“The story of race at the end of the 20th century and into the 21st century is a story of conflicting viewpoints.”

—Advisory Board to the President’s Initiative on Race

In a 1995 Washington Post opinion poll, participants were asked, “How big a problem is racism in our society today"” Sixty-seven percent of surveyed blacks stated that racism was a big problem, while only 38 percent of whites agreed. In another 1995 Washington Post survey, 36 percent of whites felt that “past and present discrimination is a major reason for the economic and social problems” facing blacks, but more than half of the African American respondents agreed that discrimination remained a significant barrier to blacks’ success.

Numerous polls and surveys taken throughout the 1990s reveal that whites and minorities often hold sharply contrasting opinions about racial discrimination and race relations. According to...