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toward EQUALITY : EXPLORING A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE : Speaking Out : Times Poll Shows That Southern Californians Think Prejudice Is Still Common, but Subtle

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Times Staff Writer

Prejudice won’t top many lists of the great problems in Southern California.

In fact, when the Los Angeles Times Poll asked people all over the area to name the concerns they worry about most, crime and drugs got top billing. The federal budget deficit, AIDS, unemployment and declining moral standards were usually mentioned more than prejudice, even by the minority groups who suffer it the most.

And yet, the poll taken in January found that many consider discrimination--racial, ethnic, religious--all too common here.

It’s not as blatant as 30 years ago when entire neighborhoods were closed off to black families, Latinos and Asians were pressed into ghettos, and Jews were barred from membership in many civic and private associations. The poll found that nearly 8 in 10 people agree discrimination is taking more subtle forms these days.

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More subtle, but no less real.

Times Poll Director I. A. Lewis, who oversaw the survey, said an analysis of the findings suggests that blacks endure the most discrimination today.

Next in line are Asians, a growing segment of society whose success seems to be causing resentment among Anglos and among other minorities. A quarter of the respondents said Asians are gaining too much economic power, while no other group was mentioned by more than 7%.

Also, Lewis said his analysis found anti-Semitism to be less intense than feelings about blacks or Asians and found Latinos to be enduring even less prejudice than Jews despite widespread resentment about immigration.

Lewis studied responses to more than 80 questions asked of a scientific sampling of 2,116 Southern California residents by telephone interviewers, some of them speaking Spanish. The questions probed the state of relations between the majority from an Anglo-Christian background and the biggest ethnic, racial and religious minorities.

Prejudice was found to come in many forms. For instance, 23% of Anglos said they would be upset by a sizable increase in the number of black residents in their area. When the question was asked another way--would their neighbors be upset--the percentage jumped to 49%, which Lewis said suggested more prejudice toward blacks than people were willing to openly admit.

The findings don’t necessarily explain why some people have trouble renting apartments or the coldness of neighbors or the rare but startling cross-burning. But they offer clues to the nature of prejudice.

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Almost half, 49%, of all surveyed said education was crucial to relieving prejudice. Another 28% said the answer lies within the family, and 18% said the best way is to improve economic conditions. Fewer than 10% said political or legal action was the most important.

However, among Anglos, 26% said the government pays too much attention to minorities. Only 7% of racial and ethnic minorities felt that way. While 59% of minorities said the government pays them too little attention, only 29% of Anglos agreed.

More than a quarter of Anglos and 29% of Jews said they would disapprove if someone from their family married a person from a different ethnic or racial background. Minorities objected in far fewer numbers.

A third of Anglos said they are bothered by forecasts that they will soon be another minority in Southern California. Nearly a third said minorities have gotten more economically than they deserve and 43% said they just do not see what minorities have to be angry about.

Half of the Anglos surveyed also said they do not think minorities endure much prejudice in their jobs. Disagreeing sharply, 71% of minorities said many people miss out on jobs or promotions because of racial or religious discrimination. For the most part, Anglos also think that minorities enjoy better housing and education opportunities and greater acceptance from the Anglo majority than minorities themselves acknowledge.

More than 4 in 10 Anglos resent seeing foreign languages used in signs for stores. But to minorities, who are perhaps more sympathetic to the problems of immigrants, this is a trivial issue.

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Are the tensions surprising? Though less segregated now, many Southern California neighborhoods still are divided along racial and ethnic lines. In the random slice of the population polled, 58% of Anglos said they live in neighborhoods where all or most of the residents are also Anglo. Only 19% of minorities said they live in those Anglo neighborhoods.

No more than 32% of any group said their neighborhoods are integrated, balanced somewhat equally between Anglos and minorities.

Blacks and Jews consider Orange County the most prejudiced area of Southern California. Latinos and Asians said Los Angeles County was worst. Anglos mentioned Los Angeles half the time.

But the poll found that where one lives is less important than race in determining attitudes.

Asked which minority group Anglos look least favorably on, 44% of Anglos said blacks, 38% said Latinos and 24% said Asians. Only 10% said they did not think Anglos were prejudiced against any minority group.

The findings also shed light on the feelings of different minority groups for one another.

For instance, the poll offered little evidence of tension between blacks and Jews although national leaders of the two communities have clashed over support for Israel, relations with the Palestine Liberation Organization and suspected slurs in both directions.

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Asked which groups blacks look uponthe least favorably, blacks ranked Anglos, Asians and Latinos higher than Jews. Blacks also said they feel disliked less by Jews than by Asians, Latinos and Anglos.

Jews had a somewhat different view since 28% said they think Jews look unfavorably on blacks more than any other group. But Jews said they sense more ill feeling aimed their way from Catholics than from blacks.

Lewis said the findings suggest a growing strain in relations between Asians and blacks. Although 65% of everyone polled said they like most blacks they come into contact with, only half of the Asians agreed. Asians also admitted to a higher degree than other minorities that they would be distressed by a substantial increase in black neighbors.

Meanwhile, blacks said they feel more dislike coming from Asians than from anyone except Anglos. And although Asians assume that blacks do not care about them one way or another, blacks actually rank Asians second-highest on their list of disliked groups.

Despite all their differences, 61% of Anglos and 57% of minorities report that they are satisfied with the way things are going generally in Southern California.

More than half of Latinos, the largest minority, think their status today in Southern California is good. They think it has improved from 10 years ago and will be even better a decade in the future.

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Fewer blacks--48%--think their status today is good. But they also see a big improvement from 10 years ago and predict good things for the future.

Asians put a different spin on things. Eight-nine percent say they are doing well now, and Asians more than any other group think they have prospered the past 10 years. But unlike other minorities, they do not see their status improving. * 27% said they have personally experienced some degree of racial, ethnic or religious discrimination. Blacks: 49% Asians: 41% Jews: 36% Latinos: 29% Anglos: 23%

* Overall, 77% said they think discrimination has taken more subtle forms in last 10 years. Blacks: 86% Jews: 84% Anglos: 79% Latinos: 70% Asians: 69%

* Respondents who agree that too much is heard these days about the rights of minorities and not enough about the rights of the majority. Blacks: 29% Asians: 43% Jews: 35% Latinos: 39% Anglos: 60%

* Respondents who agree that store signs should be in English only. Blacks: 23% Asians: 26% Jews: 33% Latinos: 21% Anglos: 44%

* Respondents who believe that “quite a few” people in Southern California miss out on jobs or promotions because of racial or religious discrimination. Blacks: 75% Asians: 60% Jews: 58% Latinos: 72% Anglos: 52%

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* Respondents who say that minority groups have gotten more economically than they deserve. Blacks: 17% Asians: 28% Jews: 15% Latinos: 25% Anglos: 31%

* Whom do you think each of these ethnic groups feel least favorably toward?

RESPONDENTS THINK ANGLOS MOST DISLIKE....

Blacks Asians Jews Latinos WASPs Blacks 44% 49% 58% 34% 38% Latinos 29% 35% 46% 28% 31%

RESPONDENTS THINK ASIANS MOST DISLIKE....

Blacks Asians Jews Latinos WASPs Blacks 33% 41% 34% 23% 23% Latinos 18% 34% 19% 19% 16%

RESPONDENTS THINK BLACKS MOST DISLIKE....

Blacks Asians Jews Latinos WASPs Anglos 40% 31% 33% 31% 39% Asians 23% 14% 14% 12% 16% Latinos 19% 20% 29% 24% 24%

RESPONDENTS THINK CATHOLICS MOST DISLIKE...

Blacks Asians Jews Latinos WASPs Jews 20% 19% 22% 22% 19% Blacks 15% 14% 19% 6% 9%

RESPONDENTS THINK JEWS MOST DISLIKE....

Blacks Asians Jews Latinos WASPs Blacks 19% 28% 28% 16% 15% Catholics 13% 11% 7% 21% 11% Latinos 13% 13% 21% 10% 8%

RESPONDENTS THINK LATINOS MOST DISLIKE....

Blacks Asians Jews Latinos WASPs Blacks 26% 29% 40% 23% 28% Anglos 28% 21% 29% 25% 26% Asians 16% 15% 10% 11% 13%

* How do you rate the status of these ethnic groups today, as compared with 10 years ago and 10 years from now?

STATUS TODAY

Black Non-Black Latino Non-Latino Asian Non-Asian Good 48% 58% 54% 59% 89% 78% Bad 45% 32% 40% 34% 9% 11% Don’t Know 7% 10% 6% 7% 2% 11%

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STATUS 10 YEARS AGO

Black Non-Black Latino Non-Latino Asian Non-Asian Good 32% 29% 41% 33% 45% 48% Bad 53% 52% 48% 50% 37% 29% Don’t Know 15% 19% 11% 17% 18% 23%

STATUS 10 YEARS FROM NOW

Black Non-Black Latino Non-Latino Asian Non-Asian Good 63% 72% 66% 76% 84% 83% Bad 25% 16% 18% 16% 8% 6% Don’t Know 12% 12% 16% 8% 8% 11%

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