Opinion
Differences in Black and White
“Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now”
B ERNIE F OSTER
Founder/Publisher
B OBBIE D ORE F OSTER
Executive Editor
J ERRY F OSTER
Advertising Manager
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News Editor
H ELEN S ILVIS
Multimedia Editor
P ATRICIA I RVIN
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Graphic Designer
M ONICA J. F OSTER
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S USAN F RIED
Photographers
The Skanner Newspaper, established
in October 1975, is a weekly publica-
tion, published each Wednesday by
IMM Publications Inc.,
By George E. Curry
NNPA Columnist
P
ublic opinion polls confirm
a fact that has been docu-
mented in instances ranging
from the O.J. Simpson verdict to
recent events in Ferguson: When it
comes to race, Blacks and Whites
largely view events through a dif-
ferent set of lenses.
Several recent polls provided yet
more proof of this disheartening
trend.
According to a recent New York
Times/CBS News poll, more than
half of Black Americans polled –
57 percent – said the killing of the
unarmed, 18-year-old Michael
Brown by Ferguson, Mo. Police
Officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9
was “not justified.” Among
Whites, 25 percent said the shoot-
ing death was unjustified.
In addition, 31 percent of White
Americans, and 71 percent of
Blacks, said they think police are
generally more likely to use dead-
ly force against a person of color
than a White person.
The performance of Gov. Jay
Nixon, a Democrat, also received
mixed reviews, so to speak. He
mobilized the Missouri State
Highway Patrol and then activated
the Missouri National Guard after
declaring a state of emergency and
imposing a curfew. Blacks were
twice as likely as Whites to say
involving the National Guard only
made matters worse.
Only a quarter of Blacks nation-
ally are satisfied with Gov.
Nixon’s actions, while nearly half
said Nixon’s performance in the
markers that indicate, in general,
that race relations have improved
T HE C URRY over the last half century, includ-
R EPORT
ing attitudes toward interracial
marriages. Amid such progress,
however, there is undeniable evi-
George E.
dence that Blacks and Whites look
Curry
at racially-tinged events from a
different perspective.
A survey conducted by the Pew
Research Center for the People &
aftermath of the shooting was the Press found that 80 percent of
unsatisfactory. In contrast, Whites African Americans say the shoot-
were divided: A third were satis- ing in the St. Louis suburb of
fied and a third dissatisfied
Ferguson raises important issues
Not
surprisingly,
Blacks, about race that merit discussion.
Obama’s most loyal bloc, continue By contrast, only 37 percent of
to back him by large margins.
Whites – less than half the ratio of
Sixty percent of African Ameri- Blacks – feel that way. In addition,
cans said they were satisfied with among Whites, 47 percent feel
the president’s actions; 20 percent race is getting more attention than
When it comes to race, Blacks and
Whites largely view events through a
different set of lenses
said they were dissatisfied. Whites
were split, with 35 percent in sup-
port of President Obama and 39
percent dissatisfied.
The New York Times poll
showed that 10 percent of those
surveyed thought race relations
have improved since Obama has
been in office, 52 percent felt they
are about the same as before and
35 percent said race relations have
gotten worse under Obama. Of
those saying things had gotten
worse, 40 percent were White and
21 percent were African Ameri-
can.
There are many independent
it deserves in the Michael Brown
case. But only 18 percent of
Blacks share that view.
According to the poll, 65 percent
of Blacks feel police have gone
too far in reacting to Michael
Brown’s death and 20 percent feel
the response was about right.
Again, Whites had a different
reaction, with 33 percent saying
police had gone too far and a
roughly equal proportion, 32 per-
cent saying authorities had acted
properly.
More than half of all African
Americans – 54 percent – reported
they were following events in Fer-
guson very closely. Less than half
of Whites –25 percent – and Lati-
nos – 18 percent – said they were
closely following the events in
Missouri.
There was a political divide as
well, with 68 percent of Democ-
rats feeling the Michael Brown
case raises important issues while
only 22 percent of Republicans
contending it raises racial issues
that need to be discussed. Also, 61
percent of Republicans say the
issue of race has gotten too much
attention in the case; only 21 per-
cent of Democrats support that
view.
The 1996 murder trial of O.J.
Simpson exposed this raw divide.
A CNN/USA Today Poll showed
that 62 percent of African-Ameri-
cans supported the jury’s decision
to acquit the former football star.
However, only 20 percent of
Whites agreed with the jury. There
was a similar split in polls taken
during Hank Aaron’s campaign to
break Babe Ruth’s all-time home
run record and Barry Bond over-
taking Aaron.
Even on a supposedly race-neu-
tral issue such as federal aid to
victims of Hurricane Katrina,
racial views were split. According
to a CNN/USA Today poll, six in
10 African Americans said the fed-
eral government was slow to
rescue residents of New Orleans
because many of them were Black.
However, only one in eight Whites
concurred.
How can we narrow the racial
divide when we can’t even agree if
there is one?
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‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot’ to ‘Hands Up, Vote’
O
ut of every momentous
national tragedy that Black
Americans have continued
to endure in the United States,
there has always emerged a
redeeming moment to push harder
and further on the long journey
toward freedom, justice and equal-
ity. The continuing unrestrained
fatal police killings of Black
American males in St. Louis
County, Missouri is now described
as part of a national “open season”
to kill Blacks in America. What
should we do now? What is the
redeeming action that should be
taken?
In the aftermath of the murders
of Michael Brown, Eric Gardner,
Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis and
so many others, what should be
our next course of action? Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., writing in
his last book, pointed the way.
Writing in Where Do We Go
From Here: Chaos or Community?
Dr. King stated in 1967: “The per-
sistence of racism in depth and the
dawning awareness that Negro
demands will necessitate structur-
al changes in society have
generated a new phase of white
resistance in the North and
South.’’
Dr. King’s prophetic words,
written 47 years ago, are equally
true today. With the “browning of
America,” there has been a steady
increase in racially-motivated
police violence against Blacks and
Latinos.
The tragic murder of Michael
Brown by police officer Darren
Page 2 The Portland and Seattle Skanner August 27, 2014
NNPA
P RESIDENT
Benjamin F.
Chavis Jr.
Wilson in the St. Louis suburb of
Ferguson has reverberated around
the world. It is just the latest
example of a society that refuses
to end racial oppression or
acknowledge its racist past. I
remember that Dr. King responded
to police brutality in the 1960s by
telling his followers: “I am not
unmindful that some of you have
central point. With all that is going
on in Missouri, Florida, Texas,
North Carolina, Michigan, Ohio,
New York, California, Louisiana,
Illinois, Washington, D.C. and
elsewhere, we must transform our
anger over police brutality, pover-
ty, and economic inequality into a
massive voter turnout. We should
be preparing right now in every
voting precinct in every congres-
sional district and in every state
where we live to have an unprece-
dented high voter turnout this
November. We did it in 2008 we
did it in 2012 and we can do it
again in 2014.
Too often we live in communi-
ties where we have the potential
We all must exercise the right to vote
not once but in every election
come here out of great trials and
tribulations. Some of you have
come fresh from narrow cells.
Some of you have come from
areas where your quest for free-
dom left you battered by the
storms of persecution and stag-
gered by the winds of police
brutality. You have been the veter-
ans of creative suffering. Continue
to work with the faith that
unearned suffering is redemptive.”
As we say of faith-witnessing in
the Black church tradition, “Lord,
have mercy, we sure have received
a lot of unearned suffering……
now it is time for us to get some
redemption.” This bring me to my
margin of victory for local, con-
gressional, statewide and national
elections, but we simply do not go
to the polls and vote, even though
so many of our people died, bleed,
went to jail, and “suffered” for us
to get the right to vote. Having a
right to vote is not enough. We all
must exercise the right to vote not
once but in every election. It’s
extremely important that we do so
this year because people expect us
to because Obama’s name will not
be on the ballot and mid-term vot-
ing is traditionally lower than in
presidential years.
Voting our political, economic
and spiritual interest is not only
“redemptive,” it is also the right
thing to do. Very often police offi-
cers are not prosecuted for acts of
racial violence against Black
Americans because locally “elect-
ed” prosecutors and district
attorneys get elected and stay in
office because we do not vote at
the rate that we should. Citizens in
Ferguson, Mo., a community that
is at least 2/3 African American,
only vote at a rate of about 12 per-
cent – about a third of their
representation in the population.
That is a terrible reality that must
now change. Understand, I am not
saying that voting in record num-
bers will solve all the problems
that we face in America. But what
I am saying clearly is that our fail-
ure to understand the power of the
vote holds back our progress in the
United States.
I was so proud to see thousands
of people marching nonviolently
every day in Ferguson in protest to
Michael Brown’s murder. The uni-
fied chant, “Hands Up, Don’t
Shoot,” captured the energy and
aspirations of millions more
throughout the country and indeed
around the world. Let’s keep that
energy going strong. Let’s remain
vigilant, vocal and visible. As we
move forward over the next 60
days, let’s also organize and mobi-
lize to register to vote and to
massively turnout the vote every-
where. Election Day should be
Pay Back Day. Let’s also begin to
chant “Hands Up, Vote!” Let’s
make the difference.