Those damn numbers

Surprise -- Europeans Approve of Immigrants, Study Says

New America Media: Editor's Note: The notion that anti-immigrant sentiments are rapidly spreading in Europe due to the massive influx of workers and refugees from Africa and the Middle East may be false, if a new study is to be believed.

Among all Europeans, the French have the most positive view of immigration and minorities. Huge majorities of Germans and Italians would give immigrants, legal and illegal, free access to their health care systems. Americans are the most trusted foreigners in Europe.

These startling findings emerged in a study done by a prestigious Italian university just months before riots in France's suburbs left officials pondering what to do with the country's restive non-white minorities and immigrants.

The Fifth Report on Immigration and Citizenship in Europe was prepared between June and September by the University of Urbino, one of Europe's oldest higher education institutions, and by Fondazione Nord Est, an Italian foundation focusing on social policy, economics and immigration.

"The research results seem to contradict the current debate on immigration in Europe, particularly after the recent events in France," says Ilvo Diamanti, lead investigator for the University of Urbino. "It's even more surprising considering that the lowest degree of anti-immigrant alarm was found in the metropolitan area of Paris."

This study flies in the face of everything I've read and believe about the attitude of Europeans towards immigrants.

I wonder if I drilled down what I'd find in the numbers themselves--the article, after all, says: Italy's urban centers with more than 500,000 residents, less than 30 percent of the population view immigration negatively. In Germany the percentage rises to 32 percent while in France it drops below 13 percent.

That's good news? Only one-third of the population views immigration negatively? What if you took out immigrants themselves from the poll sample?!

I half-want to go look up Gallup polls from the 50s asking white Southerners what they think of blacks, which I think is a comparable era to Europe today when it comes to race relations. My guess is you might have large numbers telling pollsters they think negros are great, they should be treated equally and well--while they went on using firehoses, dogs and bullets on them in the streets. And keeping them out of their country clubs.

Or, alternately, you could have large numbers of Northeners and enlightened Southerners having positive views of negros, while a relatively smaller number of Southerners continue enforcing Jim Crow. But in which case, a headline of U.S. Approves of Negroes headline in the 1950s would need a subhead of U.S. Also OK With Segregation.

Given that, believe it or not, there is a website, Gallup Brain, that allows you to research old polls; it's interesting to compare some numbers:

-2005: 71.7% of French citizens perceive immigration as a positive social and economic phenomenon
-1962: 69% of Americans think Negroes in their community are treated very or fairly well

-2005: 82.1% believe that immigrants who pay taxes should be allowed to vote in local elections
-1965: 76% of Americans would support making sure negroes are allowed to vote in local elections

So it is possible to have seemingly-rosy numbers even while your society at-large is actively repressing a minority group. I wouldn't dismiss the Europe study, but it should be kept in perspective.

On a related note, it's depressing to read through Gallup polls and be reminded of how easily prejudiced most Americans were, even after the civil rights movement forced the country to examine itself:

Question qn27 (The Gallup Poll #658) 5/1/1962-5/1/1962
What do you think are the BEST qualities about the Negroes in the United States? (3664 answered question)
In music (7.34%), In athletics (5.27%), Humble, respect white people, stay in their place (2.32%), Loyal, faithful, dependable (3.66%), Well-behaved, polite, agreeable (3.14%), Kind, gentle (1.09%), Honest, sincere (3.49%), Patient (1.88%), Hard working, want to get ahead (14.98%), Religious, devout in religion (3.63%), Sense of humor - humorous (0.57%), Happy, good natured, pleasant, nice, good (8.68%), Charitable, will help you, compassionate (1.50%), Good servants, cooks (1.15%), Intelligent, quick learners (2.13%), Stick together, help each other (1.42%), Just same as whites, as anybody else (9.14%), Work cheaply; will do dirty, menial work (1.61%), Have to be judged as individuals (6.58%), No good qualities, can't think of any (2.48%), Miscellaneous, others (0.71%), Don't know, no answer (34.74%)

Question qn28 (The Gallup Poll #658) 5/1/1962-5/1/1962

What do you think are the POOREST qualities about the Negroes in the United States? (3663 answered question)
Uneducated, illiterate, ignorant, not capable of learning (15.53%), Immoral - less moral training, low morals; inmoral, general (5.95%), Criminal - steal, kill, fight (5.16%), Lazy, don't want to work, slothful, no initiative, no ambition, shiftless (18.02%), Dirty, slovenly - live in dirt, miserable housing, carelessness (11.08%), Aggressive - chip on shoulder; smart-alecky, nasty, impolite, no manners (5.38%), Don't stick togeher; don't help their own people (1.64%), Won't stay in their place -- want equality, want to eat with you, etc. (3.41%), Dependent on others - beggars. (1.83%), Pretentious, show offs (1.04%), Common-law marriages, don't marry (0.93%), Dishonest, can't be trusted (3.22%), Drink too much, always drink (1.77%), Spend money foolishly, can't save money (1.75%), Superstitious (0.33%), Same as whites, same as anybody (4.80%), Have to be judged as individuals (2.87%), No poor qualities (0.71%), Miscellaneous, others (1.28%), Don't know, no answer (29.84%)

Given that many of those poll respondents and their peers are still alive, anyone who believe there isn't meaningful racism in America today is whistling past the graveyard.

And anyone who doesn't believe that Europe--which has never gone through the searing yet ultimately cleansing civil rights battles America has seen over the last five decades--isn't even more racist is ignorant. No pain, no gain; Europe has spent its last five decades with its head in the sand, except when it lifts up to lecture America about its "race problem."

But it's important to keep in mind at some point it may not matter what Europeans today think of immigrants. Like the Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the facts are on the ground already.

Short of another Holocaust, Europe not only needs but is going to get more of its immigrants; unless white Europeans wanna turn every day into a pitched street battle, they'll eventually come around.

Riots that force the topic into public discourse--and interracial dating!--will see to that.

After all, in 1957 Gallup asked, "Do you think the day will ever come in the South when whites and Negroes will be going to the same schools, eating in the same restaurants, and generally sharing the same public accommodations?"

Yes (54.17%), No (30.12%), Don't Know (13.49%), No Code or No Data (2.22%)

Just six years later, the same question got this response:

Yes (82.62%), No (12.85%), No Opinion (4.53%)

The original Europe report, in Italian, is available via Fondazione Nord Est's website. To view Gallup's polls relating to race, type 'Negro' into the search engine at http://brain.gallup.com (registration required--but worth it!)

Iconic AP File Photo by Bill Hudson taken between May 2 and 3, 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama as Police Chief “Bull” Connor used dogs on a crowd of peaceful young people.