WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Almost eight years after Barack Obama's election as the United State's first black president, the country's blacks, far more than whites, say black people are treated unfairly across different realms of life, from dealing with the police to applying for a loan or mortgage. And, for many of them, racial equality remains an elusive goal, a new Pew Research Center survey finds.
An overwhelming majority of blacks (88 percent) say the country needs to continue making changes for blacks to have equal rights with whites, but 43 percent are skeptical that such changes will ever occur.
A much lower share of whites (53 percent) say the country still has work to do for blacks to achieve equal rights with whites, and only 11 percent express doubt that these changes will come.
These findings are based on a national survey conducted during February-May among 3,769 adults. In recent years, the centuries-old the divide between blacks and whites has garnered renewed attention following the deaths of unarmed black Americans during encounters with the police, as well as a racially motivated shooting that killed nine black parishioners at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015.
The survey finds that black and white adults have widely different perceptions about what life is like for blacks in the U.S. For example, black people say they are treated less fairly in the workplace, when applying for a loan or mortgage, in dealing with the police, in the courts, in stores or restaurants, and when voting in elections.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX