Optimism About Black Progress Declines

[fencesitter]

Source: Pew Research Center

African Americans see a widening gulf between the values of middle class and poor blacks, and nearly four-in-ten say that because of the diversity within their community, blacks can no longer be thought of as a single race, a new Pew Research Center survey has found.

The survey also finds blacks less upbeat about the state of black progress now than at any time since 1983. Looking backward, just one-in-five blacks say things are better for blacks now than they were five years ago. Looking ahead, fewer than half of all blacks (44%) say they think life for blacks will get better in the future, down from the 57% who said so in a 1986 survey.

Whites have a different perspective. While they, too, have grown less sanguine about black progress, they are nearly twice as likely as blacks to see black gains in the past five years. Also, a majority of whites (56%) say life for blacks in this country will get better in the future.



Read more: http://pewresearch.org/pubs/634/black-public-opinion

[gratuitous]

1. That's what happens when the Republicans are in charge

If it's any solace (and it probably isn't), there are plenty of white people who are less upbeat about the state of white progress in this country. Seems to be not only a racial phenomenon but somehow linked to economic strata. I recall that there's a word for different gradations of wealth and income in a society. I know they have a word for it in European countries. Darn, what could it be???

[yava]

4. right and rights

its not just black, its also white. The problem is the rich white hold power so no one speaks about poor whites who are the majority among whites.
In this case the news is bad but with promises: will many blacks and whites complain together?

[msongs]

2. perhaps substantially a "class" issue - lower income groups of all races doing less well? nt

[Surely Partridge]

3. Two-Edged Sword

Doesn't many blacks thinking "blacks can no longer be thought of as a single race" undercut the notion of continuing institutionalized racism? Perhaps middle class blacks are prospering precisely because of a "widening gulf between the values of middle class and poor blacks".