Much of the available public polling data suggests that millennials like the schoolteacher are not as different from Generation Xers or Baby Boomers as they might think. Kathleen Weldon, communications director at the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell University, said millennials tend to say they are more optimistic about race relations than their parents, and more broadly accepting of things like interracial friendships and marriage.
But when questioned about specific policy issues tied to race, she said, millennials sound a lot like their elders. They don’t “have different views on the [George] Zimmerman case, aren’t more aware of the disproportionate effect of HIV on the black community, are not more likely to think government should play a major role in the social and economic position of blacks, and are no more [or less] likely to think the [Voting Rights Act] is still necessary,” Weldon said.
“In other words, when it comes to perceptions and policy around race in the U.S., young Americans don’t look much different from older ones.”
Jocelyn Wilks and her father, Elijah, expected their views to diverge significantly when it came to race and racism. But though they come from different generations, were born in different parts of the country, and even have different ideas of what they’ll call racism, their outlook is pretty similar.
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