There is a huge divide in this country over race. Although many today want to deny it, racism is still a problem in this country. The recent court verdict in Florida has made that racial divide even more obvious.The charts above were made from information in the recent ABC News/Washington Post Poll (conducted between July 18th and 21st of a nationwide sample of 1,002 adults -- with a margin of error of 3.5 points).
The most glaring conclusion of the poll is the huge difference on the verdict between Whites and minorities. While 51% of Whites approved of the Zimmerman verdict and 59% don't want to see him charged with a federal civil rights violation, 86% of Blacks and 50% of Hispanics disapproved of the verdict, and 81% of Blacks and 58% of Hispanics would like to see Zimmerman charged with a civil rights violation.
And this divide carries over to the perception of fairness in the criminal justice system in general. While a clear majority of Whites (54%) believe minorities are treated equally to Whites in the criminal justice system, larger majorities of Blacks (86%) and Hispanics (60%) believe minorities are not treated equally. Clearly, someones perceptions of equal treatment are wrong -- and after working in that criminal justice system for over 25 years, I believe it is the perception of White Americans that does not reflect reality.
There are a couple of reasons for this misperception by Whites. First, a significant portion of the White population still harbor racist views -- whether overt or under-the-surface. The overt group believes in the superiority of Whites, while the under-the-surface group wants to absolve themselves by blaming minorities for creating their own problems. Both views are despicable.
The second reason involves a larger segment of the White population. This segment is ashamed of this country's history of discrimination, but they don't want to admit that it continues today. They use the passage of the civil rights laws (and the election of President Obama) as excuses to hide their heads in the sand and say the racial problem has been solved -- that racism no longer exists on a large scale in the United States. This view is nearly as despicable as that of the racists, because it is hard to deal with a problem that people won't admit exists.
But minorities know racial problems still exist in this country. They know it because they must live with it every day of their lives. And while they may not have had to deal with the inequality of our criminal justice system themselves, you can bet that they know someone who has.
It is time for Whites to pull their heads out of the sand. Racism and ethnic discrimination are still big problems in the United States, and denial won't make the problem go away. I am an optimist, in that I believe it is a problem we can eliminate. But it's going to take a lot of hard work by all of us to do it. It's time we stopped resting on the laurels of what was accomplished in the 1960's, and finish the job.
