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Podcasts Take Two
Poll: Only 40 percent of whites have friends outside their race
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Aug 16, 2013
Listen • 10:58
Poll: Only 40 percent of whites have friends outside their race
Author Tanner Colby explains why most white Americans tend to only have friends of the same race.
A new poll shows that only 40 percent of whites say they have friends of another race.
A new poll shows that only 40 percent of whites say they have friends of another race.
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Author Tanner Colby explains why most white Americans tend to only have friends of the same race.

Here's an experiment: pull up your own Facebook page, and take a look at your list of friends. As you scroll through, do you see something familiar? Perhaps people who overwhelmingly look like you?

If you're white, chances are the answer is, "yes."

A new poll by Reuters shows 40 percent of white Americans said they had a friend of another race. Meanwhile, 75 percent of non-white Americans could say the same.

When someone tries to even back up a statement by saying, "Some of my best friends are...," it's more of a punchline. Tanner Colby used to be one of those people. He's the author of "Some of My Best Friends are Black," and he looks into why, like most Americans, his own group of friends tended to look like him.