Interesting survey of black youth

<p>This was released yesterday:</p>

<p>CHICAGO (AP) -- Decades after the civil rights movement's greatest victories, black youth often see a world rife with discrimination, a new survey says. And yet they remain optimistic about their chances for affecting social change....</p>

<p>Cathy Cohen, a political science professor at the University of Chicago and the report's lead author, said the aim of the survey [of more than 1,500 midwestern youths ages 15-25] was to provide data that goes beyond broad stereotypes.</p>

<p>It found, for instance, that while 58 percent of black youth say they listen to rap music every day, the majority of them also think its videos are too violent and often portray black women in an offensive way.....</p>

<p>More than half of African-American and Latino respondents said they believe government officials care very little about them, while 44 percent of white youth said the same. Just over half of black youth also were the most likely to feel their education was, on average, poorer than that of white youth. About a third of whites agreed with that statement. And 61 percent of African-Americans who were surveyed said they feel held back by discrimination....</p>

<p>A large majority of youth in the survey believe, for instance, that they can make a difference by participating in politics - with 79 percent black and white youth and 77 percent of Latino youth saying they feel that way.</p>

<p>They're also using their spending power through "buycotts" - buying products because they like a company's social or political values. ....</p>

<p>Other survey findings included the following:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>About a third of black and Hispanic youth thought drugs, violence, gangs and crime were problems in their neighborhoods, compared with 10 percent of white youth;</p></li>
<li><p>59 percent of white youth report receiving care from a private doctor, while 40 percent of African-American youth and 39 percent of Hispanic youth say the same;</p></li>
<li><p>81 percent of white youth, 79 percent of Hispanic youth and 76 percent of black youth disagree with the government funding abstinence-only education;</p></li>
<li><p>76 percent of African-American youth, 74 percent of Hispanics and 68 percent of whites think condoms should be provided at high schools....</p></li>
</ul>