Here's an article from 1994. Just like in the 2010s you have the '80s vs the '90s but 2 decades ago you had the '60s vs the '70s. I bet in the '30s there's gonna be the '00s vs the '10s.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-07-31-9407310360-story,amp.html

Yes the 70's decade was quite different than the 60's decade - a change that came on somewhat gradually, as always.  But bear in mind that most people alive in the 70's also went through the 60's.  (The exception of course being people born during the 1970's.)  The 70's wouldn't have been the 70's if the 60's wasn't the 60's.  In other words if things were different in the 60's you can bet the 70's would look a lot different.

People tend to glamorize the 60's and put down the 70's.  Indeed the vibe was different - no question about that.  But the 70's decade was just as important as the 60's decade in getting us where we needed to be.  Life on January 1, 1970 was very different from life on January 1, 1980, and the 70's decade took us there.

Take Civil Rights as an example.  In the 60's there was legislation passed to move Civil Rights forward.  But legislation doesn't always change hearts.  It took the 70's decade for the country to "digest" these changes.  In early 1970 there were still many people who harbored heavy duty racism in their hearts.  After a decade of rubbing elbows with people of other races and exposure on TV, in movies, music, and sports (all of which happened during the 1970s), hateful hearts soften up, plus younger folks become more prominent, so that by 1980 there was a lot less racism happening in everyday lives.  Stuff like that.

Okay, so what does this have to do with the 1990's  ???

Take Civil Rights as an example.  In the 60's there was legislation passed to move Civil Rights forward.  But legislation doesn't always change hearts.  It took the 70's decade for the country to "digest" these changes.  In early 1970 there were still many people who harbored heavy duty racism in their hearts.  After a decade of rubbing elbows with people of other races and exposure on TV, in movies, music, and sports (all of which happened during the 1970s), hateful hearts soften up, plus younger folks become more prominent, so that by 1980 there was a lot less racism happening in everyday lives.  Stuff like that.



Hell, I would argue we are STILL in the Civil Rights era. I have an African-American friend and he constantly experiences discrimination. Also, even though technically Apartheid in South Africa ended in 1991 with the repealing of the core laws, it still went on de facto at least up to the 2000s.

Hell, I would argue we are STILL in the Civil Rights era. I have an African-American friend and he constantly experiences discrimination. Also, even though technically Apartheid in South Africa ended in 1991 with the repealing of the core laws, it still went on de facto at least up to the 2000s.


Just saw this.  As a matter of experience, I would say in the last 10-15 years, discrimination has increased by a whole lot, instead of decreased.  There was much more discrimination happening in 2014 than in 2004 - the late 80's through mid 00's was a pretty good timeframe for low discrimination.  I can't even begin to go into reasons for the change, if I even know.  :-\\

Just saw this.  As a matter of experience, I would say in the last 10-15 years, discrimination has increased by a whole lot, instead of decreased.  There was much more discrimination happening in 2014 than in 2004 - the late 80's through mid 00's was a pretty good timeframe for low discrimination.  I can't even begin to go into reasons for the change, if I even know.  :-\\


I agree with you. I think since the late 00's when Obama got elected and the Great Recession happened racism and discrimination has increased a lot. I think the 2010's is the worst decade in terms of race relations in a long time. I could not see someone like Trump getting elected in the 80's or 90's

Just saw this.  As a matter of experience, I would say in the last 10-15 years, discrimination has increased by a whole lot, instead of decreased.  There was much more discrimination happening in 2014 than in 2004 - the late 80's through mid 00's was a pretty good timeframe for low discrimination.  I can't even begin to go into reasons for the change, if I even know.  :-\\


I don't know about personal views of the average person, but I have heard that hate crimes are going up.  :( I think LGBT people are more accepted now than they were in the 90s and 2000s (I remember being gay was pretty taboo then and people would call things they didn't like "gay" as an insult), but prejudice against blacks got worse after Obama and I think gender relations unfortunately have worsened too, with incels and less interaction in general between women and men, though it is good that more sexual harassers are being called out since MeToo started.