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Abstract
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VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The aim of this article by Pinderhughes was to examine the relationship between socioeconomic conditions, youths' ethnic and racial attitudes, community sentiment, and the effects of racial identity and negative attitudes towards others.
METHODOLOGY:
A primary analysis of quasi-experimental, cross-sectional data obtained from 88 respondents participating in a youth program in Southern Brooklyn was conducted by the author. The youth program provided delinquent and at-risk youth with alternative educational opportunities and a GED. The respondents had been involved in a larger study of 270 multiracial youths, aged 14 to 21 years old, conducted in 1990. The larger study investigated ethnic and racial attitudes among adolescents and levels of racial conflict existing in New York City. The authors reported that while the participants in the current study were not representative of all youth in New York, they were representative of the sampled neighborhoods. Participants were youth who had been in trouble at school, had "ditched" school, and who were, at the time of the study, hanging out in the streets.
Two survey instruments were developed by the author and presented to the respondents: 1) a survey questionnaire that obtained demographic information on age, ethnic and racial identity, and socioeconomic background; and 2) a survey instrument designed to examine attitudes towards other groups. The survey instrument consisted of a number of questions from "The Study of High School Students and Educational Staff on Prejudice and Race Relations" (Martin Luther King Jr. Institute for Non-violence, 1990, as cited by the author). The author also conducted 11 focus group interviews. These consisted of open-ended questions aimed at extracting information from youth about their views concerning race relations. Groups ranged from 5-17 participants per group. The focus groups lasted 45-90 minutes and qualitative methods for analyzing data were used to examine respondent comments. Focus group interview questions included: 1) the state of race relations in New York City; 2) relations among youths of different ethnic and racial backgrounds; 3) relations among different ethnic and racial groups in respondents' neighborhoods; and 4) the future of race relations in the city (p. 481). The author compared the survey data with focus group interview data to confirm emerging patterns regarding youth attitudes about race and ethnicity.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
The author reported that, of the four communities being studied in southern Brooklyn, Bensonhurst was 89.2% white ethnic, Sheepshead Bay and Gravesend areas were 86.1% white ethnic and 3% African-American. Canarsie was 76.8% white ethnic and 14.3% African-American. The white ethnic population was mainly Italian-American and Jewish. The majority of residents in these communities were reported to be stable working-class. Immigration rates were very low. The author reported that the past immigration of African-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Asians and West Indians into these, formerly, predominantly white neighborhoods had resulted in the negative attitudes towards all minority groups, especially African-Americans, currently held by the community. The author stated that these minority groups have been perceived by the Italian-American and Jewish residents as a threat to their quality of life and community harmony. The author found that the white ethnic youths included in this study held deep resentment and distrust towards racial minority groups, especially towards housing project minorities.
The author found that interviewed white ethnic youths were strongly opinionated on issues of race relations and racial tension. The author reported that the youth attributed five responsibility factors to increased racial conflicts in the city. These included: 1) the deteriorating economic situation, 2) blacks starting trouble, 3) a media which favors blacks, 4) racial prejudice, and 5) black political and economic power in the city (p. 483).
The author stated that youth sentiment reflected feelings of victimization of reverse discrimination, double standards, and expanding black power in the city. The author argued that consistent with survey data, youths statements revealed that they wanted the neighborhood racial and ethnic composition to remain the same. The author found that 80% of the youths believed that individuals should be able to choose their area of residence. 51% believed that it would be better to have racially homogenous neighborhoods rather than racially and ethnically mixed communities. The author reported that 38% of the youths believed that people with different racial and ethnic backgrounds should stay in their own communities. 15% of the youths agreed that they should be able to physically prevent different others from entering into their neighborhoods.
According to the author, the analysis revealed that negative sentiment towards African-Americans by youths functioned for the purpose of peer group cohesion. Also, it provided respect and status for the youths involved. The author stated that many of the interviewed youths had dropped out of school, and behaved maladaptively at school and in the streets. The author reported that this had resulted in youths' alienation by both the community and their families. The author stated that in this context, street life and hanging out with other teens had become the youths' primary reinforcement. Status and belonging was earned by youths by expressing their group's ideology with the use of brute force which ranged from harassment to needless damage to murder. The author reported that although the youth stated that their "missions" to defend themselves against outsiders were not racially motivated, further analysis of the data revealed that youths' descriptions of their activities contradicted these claims. For example, searches for individuals often involved attacking African-Americans and other minorities. The youths reported that other whites were attacked only if they belonged to rival neighborhoods and had started trouble. It was stated that the youths' communication indicated a focus on the race of other groups. Racial differences were the major motivating variable in directing the youths actions. The author argued that the youths gained self-worth and power by being involved in "mission" attacks on individuals of other races. It was argued that the often verbalized powerlessness, deriving from poor economic and social positions in their own communities, contributed towards the youths negative racial attitudes. The author stated that the analysis revealed a relationship between negative sentiment and actions towards others, individual identities, evolving racial identities, and perceptions of the self in the neighborhood and in society overall. The author reported that youth respondents reported that reasons for fighting included community solidarity and protection of the neighborhood against non-belonging others.
The author concluded that an understanding of the mechanisms of racial conflict required an investigation of how a number of variables combine to produce ethnic and racial dissension. The author argued that the potential for racial and ethnic violence developed from a combination of ethnicity, neighborhood support and peer group participation; not one factor alone. It was also stated that racially motivated violence was not restricted to areas of southern Brooklyn. Communities in which different racial and ethnic compositions existed were described as areas vulnerable to the development of racial conflict and violence.
AUTHOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS:
The author suggested that all of the above factors should be addressed or community racial violence would persist.
(CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
New York
Racial Discrimination
Racial Relations
Prejudice
Racial Factors
Racial Violence
Racism
Socioeconomic Factors
Hate Crime Causes
Hate Crime Offender
Juvenile Attitudes
Juvenile Perceptions
Juvenile Violence
Juvenile Offender
Offender Attitudes
Offender Perceptions
Racial Attitudes
Case Studies
Ethnic Differences
Ethnic Factors
Ethnic Identity
Ethnic Violence
African American Juvenile
African American Offender
African American Violence
African American Perceptions
African American Victim
Caucasian Violence
Caucasian Offender
Caucasian Perceptions
Caucasian Juvenile
Caucasian Victim
Hispanic Juvenile
Hispanic Violence
Hispanic Victim
Hispanic Offender
Hispanic Perceptions
Asian Juvenile
Asian Offender
Asian Perceptions
Asian Victim
Asian Violence
04-05 |