Black Americans believe racism will worsen over their lifetimes, poll finds
[ad_1]
Nonetheless, nearly half of Black Americans say it’s also a “good time” to be a Black person in the country, up from 30 percent in 2020 when the U.S. was gripped by political divisions during Donald Trump’s presidency and from 34 percent last spring after a white supremacist killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo grocery store. The poll was conducted among more than 1,200 Black adults over two weeks in late April and early May.
The rise in some optimism comes amid an uptick in financial well-being. The poll finds 31 percent of Black Americans say their financial situation has gotten better over the past year, up from 25 percent in 2022. Nearly 8 in 10 Black Americans say their finances have been stable or improved in recent years. Still, Black Americans are less likely than White Americans to rate their finances positively.
Fewer Black Americans also report that they have been treated with less respect or received poorer service because of their race than they did in 2011, although most say those incidents still occur at least “once in a while.”
When it comes to the nation more broadly, however, Black Americans are uneasy over the nation’s political and cultural environment and believe most White Americans don’t trust them. Follow-up interviews with respondents show a variety of factors fueling these concerns about the future — a rise in hate groups, gun violence, and new laws in Florida and other states regulating the teaching of Black history and racism.
These concerns suggest — even as 86 percent of Black Americans say they are very or somewhat satisfied with their lives — the cumulative impacts of extremism and political tension is driving widespread worry about the future of race relations.
“Yeah, you can get jobs and you can work up to a certain standard of living,” said Renay Roberts, 40, who settled in Atlanta about two decades ago from Jamaica and works in the health-care industry. “But it’s fear. It’s the constant fear … And it’s all about race. ”
Roberts mentioned specifically the Republican-led backlash to movies and books with Black characters as well as her belief that growing numbers of mass shootings are motivated by racial bias. She said she also fears her two teenage sons could be harmed by police or become victims of gun violence.
“I fear for them every day,” Roberts said. “I tell them, ‘Don’t cover your head with a hood, and try to get home before dark.’ Why is it more different for us than any other race?”
In the Post-Ipsos poll, 69 percent of Black Americans say it is a “more dangerous” time today to be a Black teenager than when they were the same age. Just 4 percent say it is a less dangerous time while 25 percent describe the environment for teenagers as being “about the same.”
Nearly 6 in 10 Black adults say they are very or somewhat worried they or someone they love will be attacked because they are Black.
Asked about the April shooting of a Black 16-year-old in Kansas City by an 84-year-old White man after the victim approached the wrong house when trying to pick up his younger siblings, 85 percent say it is a sign of broader problems in the treatment of Black people by White people, compared with 54 percent of White Americans who say this.
On other fronts, as well, there were sharp differences between the views among different racial and ethnic groups.
The Post-Ipsos poll finds 3 out of 4 Black adults are “very” or “somewhat” concerned about states stopping the teaching of Black history, and nearly 7 out of 10 are concerned about public schools banning books that touch on the topic of racism, including nearly half who are “extremely concerned.” Just over 7 in 10 are concerned about states stopping public schools from teaching the history of racism in America.
About half of White Americans overall say they are concerned about each of these.
Black Americans are more inclined to sense a gulf of distrust, with 8 in 10 Black Americans saying White people trust Black people “not too much” or “not at all” in the United States overall. Seven in 10 White Americans feel that Black people distrust White people.
Concerns about public stances in certain states extend to Black Americans’ belief that they are not getting a fair shake from the country’s political system.
Over 6 in 10 Black adults say they were worried when GOP lawmakers in the Tennessee House voted this spring to expel state representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, both Black Democrats, for leading a gun-control rally at the Capitol. They later were reinstated to the body after votes by local officials.
Nearly 8 in 10 Black Americans also say they have “very little” or just “some” political power in the United States.
Jerry Slaten, 75, of Union City, Tenn., said he fears the United States is sliding backward in race relations compared with gains in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Slaten said he believes individual states, including his own, are creating policies that foster new racial divisions.
“There are a lot of decent European Americans, but they don’t have the courage to stand up, most of them, so we suffer,” Slaten said, adding that states such as “Tennessee and Florida and Texas and, to some, Virginia, are becoming states that are not where we hoped to be.”
But Slaten, an Army veteran who retired in 2010 after working in a seed factory, believes some of the challenges facing Black Americans “are self-inflicted,” including not doing more to combat gun violence in predominantly Black neighborhoods.
“We can’t blame [White Americans] for everything,” said Slaten, who grew up in northwestern Tennessee during segregation. “Some of this we just have to blame on ourselves.”
On economic matters, Black Americans offer a mixed, and nuanced, outlook about the state of the country and their personal finances. Although 74 percent of Black Americans describe the nation’s economy as “not so good” or “poor,” a smaller 43 percent describe their own financial situation that way.
Six in 10 Black Americans say not having enough savings is a financial stress and nearly as many say their income is insufficient, but most do not feel that student loan debt, housing or child-care costs pose a major challenge. Asked about the U.S. economic system, 81 percent say it is “stacked against Black people,” up from 44 percent who said the same in 2011.
Black Americans today are nearly evenly split on whether it matters more to get an education and work or to come from money and know the right people to get ahead in the United States: 49 percent say getting a good education and working hard will matter more to getting ahead in life, while 48 percent say coming from money and knowing the right people matters more. In 2011, nearly 8 in 10 said getting a good education and working hard mattered more.
Lester Lowe, a resident of the affluent northwestern Indiana town of Crown Point, said Black Americans today have far more “opportunities” to advance themselves economically if they seek them out. Lowe, 57, is a former small-business owner who transitioned into the cybersecurity field about a decade ago.
“In previous eras, lack of opportunities, lack of equality, were substantial, and you literally had a ceiling where you could go and what you could do or who you could even be,” he said. “And while America is not equal by any stretch of the imagination, today a lot of those barriers have been removed.”
Yet despite his optimism about economic opportunities for himself and his seven children, Lowe worries that the United States won’t make strides to combat racism over the course of his life.
“Unfortunately, as a result of the Trump era, we may have even taken a step back,” said Lowe, a political independent. “I thought before that, we were moving in a positive direction.”
Trump’s presidency, he said, “exposed something that was underlying” that many Black Americans previously “couldn’t see.” Now, Lowe fears some of the voters who embraced the former president feel more comfortable harboring open animosity toward minorities, and that makes him pessimistic.
“The ideologies and mindsets seem to be so entrenched,” Lowe said. “And the people that hold on to those views, and hold those values, are insisting on not just entrenching themselves, but also teaching those ideologies and those same views to their children.”
But Lowe mostly views racism “as a state problem.”
“Everyone is looking for the president to do something for African Americans, but the real problem is at the local level, and the state level, and that is where the real work has to be,” Lowe said.
In their own workplaces, 82 percent of Black employees say the environment is “excellent” or “good” when it comes to being welcoming. Large majorities rate their workplaces positively for stopping racial discrimination (76 percent) and paying Black and White workers equally (74 percent). A smaller majority, 65 percent, gives their workplace positive marks for promoting Black workers.
Beyond work, however, 17 percent of Black Americans say they often feel treated with less respect or feel as if they received bad service at a restaurant or some other store because of their race.
Roberts, the Atlanta resident, said racism is not something she experiences at work, in her diverse neighborhood or even “within 10 miles” of her house during her day-to-day activities.
Still, she can’t shake the sense that the country is sliding backward, and feels she and her family are more at risk today than in the past.
“Before, I felt like if I didn’t do anything bad to anyone, I wouldn’t have anything to fear,” she said. “But that is not the case anymore.”
The Post-Ipsos poll was conducted online through the Ipsos KnowledgePanel from April 28 to May 12, among a random national sample of 1,225 non-Hispanic Black adults and a partially overlapping sample of 1,18 U.S. adults overall. Results among Black Americans have a margin of error of plus- or minus-3.5 percentage points; the margin is three points among Americans overall.
[ad_2]
Source link
