Sorry to have gotten to this party late! But I wanted to belatedly thank your for commenting upon my "absurd" suggestion. I guess the 89% of those wacky African American teens in the Time-CNN poll who said that racism was "little or no" problem in their lives (which is NOT to say that racism is non-existent) were absurd, ignorant, or some combination thereof, too.

Play along just for a second, though...if you surveyed incoming freshmen, and 50% of them thought that racism was a serious problem... then 10 years later, you surveyed a new class of incoming freshmen, and 80% of THEM thought it was a serious problem... wouldn't that suggest to you that racism was on a serious rise? I mean, it wouldn't be PROOF, but that's one of the first things I'd consider. So when the percentage DROPS...don'tcha just have to at least consider the reverse? Just a thought.
-Daniel Oakes