Why Do Millennials Not Understand Racism?

[pampango]

22. "Compared with previous generations, they’re more tolerant and diverse and profess a deeper

commitment to equality and fairness. At the same time, however, they’re committed to an ideal of colorblindness that leaves them uncomfortable with race, opposed to measures to reduce racial inequality, and a bit confused about what racism is.

...a majority of millennials say that their generation is “post-racial.” Seventy-two percent believe their generation believes in equality more than older people, and 58 percent believe that as they get older, racism will become less of an issue.

Which gets to the irony of this survey: A generation that hates racism but chooses colorblindness is a generation that, through its neglect, comes to perpetuate it.

An interesting dichotomy between a personal and genuine commitment to equality and fairness whether it is about race, gender or sexual preferences and a weakness in understanding of the need to deal with (and how) societal problems in these same areas.

I think that people who work with high school or college age students are impressed by their genuine personal commitment to fairness regardless of race, gender or sexual preference. Perhaps because of their youth (perhaps it's deeper than that), they seem not to fully understand how many people in society who do not share that commitment which has caused social problems that still need to be dealt with on a society-wide scale.