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has included two African American secretaries of state, a Hispanic attorney general, and
several Asian Americans in high positions, including two who were prominent in
developing the administration’s counterterrorism policy.

Conclusion

Aside from Supreme Court decisions on affirmative action, the past five years have been
notable for the absence of major controversies that focus on the status of blacks in
American society. They have also been notable for the public’s generally upbeat appraisal
of the state of race relations as measured in opinion surveys. According to a 2005 poll
sponsored by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP),
roughly two-thirds of Americans view relations between blacks and whites as positive,
while only 29 percent saw relations as negative.28
Societies throughout the world are currently grappling with the challenges posed by racial,
ethnic, or religious differences. Scholars who study democratic development have
identified racial or ethnic division as an important obstacle to liberal democracy in many
countries. The most murderous civil conflicts—in places like Chechnya, Iraq, and Sri
Lanka—are fueled by sectarian or ethnic hatreds, while a number of European societies are
experiencing a degree of social discord that is unprecedented in the postwar period due to
tensions associated with the arrival of Muslim immigrants. Within this global context, the
United States stands out for its ability to integrate, however incompletely, African
Americans and nonwhite immigrants into the core of its social, cultural, and political life.

The American model of race relations may not be applicable to societies that lack this
country’s long history as a destination for immigrants. But fundamental principles that
undergird America’s approach to civil rights—resolute enforcement of antidiscrimination
laws, assimilation, integration, full citizenship—have enabled the United States to emerge
from a profound social revolution as a stronger nation.

The most pressing racial problems—inequality, poverty, the condition of the inner-city
poor—will clearly not be resolved through traditional civil rights strategies. Even its most
ardent advocates acknowledge that affirmative action cannot work effectively as an
antipoverty program. The ultimate test for America in the future lies in transforming the
condition of the black poor.

How the United States is to meet this challenge is unclear. An interesting development in
recent years has been the broadening of the debate over the causes of inequality and
therefore the options for encouraging further black progress. The traditional liberal voices
of civil rights advocacy have been joined by a new generation of black conservatives. On a
policy level, conservatives have emphasized concepts like vouchers and school choice, by
which children in failing inner-city schools are given the option of transferring to better-
performing public schools or funds to help defray the cost of private-school tuition.
Despite the concept’s conservative pedigree, school choice has been embraced by a
growing number of black parents who are frustrated with the state of public education in

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