The median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly available government data from 2009.
As a group, African Americans attracted relatively little attention in the U.S. mainstream news media during the first year of Barack Obama’s presidency — and what coverage there was tended to focus more on specific episodes than on examining how broader issues and trends affected the lives of blacks generally.
Over the past seven decades, America’s pollsters have used “colored,” “Negro,” “African American,” “Afro-American” and “black” in questions in national surveys.
Assessments about the state of black progress in America have improved more dramatically among blacks during the past two years than at any time in the past quarter century.
While blacks and Hispanics hold broadly favorable views of each other, Hispanics are less likely to say the two groups get along well. At the same time, African Americans are far more likely than Latinos to say blacks are frequently the victims of racial discrimination.
Race, ethnicity and politics can sometimes make for a volatile mix, as the presidential field of 2008 has begun to discover. But in the world beyond politics, race relations in this country are on a pretty even keel.
African Americans see a widening gulf between the values of middle class and poor blacks, and nearly four-in-ten say that because of the diversity within their community, blacks can no longer be thought of as a single race.
HighlightsPew Research Center for the People & the Press | Project for Excellence in Journalism | Pew Internet & American Life Project
Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life | Pew Hispanic Center | Pew Global Attitudes Project | Social & Demographic Trends
Pew Research Center | 1615 L Street, NW Suite 700 Washington, DC 20036 | (202) 419-4300
Copyright 2012 | Privacy Policy
