In the year 2017, looks like you may be the “Black Friend” after all…

In an article from the Washington Post that recently resurfaced, it was actually revealed that white Americans have far less Black American friends than we may think.

According to Robert Jones of the Public Religion Research Institute, who crunched all the numbers, it turns out that the average white American tends to have way more white friends than non-white friends.

To put it into hypothetical numbers, out of 100 friends:

• An average white American has 91 white friends and only 1 black friend.


• While an average Black American has 83 black friends and 8 white friends.

Need a visual? Check out the Washington Post’s graphic.

Want to know how the PRRI got their numbers?

In brief, while conducting their American Values Survey, participants of different ethnicities were all asked to reveal seven people who they regularly speak to about important matters. They were then asked to give more details about these people, including relationship to person, person’s gender, religion and race. Using this information, the PRRI was able to use the numbers to breakdown the typical racial friend networks of the average Black, white and Hispanic.

Some explanations the Washington Post offered as to why white Americans are less likely to have Black American friends were due to:

• There being more white Americans than Black Americans in the United States.


• The lack of understanding of each other’s history due to social differences.


• The tendencies we all have to be drawn to those who are more similar to us in the categories of religion, political standings, finances and even race.

Such an interesting study as it shows that, when it comes down to friendships and interactions, whether conscious or not, we are all more likely to be drawn to what looks like us. Makes you think — does your social media reflect your race?