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VOLUME 97 - NUMBER 14 DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 2018 TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENTS
Poll: 50 years after MLK, civil rights goals unmet
By Jesse J. Holland and Emily Swanson
WASHINGTON (AP) - Fifty years after the assassination of
Martin Luther King Jr., only 1 in 10 African Americans think the '
United States has achieved all or most of the goals of the civil rights
movement he led, according to a new poll by the Associated Press-
NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Three-quarters of African Americans said there has been little or
no progress on fair treatment by police, and more than half answered
the same about fair coverage by the media, political representation
or equal economic opportunities.
Currently, things are steadily “going on a quick downward
spiral,” said Stephanie Sutton, 42, a Silver Spring, Maryland,
housewife who is black. “Inequality touches everything, from work,
police, schools, education, income, houses.”
Even when it comes to voting rights - the high point for perceived
progress for all of Americans in the poll - just 34 percent of blacks
said there has been a lot of progress made toward equality. Another
29 percent said there has been at least some progress.
“We’re going backward to where we’re. starting to see more
black males mostly getting assaulted by police officers unjustly and
stuff like that,” said Kyla Marshall, 28, of Lansing, Michigan, a
state government worker who is black.
Americans overall were only slightly more optimistic. More than
half said major progress has been made toward equal voting rights
for African Americans, but just a quarter said there has been a lot
of progress in achieving equal treatment by police or the criminal
justice system. Among whites, 64 percent think there’s been a
lot of progress and another 25 percent think there’s been minor
progress on voting rights, while 28 percent think there’s been a lot
of progress and 31 percent partial progress toward equality in the
criminal justice system.
The poll found that 30 percent of American adults - 35 percent
of whites and just 8 percent of blacks - said all or most of the . goals
of the 1960s civil rights movement have been achieved. Most of the
remainder said partial progress has been achieved.
“I think the civil rights movement was phenomenal in forcing
banks, political systems and educational systems” to change, said
Grant Jay Walters, 53, of Hamburg, New York, who is white. “I
think it absolutely achieved its goals. I do not think the civil rights
movement can go in and change the hearts of men. There’s still a
lot of racism in the communities and I’m not sure how you can ever
make that go away.”
The poll was taken about six weeks ahead of the 50th anniversary
of King’s death.
King was shot and killed April 4, 1968, outside his second-
?oor room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, by
segregationist James Earl Ray. King has since been acknowledged
as an American hero for his quest for freedom, justice, equality and
peace among all races.
The poll found only one area - voting rights - where a majority
said a lot of progress has been made for racial equality since the civil
rights movement. In total, '57 percent of Americans said there has
been major progress on equal voting rights, though just 39 percent
said there has been major progress on political representation for
African Americans.
Close to half said there has been major progress on reducing
segregation in public life - 47 percent - and equal access to good
education - 48 percent. About a third said there has been at least
some progress in those areas.
On the lowest end of the spectrum, just 23 percent said there has
been a great deal of progress in fair treatment of blacks by police or
the criminal justice system, and nearly half said there has been little
to no progress in either of those areas.
Whites were more likely than blacks to think there has been
progress in every area asked about in the poll.
Blacks are “claiming racism but I don’t see it myself,” said
Tommy Romero, 47, of New Iberia, Louisiana, who is white.
“They’re claiming it but it’s all about what they feel about the past,
slavery and everything else. That’s how I feel.”
Romero said that things overall have gotten much better
considering the racism of the past, especially in the South.
“Things were terrible back then,” he said. “The way minorities
were treated, drinking at separate fountains, eating at separate
restaurants, and sitting on certain parts of the bus, stuff like that,
police beating on them, that just made no sense.”
In general, 54 percent of Republicans and just 14 percent of
Democrats think most or all of the goals of the civil rights movement
have been achieved. That ranged from 76 percent of Republicans
and 46 percent of Democrats saying there has been a lot of progress
on voting rights, to 43 percent of Republicans and 9 percent of
Democrats saying there has been a lot of progress on fair treatment
by police.
Just over half of all Americans - including 79 percent of blacks
and 44 percent of whites - said African Americans continue to face
disadvantages to getting ahead in the United States. That’s compared
with 22 percent who said blacks actually have advantages and 26
percent who said their race makes no. difference in getting ahead.
The AP-NORC poll of 1,337 adults was conducted Feb. 15-19
using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak
Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population.
The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus
3.9 percentage points.
The poll includes a total of 388 black respondents, who were
sampled at a higher rate than their proportion of the population for
purposes of analysis. The margin of sampling error among blacks
is plus or minus 7.3 percentage points. For results reported among
all adults, responses among blacks are weighted to reflect their
proportion among all U.S. adults.
Respondents were first selected randomly using address-based
sampling methods, and later interviewed online or by phone.
HANDS UP, DON’T SHOOT! Young people at the March for Life in Washington
D.C. Photo by “Freddie Allen/AMG/NNPA.
NAACP spearheads
lawsuit to overhaul
plan for 2020 Census
By Kevin Freking
WASHINGTON
(AP) - The NAACP is
spearheading a lawsuit
filed March 28 against
the Census Bureau
and President Donald
Trump, saying the federal
government is unprepared
for the 2020 Census, and
that will lead to a massive
undercounting of African-
Americans.
The group wants a
federal judge to oversee
the Census Bureau’s plan
to avoid an undercount for
minority communities.
The lawsuit filed in
U.S. District Court in
Maryland contends that
understaffing, inadequate
funding and the use of on-
line forms will exacerbate
historic undercounts for
communities of color.
“As we continued to
look at past undercounts
and the Census Bureau’s
preparations for 2020, we
came to the conclusion
we were witnessing a train
wreck in the making,” said
Online:
AP-NORC Center for Public Ajfairs Research: http://www.
apnorc.org
For AP’s complete coverage marking 50 years since Martin
Luther King Jr. was assassinated, go to https://apnews.com/tag/
MartinLutherKingJr
Bradford Berry, general
counsel for the NAACP.
The decennial census is
required by the Constitution
and used to determine the
number of seats each state
has in the House, as well
as how federal money
is distributed to local
communities.
Berry said his
organization has been
working with the Yale Law
School Rule of Law Clinic
on concerns about the 2020
Census. They used the
Freedom of Information
Act to obtain records from
the Commerce Department
about its preparations.
Prince George’s County,
Maryland, joined in the
lawsuit. Its elected leaders
said the county stands to
lose critical federal funds
and voting power if the
2020 Census takes place
without major changes.
Blacks make up a majority
of the county’s population.
The 2010 Census
undercounted 2.1 percent
of the black population
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., shown here at the 1963 March
on Washington, was assasinated 50 year ago April 4. (NNPA
released file dphoto.
Bradford Berry, general
counsel for the NAACP.
The decennial census is
required by the Constitution
and used to determine the
number of seats each state
has in the House, as well
as how federal money
is distributed to local
communities.
Berry said his
organization has been
working with the Yale Law
School Rule of Law Clinic
on concerns about the 2020
Census. They used the.
Freedom of Information
Act to obtain records from
the Commerce Department
about its preparations.
Prince George’s County,
Maryland, joined in the
lawsuit. Its elected leaders
said the county stands to
lose critical federal funds
and voting power if the
2020 Census takes place
without major changes.
Blacks make up a majority
of the county’s population.
The 2010 Census
undercounted 2.1 percent
of the black population
nationally and 1.5 percent
of the Hispanic population,
according to a Census Bureau
estimate.
The lawsuit has been
months in the making and is
separate from efforts being
taken in states, including
California, New York and
New Jersey, to prevent a
citizenship question from
being included in the
decennial census. The Census
Bureau did not immediately
respond to a request for
comment on the NAACP’s
lawsuit.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill
have also expressed concerns in
recent months about the Census
Bureau’s preparation for the
2020 count, and recently passed
legislation to increase spending
at the agency by $1.3 billion this
fiscal year. That’s double what
the Trump administration had
requested, and GOP lawmakers
said the bump would allow for
adequate preparation for the
decennial census.
Judge:
Release video
of police
beating of
jaywalker
ASHEVILLE (AP) - A
North Carolina judge has
ruled all video in the case
of a white police officer
accused of using excessive
force against a black man
accused of jaywalking
should be released.
Local news outlets
report Buncombe County
Superior Court Judge Mark
Powell said March 26 it
was in the public interest
for footage captured by
police body cameras to be
made public. Powell set an
April 2 release date.
District Attorney Todd
Williams said the release
would threaten his ability
to prosecute the case.
Video footage captures
former Asheville Police
Officer Christopher
Hickman ordering Johnnie
Jermaine Rush to put his
hands behind his back. It
shows Hickman punching
Rush’s head and using a
stun gun while holding him
to the ground last Aug. 25.
Hickman was later
charged with felony assault.
Charles
Barkley gives
$250,000 to
online black
history course
rs Note
APNewsNow.
HERNANDO, Miss.
(AP) - Charles Barkley has
donated $250,000 toward
educating Mississippi
and Alabama high school
students about African-
American history.
The Commercial
Appeal of Memphis,
Tennessee reported March
29 the basketball Hall of
Famer and TV analyst’s
donation to the Community
Foundation of Northwest
Mississippi will help fund
a digital course on African-
Americans’ contributions
to public service, science,
art and sports.
The course is taught
through a partnership
between the foundation
and education technology
company EVERFI.
Barkley says in a statement
every child in his home state
should have an opportunity
to know their history. The
Alabama-native says he was
born during the civil rights era
and has gratitude for Medgar
Evers, Congressman John
Lewis and Martin Luther
King Jr.
Foundation CEO Tom
Pittman and EVERFI CEO
Tom Davidson say thousands
of students will be involved.