Generation tolerant

FOR CALIFORNIA’S teenagers and young adults, the answer to Rodney King’s question is a definite yes: We can all get along. Race and ethnicity, according to a new survey of Californians ages 16 to 22, are far less significant to this generation than to any in the past.

The survey, sponsored by New America Media, found dramatically liberal attitudes when it comes to the issue of getting along. Two-thirds say they have dated someone of another ethnicity, and a whopping 87% say they would marry or have a life partner of a different race.

Not only are young people encouragingly unconcerned about the skin color or nationality of others, they don’t think of themselves much that way, either. When asked the most significant aspects of their identity, they chose music and fashion. Their tribes? Punk-rock skaters, hip-hop activists, salseros. In terms of what young people consider most important about themselves, race and ethnicity didn’t even come in second -- that slot went to religion.

These attitudes may be the natural outcome of mixing with friends of many ethnicities, according to pollster Sergio Bendixen. Most young adult Californians have many friends outside their own race, the survey found. For Asians and Anglos, the majority of their friends are of different races, while Latinos and blacks said that about 40% of their friends come from different groups.

And as for illegal immigration, basically the kids don’t see what the fuss is all about -- 82% say illegal immigrants should be given a chance to earn citizenship.

But if you think that California is producing a generation of young liberals, think again. The young people in the survey swing to the right when it comes to family values and religion.

Their No. 1 concern is the breakdown of the family. Second is violence in their neighborhoods. A majority say they are religious and spiritual. They plan to go to college, have jobs, marry, buy homes, raise kids.

This may seem like a return to the California of the 1950s, but it might be more of a reaction to the perceived sins of their elders.

After all, California has one of the highest divorce rates in the United States, is home to more gangs than any other state and purportedly has the highest number of agnostics (although, to be fair, atheists and agnostics have the lowest divorce rates). The survey thus suggests that California’s youth are sharp critics of their parents, rejecting a culture they perceive as sanctioning loose marital bonds and religious indifference.

The state’s young adults may just be perfectly out of sync with their parents -- sometimes more tolerant and other times more traditional. Which suggests the deepest California tradition of all: time-honored youthful rebellion, rejecting, as every generation does, the ethos of the generation before.