Go to Chapter One

The Divide Is Narrowing

President Clinton is thinking about issuing an official apology to blacks for slavery. "An apology -- under the right circumstances . . . can be quite important," he said Saturday on CNN.

Just one question: Who's supposed to apologize? The Confederacy or the Union? Recall that 136 years ago, the Union, which is to say the U.S. government, went to war, at a cost of 359,528 lives, to end slavery. Now, we're supposed to say we're sorry? Maybe some thanks would be in order.

The only reason this silly idea is getting attention is that there's not much else Clinton can think to do about race. That was evident from his hazy, platitude-laden speech in San Diego Saturday ("we must break down the barriers in our lives, our minds, our hearts"), which was supposed to kick off "a great and unprecedented conversation."

Sure, let's talk. But let's acknowledge the truth about racism: It may still exist, but it's declined dramatically, and, for the changes of the past 40 years, Americans should feel pride, not shame. Consider the latest polling by the Gallup Organization:

In 1958 just 35 percent of whites said they "would be willing to vote for a black candidate for president." Now 93 percent of whites would. Amazingly, more whites than blacks (91 percent) say they would vote for a black.

In 1958 some 44 percent of whites said they "would move if blacks moved next door." This year, the figure is one percent.

In 1972 only 25 percent of whites said they "approved of marriage between blacks and whites." Now, the proportion is 61 percent.

In a report June 9, Gallup concluded, "A majority of whites indicate a preference for living, working and sending their children to school in a mixed racial environment. . . . The over-time change in a number of these attitudes has been profound. There has thus been a significant decline in the past several decades in the number of whites who express overtly prejudicial statements."

Gallup also found that, for the races, levels of satisfaction with life are converging -- a sure sign that the bounty of America is spreading. For example, in 1963, only 45 percent of blacks said they were "satisfied with [their] present standard of living," compared with 82 percent of whites. In 1997 the figures are: blacks, 74 percent; whites, 87 percent.

Yes, there are problems. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the powerful economy "hasn't done much to narrow the gap" between the races. "Black workers are making just 76.5 percent of what white workers make per week."

These are aggregate figures. They don't take into account education, and the importance of a college degree soared in the 1980s as technology became widespread. At the start of the decade, a male with a college degree made 31 percent more than one with a high school degree. By 1988, he made 86 percent more, and the trend continues.

So the main reason that blacks don't make as much as whites is that they haven't achieved the same education levels. In 1995 just 13 percent of blacks had completed four years of college, compared with 24 percent of whites.

Still, even when similarly educated, blacks and whites show economic differences. Unemployment for black high school graduates is 8.9 percent vs. 4.0 percent for whites.

Does racial prejudice explain this difference? That's a tough question. Three economists who have taken a crack at it are Kevin Murphy and Chinhui Juhn of the University of Chicago and Brooks Pierce of Texas A&M In a 1991 paper, they conclude that the gap in wages might be explained by a gap in skills, which in turn is the result of difference in the quality of education acquired by whites and blacks rather than by the racism of employers.

This is the crux of the racial problem in America. It's not old-fashioned prejudice -- which will keep declining as interracial marriage increases and the friction created by the excesses of affirmative action comes to an end. No, the problem is getting blacks to the same skill levels as whites.

That goal is impossible as long as inner-city blacks are condemned to miserable schools. Most politicians, cowering before the unions, are doing little to help these children, but private citizens are -- providing scholarships for kids to attend good, inexpensive private schools, many of them Catholic. Eventually competition will force improvements in monopoly public education.

The most disturbing conclusion of the Gallup report is that most blacks want government to make a "special effort" to help minorities. That's a misplaced enthusiasm. It's through the robust private sector that millions of blacks have advanced. And no wonder: a free market is color-blind, demanding good work regardless of who provides it. Meanwhile, government has mired minorities in welfare dependency and bad schools.

"The most profound question facing us," said the president last week, "is whether we can become the world's first truly multiracial democracy." We already are. Between 1980 and 1995, the number of blacks with college degrees rose 139 percent. America's leading politician (Colin Powell, by polls), entertainer (Oprah Winfrey, by income) and sports figure (Michael Jordan, or maybe Tiger Woods) are black -- or, as Woods properly prefers it, multi-racial. That would have been unimaginable a few years ago.

Let's stop flagellating ourselves over crimes of the past and get to work on the true racial problem, which is one we can solve: liberating minority kids from rotten schools.