African-Americans are two times more likely than whites to believe that the shooting of Ferguson teen Michael Brown raises issues about race, according to a Pew poll released Monday.
Eighty percent of blacks said that the shooting raises issues about race, while only 37 percent of whites believe so.
And 47 percent of whites think that the situation in Ferguson is getting too much attention, while only 18 percent of African-Americans believe that to be the case, according to Pew.
Responses to the police reaction were divided along racial lines as well. Sixty-five percent of blacks said that the police have gone to far in their response to protests following the shooting, and 33 percent of whites said police went too far.
Reactions were also divided along party lines, according to Pew. Sixty-eight percent of Democrats believe the shooting raises concerns about race, while only 22 percent of Republicans said so.
The Pew surveyed 1,000 adults via phone Aug. 14-17 with a margin of error plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
In Ferguson last year, 86 percent of stops, 92 percent of searches and 93 percent of arrests were of black people.
This routine is true in many towns and counties across America with respect to minorities and revenue gathering.
Ignorance and fear wins out along the great racial divide in America, again.
So in other words. 67% of my fellow white people continue to live in a fantasy world when it comes to race. I sometimes wish we had an association (other than the overtly racist ones) so I could burn my membership card.
How is this poll helpful? What does it tell us that we don’t already know? That issues of race are polarizing to a lot of black and white people in this country? Yeah, I knew that.
Do we have to poll test everything?
In other news…water is wet.
The beneficiaries of white supremacy and the perpetrators of racism, when polled, proclaim, “Racism doesn’t exist. In fact, I’m colorblind. Racism is a figment of the black mind. Now, excuse me while I finish packing my Range Rover. We’ll never get to the Hamptons by noon at this rate.”
Which is the bigger problem in America, the persistence of racism, or all the white people who want to believe that racism no longer exists?
I’m inclined to believe it’s the latter, and this poll only reinforces my belief.