A newly released poll illuminates what African Americans have always known, but that a cadre of Caucasians are just now discerning and beginning to admit: that blacks are treated differently (translation: worse) than their Caucasian counterparts.
Part of the enlightenment or sudden epiphany is due to raw data provided by video evidence, via mostly cellphones, that shows rogue and rabidly racist police execute their duties in ways against people of color that Caucasians know does not transpire in “suburbia” America.
Despite that, however, some white Americans refuse to admit that police distinguish between demographics.
According to a poll conducted by the National Bar Association, the organization of Black lawyers and judges, their findings produce the following information:
- That 88 percent of blacks believe African Americans are treated worse, compared to only 59 percent of whites who share the same opinion.
- In the South, the disparity in viewpoints is even greater, 90 percent of blacks and just 55 percent of white people holding a similar view.
- In the Northeast, there is not such a chasm in belief of police mistreatment of blacks. About 74 percent of blacks say police treat blacks worse. Some 63 percent of whites feel the same.
- Sixty-seven percent of whites and 52 percent of blacks feel that law enforcement are misunderstood by black people. Those views are consistent across the map for Whites, but in the Northeast, a national low of 35 percent of Blacks concurred.
- Compare that to the 70 percent of Whites and 58 percent of Blacks who agree with that opinion in the South.
“The national poll of 1,088 adults was conducted on June 25-July 6 by Tallahassee-based Sachs Media Group, for the association, the country’s oldest and largest national association of predominantly black lawyers and judges,” reports USA Today. “Tallahassee (Fla.)-based attorney Benjamin Crump was elected president of the association in July. Crump, a nationally known civil rights attorney, worked with the family of Trayvon Martin after the 17-year-old was killed by George Zimmerman.”
The poll was conducted during a volatile time in American with respect to police violent interactions with blacks, most particulalry with unarmed black men, including Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., Eric Garner in Staten Island in New York, Tamir Rice in Cleveland and Freddie Gray in Baltimore.
“Our national conversation about race has been going on for a long time, and it’s encouraging to see signs of progress,” Crump said. “However, 50 years of conversation is too long without seeing more movement and, to a certain extent, regression. This survey shows that clearly there remains work to be done.”
The remainder of the poll is due to be released in the near future.
Photos: JusticeForMikeBrown.net