Discrimination in the Miami Valley hasn't decreased in the past two years, but childhood friendships or current, ongoing contact between people of different races or cultures can make a difference in reducing racial and cultural problems. According to the second biannual survey to assess the nature and extent of racial discrimination in the Dayton area, few differences in the number of reports of discrimination occurred, but researchers identified some of the variables and predictors of bias that may provide guidelines for reducing racial and cultural tensions. One of our findings is clearly the need for people of different races and cultures to have dialogue with each other to move us away from isolation.
Isolationism burns the fire.
By looking at a community less isolated, we find less bias and more optimism about where we're headed. In hour-long telephone interviews with 1,122 Montgomery County residents, respondents were asked many of the same questions used in the 1994 inaugural survey to see if changes in the incidence of racial discrimination and the prevalence of prejudicial thoughts and feelings could be ascertained. The 1996 survey also included an examination of the bias against Appalachians to provide understanding about how discrimination can develop because of bias associated with cultural differences. The major sources of discrimination remained the same from 1994 to 1996, although more African-Americans in 1996 reported that therapists or social workers, state or city officials and teachers had discriminated against them. For African-Americans, the most troublesome areas in 1996 and 1994 remain a lack of opportunity to obtain managerial promotions and get loans and mortgages.