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More American may have been discussing or have been aware of the striking race inequity in the u.S, but according to a new report from Pew Research, most Black Americans don’t think this new awareness was making any difference.
In fact, two-thirds of Black Americans say that recent increased focus on race and racial inequality in the U.S. has not led to changes that have improved the lives of Black people.
“Overall, Black Americans are clear on what they think the problems are facing the country and how to remedy them,” wrote Kiana Cox and Khadijah Edwards, the report’s authors. “However, they are skeptical that meaningful changes will take place in their lifetime.”
Perhaps because Black American has not seen significant changes, 77 percent of the poll’s Black respondents said they were for reparations.
The report shows that Black Americans seemed to have soured on the possibility of change in the racial conditions. In September of 2020, a majority of Black adults 56 percent felt the added attention to issues of race and equality following the police murder of George Floyd would lead to changes that improved the lives of Black people, CNN reported.
According to the poll, 82 percent consider racism a major problem for Black people in the US. About 8 in 10 Black Americans report having personally experienced discrimination because of their race or ethnicity (79 percent) — including 15 percent who say they experience such discrimination regularly. And roughly 7 in 10 (68 percent) say racial discrimination is the main reason why many Black people can’t get ahead.
“Racism ranks as the most pressing problem for Black people living in the U.S. out of six issues tested in the survey. Almost two-thirds of Black adults, 63 percent, say it is a huge problem for Black Americans, while 60 percent say the same of police brutality, 54 percent of economic inequality, 47 percent affordability of healthcare, 46 percent efforts to limit voting and 40 percent the quality of K-12 schools,” wrote the report’s authors.
On the issue of reparations, 77 percent say descendants of people enslaved in the U.S. should be repaid in some way. Despite this, some are not optimistic that reparations will be issued by the U.S. government any time soon. Just 7 percent of Black adults see the payment of reparations as very or extremely likely in their own lifetimes. Still, a 85 percent of Black adults say Black people in the US today are significantly affected by the legacy of slavery.
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