In the World

Reverse discrimination vs. the regular kind

The new diversity and tolerance survey numbers from
the Public Religion Research Institute were released last week for the 9/11
anniversary, and many of the findings are about religious freedom, pluralism
and Islamophobia. But the one I found most sobering was this:

A
slim majority of whites agree that discrimination against whites has become as
big a problem as discrimination against minority groups, compared to only about
3-in-10 blacks and Hispanics who agree.

Wow. I've certainly been
turned down for many jobs over the years, some at places where I know my white
face and so-Anglo-he-probably-has-a-castle name didn't help my chances. But
I've never been pulled over for no reason, followed around by staff at a store
or stopped on the street and asked to prove that I'm a U.S. citizen.

I happen to support
affirmative action as a general concept, but I'm not interested in a debate
about whether or not it technically qualifies as discrimination. The survey
doesn't ask whether white people ever suffer discrimination; it asks whether it's "as
big a problem as discrimination against blacks and other minorities." What kind
of bubble do you have to be living in to think that it is?

Steve Thorngate

The Century managing editor is also a church musician and songwriter.

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