; being open and honest about yourself to help educate others who don't understand you helps others learn and grow.