How Racially Divided Is the United States Today?
Jack Cafferty, CNN, April 9, 2012
As the national debate over the killing of Trayvon Martin rages on, a new poll suggests that a majority of Americans believe the country is divided by race.
The Newsweek/Daily Beast poll shows that 72% of whites and 89% of blacks say the country is racially divided.
And almost four years after the election of the nation’s first black president, majorities of whites and blacks say race relations have either stayed the same or gotten worse.
There continue to be fundamental disagreements about when blacks will achieve racial equality. Whites are much more likely to think blacks have the same chance as they do to get housing and jobs.
As for the killing of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black Florida teen, there are more differences along racial lines. Blacks are more than twice as likely as whites to say Martin’s death was racially motivated. African-Americans are convinced that Martin was targeted because he was a young black man, while whites are divided.
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The differences go on and on. It’s a sad statement on race relations in the U.S. in 2012.
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