Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Huge Racial Divisions in Reactions to the Michael Brown Shooting



Finally, there is a poll that points out the racial divide in the Michael Brown incident. The new poll was conducted by the Pew Research Center during Aug. 14-17 among 1,000 adults. The info was surprisingly, not shocking, but disheartening to read.

Here are some key findings:

  • 37% of whites think the ‪‎Michael Brown‬ shooting "raises important issues about race."
  • 47% of whites think "race is getting more attention than it deserves."
  • 33% of whites say the police have gone too far
  • 32% of whites say the police response has been about right
  • 35% of whites offer no response

This is really sad to see. We are not moving fast enough in 2014. We still have a long road ahead.

source

3 comments:

Bob said...

"37% of whites think the ‪‎Michael Brown‬ shooting "raises important issues about race."

Ya think?

"47% of whites think race is getting more attention than it deserves."

I imagine these are white people who think people murdered over allegedly stealing cigars is justified?

"33% of whites say the police have gone too far"

I'd say not in every case, but in this case? yeah.

"32% of whites say the police response has been about right"

Shooting a man whose arms are up and who appears unarmed is not right.

"35% of whites offer no response"

The most telling of all because race doesn't affect white people. Sure there are folks who are anti-white, but you don't hear about white kids being murdered walking home or white men being shot down in the streets when they seem to be surrendering to police.

R.J. said...

I'm not surprised. It's the same thing about gays thinking the word "tranny" is a fun word to use. Until you see white kids murdered by a cop for stealing an iPhone it won't change.

BTW I was on a gaming forum and I couldn't believe the level of ignorance of some people... but when they said they watch Fox News it said everything right there.

K. Clark said...

This reminds me of a recent work conversation. The white co-worker was arguing that the police response was justified because police are trained to match a perceived threat by neutralizing said threat. To which myself and two other black co-workers responded by asking how can people marching, chanting and holding up signs be perceived as a threat? (While there has been looting, the discussion we had took place after those incidents had calmed down).

What makes those kinds of exchanges so frustrating is that white co-worker isn't a racist or insensitive; he just didn't seem to "get it."

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Viktor is a small town southern boy living in Los Angeles. You can find him on Twitter, writing about pop culture, politics, and comics. He’s the creator of the graphic novel StrangeLore and currently getting back into screenwriting.