News / Human Rights

US race relations getting worse: Survey

Tuesday, 05 May 2015 1:48 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 05 May 2015 1:52 PM ]

Demonstrators stand during a protest in front of City Hall in Baltimore, Maryland, May 2, 2015. (AFP photo)

Americans’ perception of US race relations has worsened significantly after the death of a young black man who suffered fatal injuries while in police custody in Baltimore, Maryland and the subsequent protests, according to a new poll.

People in the United States also increasingly believe that police are more likely to use deadly force against African Americans, the latest national poll by the New York Times and CBS News shows.

Riots over police brutality and race issues have gripped US cities.

The recent unrest in Baltimore over the death of Freddie Gray was the most violent in the United States since the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, following the shooting death of black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer in August.

The survey found that 61 percent of Americans now say race relations in this country are “generally bad” and 44 percent say it is “getting worse,” a sharp increase from the negative sentiment recorded after the fatal shooting of Brown.

Demonstrators stand during a protest in front of City Hall in Baltimore, May 2, 2015. (AFP photo)

In a CBS News poll just two months ago, 38 percent said race relations were “generally bad.” The current views are by far the worst during President Barack Obama’s time in office.

These negative views are nearly equal among blacks and whites alike, a substantial change from earlier this year, when 58 percent of blacks thought race relations were bad, while only 35 percent of whites agreed.

However, the survey finds that profound racial divisions in perceptions of how the police use deadly force remain.

African Americans are more than twice as likely as whites to say police in most cities tend to use lethal force against a black person more often —79 percent of blacks say so compared with 37 percent of whites.

Overall, 44 percent of Americans say deadly force is more likely to be used against a black person, up from 37 percent in August and 40 percent in December.

AHT/GJH

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Freddie Gray