By Liz Courquet-Lesaulnier
Word In Black
In the months after George Floyd’s murder, as protests swept the globe and books on racism and White privilege flew from bookstore shelves, hope grew that America might finally confront its original sin. Corporate America pumped billions of dollars into racial justice initiatives, while lawmakers debated police reform at both the state and federal levels.
Five years later, a new Pew Research Center survey of how Americans view race, racial inequality, and policing confirms what Black Americans have long known: The so-called racial reckoning was an illusion, and White people think the country focuses too much on race. Black people, meanwhile, see true racial equality as further away than ever.
Pew found that 72 percent of Americans “say the increased focus on race and racial inequality after Floyd’s killing did not lead to changes that improved the lives of Black people.” In 2020, 67 percent supported Black Lives Matter; today, just 52 percent do. In 2020, around half believed the nation hadn’t done enough to achieve racial equality, but now only 43 percent hold that view.
Most sobering is the collapse of faith among those still working toward racial justice and progress: just 51 percent of survey respondents believe Black folks will gain equal rights someday, down from 60 percent in September 2020.
There’s a stark racial divide behind that data point. Pew found that only 32 percent of Black Americans believe Black people will have equal rights, yet 61 percent of Whites, 59 percent of Asians, and 49 percent of Hispanic people still believe equality is possible.
In other words, “Two-thirds of Black adults who think the country hasn’t made enough progress on racial equality say that eventual equality with White people is not too or not at all likely,” according to Pew.
Support for Black Lives Matter
The phrase “Black Lives Matter” dominated social media in the summer of 2020, and at the time, nearly 7 in 10 Americans supported the movement. Pew’s latest survey, however, found that barely half of Americans currently support it, and the phrase no longer dominates the national conversation on social platforms.
The fading belief that Black lives still matter is familiar to African Americans. Pew found that almost 70 percent of Black adults said the country pays too little attention to racial issues, compared to just 26 percent of White adults. Overall, 41 percent of Americans surveyed believe race and racial issues get too much attention, but the racial divide is evident: around half of White respondents believe this, but only 14 percent of Black adults do.
The partisan divide on the issue is just as stark.
Two-thirds of Republicans (66 percent), who tend to be White, said there’s too much attention paid to racial issues, while only 17 percent of Democrats agreed. On the flipside, 56 percent of Democrats said there’s too little attention paid to race in America, but just 12 percent of Republicans believe that to be the case.
As for the effectiveness of the Black Lives Matter movement, Pew found that fewer than half of Black adults said it “has been extremely or very effective at bringing attention to racism against Black people.” Only 27 percent of White adults agreed.
Pew also asked Americans how they view the relationship between police and Black Americans. According to the survey results, 54 percent of Americans say relations between police and Black communities are no better than before Floyd’s murder, while 33 percent say things are worse. Only 11 percent believe things have improved.
Will the U.S. president help or hurt racial progress?
Pew asked Americans how they felt President Donald Trump would handle issues related to race during his second term as president. Nearly half of all Americans (48 percent) believe Trump will make racial issues worse — a view held by 8 in 10 Democrats but just 14 percent of Republicans. Meanwhile, 53 percent of Republicans expect him to improve racial equity, compared to only 5 percent of Democrats.
Republicans are also more likely than Democrats to say they frequently feel “uninterested” when they think about race in the U.S. Meanwhile, only 5 percent of Democrats feel “satisfied” when they think about race.
This article was originally published by Word In Black.
