Racial Discrimination: An Army Survey

I’ve been focused on military issues lately – first the veteran vote, then a polling misfire by the Military Times – and now a fascinating new report soon to be published in the journal “Armed Forces & Society,” tackling the issue of racial discrimination in the Army.

As Barack Obama prepares to take office as the first African-American president, the study underscores the work yet to be done beyond his individual accomplishment. It finds significant experiences of discrimination – including reverse discrimination – in the enlisted ranks and among minority officers, but much less so among white officers, whom it describes as “comfortably colorblind.” 

The study is based on a rare, representative, random-sample survey of active-duty U.S. Army service members conducted in 2004. Results on partisanship and ideology have been released previously (see my coverage last July). The new report, again by Army Maj. Jason Dempsey and Columbia University Prof. Robert Shapiro, is focused chiefly on Hispanics but includes data across races.

Read the full article at ABC News.