The United States of America comprises of several ethnicities for decades, however, time and the chronology of discrimination with one particular race has always been evident with proofs and numbers, but only to be overridden by the other. The White Americans have arguably always claimed their right on the nation and its developments and the Black Americans who always were a part of the US, before and since the Civil War of the 1860s.
What started with what can be called as "dissent" of South America, when Congress compelled Abraham Lincoln to regularise the Emancipation Proclamation, is now a major concern for the Black lives that have raised their long-suppressed voices, for George Floyd.
Unlike the cases of Philando Castile when he was shot by a Hispanic American policeman at a spot that is hardly 15 minutes away from where Floyd was shot; or the case of 25-year-old Freddie Carlos Gray who had succumbed to spinal injuries, which he received when he in the custody of Baltimore Police Department – the murder of Geroge Floyd by Derek Chauvin was the threshold for millions of blacks who have lived their life in America with pride but are still deprived of living their liberty to fullest.
Pew Research Center Survey
Prominent research centers and nonpartisan fact tanks in the US have been studying the issues pertaining to racial discrimination in the past few years. Let us take a brief look at certain horrifying numbers that subtract the existential value of a black human when compared to the other races, evidently the whites.
Policing in the US is seen by many around the world to be stringent and active. However, during April 20-26 when the Pew Research Center surveyed a group of young Black Americans (BA), 49 percent were of the opinion that they have a great deal/ fair amount of confidence in the US police force – this was agreed upon by 56 percent (10,139) of adult black Americans and the same was told by the White Americans (WA).
Pew's study also revealed that at least 48 percent of BA are of the opinion that the ethical standards of the police officers in the US are low or very low, directly putting lives of the minorities in danger. Who would we call minorities in the US?
It has been evident for decades now that the blacks have had a tough time to prove their allegiance to States, given the kind of status they have when compared to other ethnicities like the Whites, Latinx, Hispanic and more.
Pew also has studied the unemployment rates of the US that in the past three years have never stabilized for the BA, leaving aside the improvement of their life. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median pay in the first quarter of 2020 for a 25-54-year-old black man is $891 per week, compared to $796/ week of a Latino man and the highest being $1,128/ week of a white man.
Unemployment Rates in the US
In January 2020, the unemployment rate among BA was six percent, while America's figure stood at just 3.6 percent. Of the 5.9 million unemployed individuals, 1.2m or 21 percent were blacks. The disparity between the general and black unemployment rate in 2019 was 2.3 percent points and was at 2.5 percent points in 2018.
According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) of the US, in the final quarter of 2019, WA hold 85 percent of the US net worth, while BA hold only 4.2 percent. In a quest to track the statuses shared by white and black Americans, Ipsos conducted a poll and found that 33 percent of BA are under financial strains, double the number of WA of whom 18 percent were under financial stress.
The same kind of attitude is also aggressively seen against one particular community in policing and in terms of abiding by law and regulations. Fear of violence, getting manhandled and ultimately death haunts many black families in the US. A survey conducted by YouGov during May 29 and 30 revealed that 60 percent of BA feel 'less secure' and the same was shared by 22 percent of WA. However, 32 percent of whites expressed that they feel 'more secure' around cops, a sentiment that only five percent of blacks share.
Perception About Cops
When YouGov asked a few, "Are cops usually held accountable for misconduct?", the answers were shocking enough for an American citizen. Around 82 percent of BA said 'no' and the same was shared by 52 percent WA, 48 percent Latinx and 63 percent individuals from other ethnicities. Matching these findings, another poll by Yahoo News in collaboration with YouGov four days after George Floyd's death, on May 29, revealed that most Black Americans strongly believe that the police does not treat the white and black individual equally. Around 94 percent of the 1,060 black adults in the US said that "the criminal justice system in the US treats WA better."
Policing has been haunting the black race in the US, even more aggressively for the past few years. Instances where victims were manhandled brutally by the police inside a car, or on the street, or outside their shops and homes have turned out to be a regular affair in America.
The protests after Floyd's death are an outburst of thousands of black families whose son, brother, or kin were hacked to death by US policemen someday, but they remained silent. Another poll by the Pew Research Center between June 4-10, the involved statements of 9,654 US adults revealed – 64 percent of black adults alleged that they were stopped "unfairly" by police.
Of the 760 US adults, 87 percent of Black Americans also said that police use excessive force against blacks, even when there is a chance for dialogue – this was agreed upon by 49 percent WA, while other whites said that the force was not connected to race.
US Moving Towards Change
On a whole, the United States is fast moving towards the much-sought change, amid protests that pushed Donald Trump's Tulsa rally into isolation, globally. The agitations were far more evident than what Trump had to say to the rally-goers in the BOK Center.
The rage now demands a fair role for the Black Americans in society. When Wall Street Journal spoke to 1,000 registered voters in the US, 80 percent of them were of the opinion that "situation in the US is out of control" – while 57 percent of Americans said that "race relations are generally bad" – and 61 percent of the US citizens were of the view that "police killings have worsened the situation even more".
Meanwhile, Washington Post with Geroge Mason University spoke to 1,006 US adults of which 75 percent support the protests while 90 percent don't blame the protesters and demand just action against the wrong system in place. These are not mere numbers, but the reality of perceptions the white elitist groups have borne for ages. Now, the rising rage in protests after Floyd was choked to death, has forced the Congress to reconsider its stand on the allegiance of blacks to their country.
