A poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found Black Americans are doubtful of progress being made with police reform. While the demand for police reform persists as police shootings continue, the poll results reflect the doubt Black people have in serious police accountability policies being established.
The poll was conducted with a 1,289 sample from the NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel. Only a quarter of Americans were recorded to believe progress has been made toward racial equality in policing and a third believe there’s been “some” progress, reported AP News.
From AP News:
An overwhelming majority of adults say more progress is needed for racial equality, including about half who say “a lot” more.
“There’s more attention around certain issues and there’s a realization — more people are waking up to a lot of corruption in the system,” said Derek Sims, a 35-year-old bus driver in Austin, Texas, who is Black. He considers himself more optimistic than pessimistic that change will happen.
However, Sims said: “People don’t really want to come together and hash out ideas. There’s just too much tribalism.”
On the other hand, the poll found 38 percent of respondents are pessimistic about Black people receiving fair policing in years to come. About 49 percent of Black respondents were pessimistic that the amount of work that needs to be done to achieve fair policing will get done. Considering Biden’s latest announcement that the police need “more funding” in his State of the Union Address, the data reflects how Black people can be discouraged from believing the government will consider police accountability.
The more police, the more Black people may be at risk of being criminally profiled.
The poll also highlights a disconnect between the white and Black community when it comes to views on racial equality. Per AP’s poll, 30 percent of white people believe significant progress has been made versus 10 percent of Black people. Additionally, 70 percent of Black people believe more needs to be done in comparison to 47 percent of white people.
President and CEO of JustLeadershipUSA DeAnna Hoskins told AP News the outcry for police reform was amplified because the white community was also a witness to the injustice we saw during summer of 2020.
“The only reason why you get results is because there was an outcry that included Black and white people. You’ve got a much larger voter base saying something has to be done,” she said, via AP News.