Sometimes you just come upon interesting articles that make you go ‘hmmmmm’.

White youth happier
U.S. More content with parents, jobs than minorities

August 21, 2007
BY LARRY MCSHANE AND TREVOR TOMPSON

NEW YORK — From their relationships to their jobs to their money, young white Americans are happier with life than their minority counterparts.
According to a survey of 1,280 people ages 13-24 by the Associated Press and MTV, 72 percent of whites say they are happy with life in general, compared with 51 percent of Hispanics and 56 percent of blacks.

”It doesn’t surprise me,” said Martin Carpenter, 21, a black New Jersey resident. ”You can still go to certain places and feel uncomfortable, like you don’t belong there.”

Among whites, 67 percent usually wake up happy in the morning; for minorities, the figure is 61 percent.

Those numbers extend into all aspects of life:

• • Parents: 66 percent of minorities are happy with their relationships, compared with 79 percent of whites.

• • Jobs: 51 percent of minorities are happy, compared with 64 percent of whites.

• • Money: 44 percent of minorities are unhappy, compared with 35 percent of whites.

Carpenter, one of the survey participants, spoke for the majority of minority youths who feel their race will not cause problems later in life.

”I don’t think so,” he said. ”I’m thinking on a smaller scale. In my community, it’s not that big a deal.”

AP

Are the minority youth right or wrong? Is it youthful naivete, wishful thinking or do they actually see something different?

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