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So, your overall question is a good one, but #2 is a howler. The reported statistic I've seen is that 40% of Americans say they don't have a close friend of a d

So, your overall question is a good one, but #2 is a howler. The reported statistic I've seen is that 40% of Americans say they don't have a close friend of a different race. But I'm confident that 99% of white Americans have spoken to a black person. Except for a few states like Vermont, most states and most cities have significant black populations. See, for instance: http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-most-diverse-cities-are-often-the-most-segregated/ http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-most-diverse-cities-.... Even in spite of that segregation, people do talk to each other (they may not live on the same block, but they do eventually meet each other). Do you live in the US? If you don't, please do try to get basic facts about us right. Our country has a lot of problems, but you can't understand them without having a basic factual grasp of our demographics.

nashequilibrium 12y ago
"The reported statistic I've seen is that 40% of Americans say they don't have a close friend of a different race." Firstly that says of another race, could be arab,persian, Italian, asian, etc... Secondly, no way in hell 60% of america can have a friend from a pool of 14% of America. This is impossible looking at how race groups tend to cluster.
- hyperpape 12y ago
  More evidence you're confused about the US. In the United States, white people don't consider Italians a different race. They're white. You're right about the precise claim of what I said. But people who've never talked to a black person are disproportionately likely to have not talked to an Asian, Arab, etc. States that have high proportions of non-Black racial minorities tend to have higher proportions of Blacks.
  - nashequilibrium 12y ago
    Bullshit, I've heard white ppl talk shit about Jersey Shore and use racial slurs against Italians. Secondly look at the Silicon Valley numbers for diversity, how many Asian vs Black? So your point no black interaction == no asian interaction is incorrect.
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
    - hyperpape 12y ago
      Regarding minority populations: it's not equivalent. But it is often the case. Think Texas, New York City, Los Angeles, or Chicago. People talk shit or joke about the French, Italians, Germans too, but French and German people are considered white. Same with Poles and Italians. Those stats you gave did not consider people of Italian or German descent as non-White.
      - JoeAltmaier 12y ago
        Hm. My wife (Italian descent) reports differently. During her southwest upbringing she was treated as anything but white. I guess it depends upon your environment.
        hyperpape 12y ago
        Perhaps I'm too quick to assume my experience is universal on this point. At school growing up, the white people were fairly mixed in actual ethnic background. Statistically, though, any researcher would consider Italian white if they used "white" as a category. Would it be too personal to ask what she meant? Was she taken for Hispanic, or did people use anti-Italian stereotypes?
        JoeAltmaier 12y ago
        The 2nd. She was not welcome everywhere in town; she was viewed with suspicion in stores; her family's social circle was several notches lower than expected from her fathers' position (scientist at Los Alamos Natl Labs).
        cafard 12y ago
        I'd have supposed Los Alamos, what with the laboratories, to be more cosmopolitan than Denver; yet so far as I know, that didn't happen in Denver. To be sure, I didn't have a particularly elevated social circle, and maybe the people at the Denver Country Club had some issues. But as far as I know, most people in Denver sorted ethnicities into Black/Chicano/Anglo.
dragonwriter 12y ago
> But I'm confident that 99% of white Americans have spoken to a black person. I'm no more confident of that than in the 90% haven't made up statistic that this was offered in response to. The truth is probably somewhere in between (and may be closer to the 90% haven't side, especially if, as suggested in another comment, one excludes the minimal interactions around things like retail commercial transactions and the like, and only includes substantive conversations.) > Except for a few states like Vermont, most states and most cities have significant black populations. That doesn't mean that the black population interacts with the White population all that much.
- hyperpape 12y ago
  Eh, OP made a damn extreme claim. If you exclude extremely glancing interactions, I'd walk back the claim about 99%. But I will say that any place I've ever lived or visited, the majority of White people would have had conversations with Black people. I just can't imagine someone in Pittsburgh, New York City or Raleigh not having done that.
  - nashequilibrium 12y ago
    No I did not! "In fact, PRRI's data show that a full 75 percent of whites have "entirely white social networks without any minority presence." The same holds true for slightly less than two-thirds of black Americans." Now isolate the 14% black population from all minorities, take into account how minorities cluster and the 75% number is for black friendship is probably even higher than 90% Look at it another way 66% of black people say they do not have a white person in their social network. So roughly 34% of 14% of the population have a person in their social network from the white population. So how the hell can all these white people claim to have all these black friends?
nashequilibrium 12y ago
Your stats are wrong, read below and thats covering all minority groups. now isolate the 14% black group from those minorities. White ppl just don't have black friends, deal with it. ""In fact, PRRI's data show that a full 75 percent of whites have "entirely white social networks without any minority presence." The same holds true for slightly less than two-thirds of black Americans.""

nashequilibrium 12y ago

"The reported statistic I've seen is that 40% of Americans say they don't have a close friend of a different race." Firstly that says of another race, could be arab,persian, Italian, asian, etc... Secondly, no way in hell 60% of america can have a friend from a pool of 14% of America. This is impossible looking at how race groups tend to cluster.

hyperpape 12y ago
More evidence you're confused about the US. In the United States, white people don't consider Italians a different race. They're white. You're right about the precise claim of what I said. But people who've never talked to a black person are disproportionately likely to have not talked to an Asian, Arab, etc. States that have high proportions of non-Black racial minorities tend to have higher proportions of Blacks.
- nashequilibrium 12y ago
  Bullshit, I've heard white ppl talk shit about Jersey Shore and use racial slurs against Italians. Secondly look at the Silicon Valley numbers for diversity, how many Asian vs Black? So your point no black interaction == no asian interaction is incorrect.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - hyperpape 12y ago
    Regarding minority populations: it's not equivalent. But it is often the case. Think Texas, New York City, Los Angeles, or Chicago. People talk shit or joke about the French, Italians, Germans too, but French and German people are considered white. Same with Poles and Italians. Those stats you gave did not consider people of Italian or German descent as non-White.
    - JoeAltmaier 12y ago
      Hm. My wife (Italian descent) reports differently. During her southwest upbringing she was treated as anything but white. I guess it depends upon your environment.
      - hyperpape 12y ago
        Perhaps I'm too quick to assume my experience is universal on this point. At school growing up, the white people were fairly mixed in actual ethnic background. Statistically, though, any researcher would consider Italian white if they used "white" as a category. Would it be too personal to ask what she meant? Was she taken for Hispanic, or did people use anti-Italian stereotypes?
        JoeAltmaier 12y ago
        The 2nd. She was not welcome everywhere in town; she was viewed with suspicion in stores; her family's social circle was several notches lower than expected from her fathers' position (scientist at Los Alamos Natl Labs).
        cafard 12y ago
        I'd have supposed Los Alamos, what with the laboratories, to be more cosmopolitan than Denver; yet so far as I know, that didn't happen in Denver. To be sure, I didn't have a particularly elevated social circle, and maybe the people at the Denver Country Club had some issues. But as far as I know, most people in Denver sorted ethnicities into Black/Chicano/Anglo.

dragonwriter 12y ago

> But I'm confident that 99% of white Americans have spoken to a black person. I'm no more confident of that than in the 90% haven't made up statistic that this was offered in response to. The truth is probably somewhere in between (and may be closer to the 90% haven't side, especially if, as suggested in another comment, one excludes the minimal interactions around things like retail commercial transactions and the like, and only includes substantive conversations.) > Except for a few states like Vermont, most states and most cities have significant black populations. That doesn't mean that the black population interacts with the White population all that much.

hyperpape 12y ago
Eh, OP made a damn extreme claim. If you exclude extremely glancing interactions, I'd walk back the claim about 99%. But I will say that any place I've ever lived or visited, the majority of White people would have had conversations with Black people. I just can't imagine someone in Pittsburgh, New York City or Raleigh not having done that.
- nashequilibrium 12y ago
  No I did not! "In fact, PRRI's data show that a full 75 percent of whites have "entirely white social networks without any minority presence." The same holds true for slightly less than two-thirds of black Americans." Now isolate the 14% black population from all minorities, take into account how minorities cluster and the 75% number is for black friendship is probably even higher than 90% Look at it another way 66% of black people say they do not have a white person in their social network. So roughly 34% of 14% of the population have a person in their social network from the white population. So how the hell can all these white people claim to have all these black friends?

nashequilibrium 12y ago

Your stats are wrong, read below and thats covering all minority groups. now isolate the 14% black group from those minorities. White ppl just don't have black friends, deal with it. ""In fact, PRRI's data show that a full 75 percent of whites have "entirely white social networks without any minority presence." The same holds true for slightly less than two-thirds of black Americans.""