cheka.
23rd April 2016, 11:24 AM
the media central control room in nyc has fooled a lot of them, but not all of them
http://www.phillytrib.com/news/poll-blacks-more-focused-on-community-violence-not-police-violence/article_497460ff-84f9-5b4e-a20f-91ce9b302f32.html
In a poll recently conducted by YouGov, a majority of African-American respondents surveyed nationally share the view that community violence (or structural neighborhood violence popularly referred to as “Black-on-Black crime”) is a larger problem than racial injustice in the criminal justice system.
And a majority claim that the Black Lives Matter movement should focus more on community violence.
The findings — shared exclusively with The Philadelphia Tribune — offer a fresh and rather revealing new twist to a raging internal community debate over what challenges require more focus: worries over the perception of rising violent crime in urban centers such as Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Chicago and elsewhere or demands for more law enforcement accountability over a constant public stream of racially charged police shootings and mistreatment of African Americans.
While this one poll doesn’t settle that question nor diminish community tensions, it offers data suggesting the conversation is much more complex and unresolved than thought. YouGov found that 42 percent of likely Black voters surveyed identified community violence as a bigger challenge than racism in the criminal justice system, compared to 36 percent who viewed the latter as a bigger problem. Nearly a quarter of Black respondents were unsure.
When asked if the Black Lives Matter movement should focus more on the issue of internal community violence than mistreatment by law enforcement, another slim 42 percent majority of Black respondents surveyed said the Black Lives Matter movement should focus on community violence. That was compared to, again, 36 percent of Black respondents and less than a quarter who were unsure.
Still, nearly 70 percent of Black voters surveyed have a very favorable or somewhat favorable view of the controversial movement which rose as a viral social media sensation into a massive, but decentralized, network of activists spotlighting police violence. Those favorable ratings are still rather high, especially when compared to the 61 percent of whites who view the movement unfavorably, as well as the 31 percent of Latinos who also view the movement unfavorably or the 46 percent of Latinos who are unsure about it. Only 21 percent of African Americans are unsure of their position on BLM.
Only a slim majority of African Americans, 47 percent, believed BLM had an impact on how law enforcement is behaving in their community.
And there are continually huge gaps between African Americans and whites on the question of whether law enforcement treats African Americans as fairly as they treat whites. Despite the nonstop flow of news on that subject, only 32 percent of whites disagree with that question as opposed to an overwhelming 75 percent of African Americans who disagree. In addition, the poll found only 34 percent of whites believe African Americans don’t receive equal treatment by the criminal justice system compared to 83 percent of Blacks who believe it.
These new findings don’t take away from the prominence of law enforcement brutality as an issue or the need to address it with aggressive political response or public policy solutions. However, they do suggest that African Americans are not as one-dimensional in their views on the topic of public safety as assumed. The demand that community violence also be highlighted suggests the conversations are more nuanced and sophisticated in Black communities, and that most African Americans (like other demographic groups) desire an improved quality of life in their neighborhoods.
Black Lives Matter co-founder Melina Abdullah, who is also leads the Pan-African Studies department at the California State University of Los Angeles, hears this conversation daily.
“Oh yes, I hear it every day,” Abdullah tells the Tribune during a conversation on the poll’s findings. “I’m not surprised. And, as a political scientist by training, the questions in the poll [can] really sway your respondents anyway.”
But Abdullah suggests that it’s not so much about Black Lives Matter as it is about the need to address critical “structural violence” and problems. Abdullah calls for more focused resources in troubled communities not only faced with crime, but with high unemployment, underemployment, failing schools and bad infrastructure. What has happened, in the contemporary conversation on race, racism and generations-long structural challenges in the Black community, is that the Black Lives Matter movement is the most prominent face of community response many residents can point to. That presents a double-edged sword for the movement.
“This conversation, however, these answers are still an indicator that there aren’t enough organizations in Black communities addressing Black demands,” Abdullah said. “This shows there really is a need. We need more hands on deck.”
Abdullah said BLM can’t do it all alone.
“We’re living our full-time lives and doing this,” she said. But she does acknowledge that “we are broadening our definition of state-sanctioned violence to include issues such as gentrification, homelessness and other community challenges. And we are always looking at the budget priorities of governments,” adds Abdullah. “For example, adding more police to a budget is the most ineffective way to public safety.”
Meanwhile, the YouGov data also show that these issues, and the Black Lives Matter movement, are playing rather prominent roles in the 2016 election.
Seventy percent of Black voters surveyed pointed to the Black Lives Matter movement and issues surrounding race and the criminal justice system as “very important” or “somewhat important” in the 2016 election cycle. While much lower, a rather large 43 percent of white voters viewed the movement and these topics as important in the cycle. By party, only 26 percent of Republicans viewed them as important — still significant, however, considering that’s more than a quarter and that, on average, a quarter of the electorate still identifies as tea party-affiliated and an average 30 percent of GOP voters openly support Republican candidate Donald Trump.
But, a combined share of independents (43 percent) also viewed these topics as important in the 2016 race (compared to, predictably, 74 percent of Democrats). A slight majority of Independent voters, 53 percent, had an unfavorable view of BLM. As expected, very high numbers of Republican voters, 80 percent, had an unfavorable view of the movement.
Those views could prove problematic for the Democratic presidential nominee in the general election, presumably Hillary Clinton, as she begins to pivot her messaging for a broader electoral audience. Not only could independents view her campaign negatively within the context of a perceived alignment with BLM — as a way to energize younger Black voters — but, the movement itself could respond negatively the moment she creates political distance.
In addition, 69 percent of African-American respondents believe it’s a good thing that the BLM movement seeks to increase voter turnout.
That desire for an increased focus on community violence comes at a time when other studies show an uptick in violent crime and murders, particularly in a handful of large cities. Black residents in these urban centers are either experiencing these increases or are seeing them prominently displayed as feature headlines in news stories. Hence, in places like Chicago (where, for example, a 9-year-old was executed in a revenge spree by Southside gangs) or Washington, D.C. (where a 15-year-old was fatally shot in broad daylight on an outdoor subway platform in front of his mother and smaller sisters), many residents are asking a frequently heard question: “Where is Black Lives Matter?”
“We’re, frankly, hearing that a lot from constituents,” said one senior aide to a D.C. city council member whose ward has recently been wracked by gun violence.
While the answer to that question is complex, the perception of an increase in violent crime is fairly spot on. As a recent Brennan Center for Justice study found, violent crime rose by more than 3 percent in 2015, with cities such as Los Angeles (25.2 percent), Baltimore (19.2 percent), and Charlotte (15.9 percent) showing the highest increases. The research also found that the 2015 murder rate rose by more than 13 percent in the 30 largest cities.
Still, Brennan researchers cautioned in a blog summary that “in absolute terms, murder rates are so low that a small numerical increase can lead to a large percentage change.”
Ronald Serpas, Chairman of Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime and Incarceration, also cautions against seeing the data as an indication of an alarming new rise in crime considering how “historically low crime rates have been, especially compared to the 1990s.”
But Serpas tells the Tribune that “there have been some noticeable changes in violent crime, especially in places like Baltimore, D.C. and Chicago where it’s clearly a significant issue.”
And Serpas, a former police chief in New Orleans and Nashville — two cities with large Black populations — sees why majorities of African Americans want more focus on community crime, attributing the views in the YouGov poll to a “need for a better quality of life just like everyone else.”
“As a police chief in these cities, I can tell you that the strongest support I’ve ever had was from the African-American community, because they appreciate the work that we do,” says Serpas, who points to a 2010 Wilson Research Strategies survey the Nashville police department conducted showing an 81 percent satisfaction survey from Black residents. “They understand inherently that there will be bad cops and that the chief has to be qualified to respond effectively and transparently to them. Ultimately, these communities will work very hard with police departments to keep their neighborhoods safe.”
http://www.phillytrib.com/news/poll-blacks-more-focused-on-community-violence-not-police-violence/article_497460ff-84f9-5b4e-a20f-91ce9b302f32.html
In a poll recently conducted by YouGov, a majority of African-American respondents surveyed nationally share the view that community violence (or structural neighborhood violence popularly referred to as “Black-on-Black crime”) is a larger problem than racial injustice in the criminal justice system.
And a majority claim that the Black Lives Matter movement should focus more on community violence.
The findings — shared exclusively with The Philadelphia Tribune — offer a fresh and rather revealing new twist to a raging internal community debate over what challenges require more focus: worries over the perception of rising violent crime in urban centers such as Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Chicago and elsewhere or demands for more law enforcement accountability over a constant public stream of racially charged police shootings and mistreatment of African Americans.
While this one poll doesn’t settle that question nor diminish community tensions, it offers data suggesting the conversation is much more complex and unresolved than thought. YouGov found that 42 percent of likely Black voters surveyed identified community violence as a bigger challenge than racism in the criminal justice system, compared to 36 percent who viewed the latter as a bigger problem. Nearly a quarter of Black respondents were unsure.
When asked if the Black Lives Matter movement should focus more on the issue of internal community violence than mistreatment by law enforcement, another slim 42 percent majority of Black respondents surveyed said the Black Lives Matter movement should focus on community violence. That was compared to, again, 36 percent of Black respondents and less than a quarter who were unsure.
Still, nearly 70 percent of Black voters surveyed have a very favorable or somewhat favorable view of the controversial movement which rose as a viral social media sensation into a massive, but decentralized, network of activists spotlighting police violence. Those favorable ratings are still rather high, especially when compared to the 61 percent of whites who view the movement unfavorably, as well as the 31 percent of Latinos who also view the movement unfavorably or the 46 percent of Latinos who are unsure about it. Only 21 percent of African Americans are unsure of their position on BLM.
Only a slim majority of African Americans, 47 percent, believed BLM had an impact on how law enforcement is behaving in their community.
And there are continually huge gaps between African Americans and whites on the question of whether law enforcement treats African Americans as fairly as they treat whites. Despite the nonstop flow of news on that subject, only 32 percent of whites disagree with that question as opposed to an overwhelming 75 percent of African Americans who disagree. In addition, the poll found only 34 percent of whites believe African Americans don’t receive equal treatment by the criminal justice system compared to 83 percent of Blacks who believe it.
These new findings don’t take away from the prominence of law enforcement brutality as an issue or the need to address it with aggressive political response or public policy solutions. However, they do suggest that African Americans are not as one-dimensional in their views on the topic of public safety as assumed. The demand that community violence also be highlighted suggests the conversations are more nuanced and sophisticated in Black communities, and that most African Americans (like other demographic groups) desire an improved quality of life in their neighborhoods.
Black Lives Matter co-founder Melina Abdullah, who is also leads the Pan-African Studies department at the California State University of Los Angeles, hears this conversation daily.
“Oh yes, I hear it every day,” Abdullah tells the Tribune during a conversation on the poll’s findings. “I’m not surprised. And, as a political scientist by training, the questions in the poll [can] really sway your respondents anyway.”
But Abdullah suggests that it’s not so much about Black Lives Matter as it is about the need to address critical “structural violence” and problems. Abdullah calls for more focused resources in troubled communities not only faced with crime, but with high unemployment, underemployment, failing schools and bad infrastructure. What has happened, in the contemporary conversation on race, racism and generations-long structural challenges in the Black community, is that the Black Lives Matter movement is the most prominent face of community response many residents can point to. That presents a double-edged sword for the movement.
“This conversation, however, these answers are still an indicator that there aren’t enough organizations in Black communities addressing Black demands,” Abdullah said. “This shows there really is a need. We need more hands on deck.”
Abdullah said BLM can’t do it all alone.
“We’re living our full-time lives and doing this,” she said. But she does acknowledge that “we are broadening our definition of state-sanctioned violence to include issues such as gentrification, homelessness and other community challenges. And we are always looking at the budget priorities of governments,” adds Abdullah. “For example, adding more police to a budget is the most ineffective way to public safety.”
Meanwhile, the YouGov data also show that these issues, and the Black Lives Matter movement, are playing rather prominent roles in the 2016 election.
Seventy percent of Black voters surveyed pointed to the Black Lives Matter movement and issues surrounding race and the criminal justice system as “very important” or “somewhat important” in the 2016 election cycle. While much lower, a rather large 43 percent of white voters viewed the movement and these topics as important in the cycle. By party, only 26 percent of Republicans viewed them as important — still significant, however, considering that’s more than a quarter and that, on average, a quarter of the electorate still identifies as tea party-affiliated and an average 30 percent of GOP voters openly support Republican candidate Donald Trump.
But, a combined share of independents (43 percent) also viewed these topics as important in the 2016 race (compared to, predictably, 74 percent of Democrats). A slight majority of Independent voters, 53 percent, had an unfavorable view of BLM. As expected, very high numbers of Republican voters, 80 percent, had an unfavorable view of the movement.
Those views could prove problematic for the Democratic presidential nominee in the general election, presumably Hillary Clinton, as she begins to pivot her messaging for a broader electoral audience. Not only could independents view her campaign negatively within the context of a perceived alignment with BLM — as a way to energize younger Black voters — but, the movement itself could respond negatively the moment she creates political distance.
In addition, 69 percent of African-American respondents believe it’s a good thing that the BLM movement seeks to increase voter turnout.
That desire for an increased focus on community violence comes at a time when other studies show an uptick in violent crime and murders, particularly in a handful of large cities. Black residents in these urban centers are either experiencing these increases or are seeing them prominently displayed as feature headlines in news stories. Hence, in places like Chicago (where, for example, a 9-year-old was executed in a revenge spree by Southside gangs) or Washington, D.C. (where a 15-year-old was fatally shot in broad daylight on an outdoor subway platform in front of his mother and smaller sisters), many residents are asking a frequently heard question: “Where is Black Lives Matter?”
“We’re, frankly, hearing that a lot from constituents,” said one senior aide to a D.C. city council member whose ward has recently been wracked by gun violence.
While the answer to that question is complex, the perception of an increase in violent crime is fairly spot on. As a recent Brennan Center for Justice study found, violent crime rose by more than 3 percent in 2015, with cities such as Los Angeles (25.2 percent), Baltimore (19.2 percent), and Charlotte (15.9 percent) showing the highest increases. The research also found that the 2015 murder rate rose by more than 13 percent in the 30 largest cities.
Still, Brennan researchers cautioned in a blog summary that “in absolute terms, murder rates are so low that a small numerical increase can lead to a large percentage change.”
Ronald Serpas, Chairman of Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime and Incarceration, also cautions against seeing the data as an indication of an alarming new rise in crime considering how “historically low crime rates have been, especially compared to the 1990s.”
But Serpas tells the Tribune that “there have been some noticeable changes in violent crime, especially in places like Baltimore, D.C. and Chicago where it’s clearly a significant issue.”
And Serpas, a former police chief in New Orleans and Nashville — two cities with large Black populations — sees why majorities of African Americans want more focus on community crime, attributing the views in the YouGov poll to a “need for a better quality of life just like everyone else.”
“As a police chief in these cities, I can tell you that the strongest support I’ve ever had was from the African-American community, because they appreciate the work that we do,” says Serpas, who points to a 2010 Wilson Research Strategies survey the Nashville police department conducted showing an 81 percent satisfaction survey from Black residents. “They understand inherently that there will be bad cops and that the chief has to be qualified to respond effectively and transparently to them. Ultimately, these communities will work very hard with police departments to keep their neighborhoods safe.”