Most Americans See Race Relations Worsening Since Obama’s Election
Dec 7, 2014 11:00 AM EST
A new Bloomberg Politics poll shows deep divisions over the outcomes of police shootings of unarmed black men.
Julie Bykowicz
President Barack Obama had hoped his historic election would ease race relations, yet a majority of Americans, 53 percent, say the interactions between the white and black communities have deteriorated since he took office, according to a new Bloomberg Politics poll. Those divisions are laid bare in the split reactions to the decisions by two grand juries not to indict white police officers who killed unarmed black men in Ferguson, Mo., and Staten Island, N.Y.
Both times, protesters responded with outrage and politicians called for federal investigations. Yet Americans don’t think of the cases as a matched set of injustices, the poll found. A majority agreed with the Ferguson decision, while most objected to the conclusion in the Staten Island death, which was captured on video. The divergent opinions—52 percent agreed on Ferguson compared with 25 percent who approved of the Staten Island outcome—add to an ongoing discussion that was inflamed when Officer Daniel Pantaleo was seen in the July video putting what appeared to be a chokehold on Eric Garner, a 43-year-old man suspected of selling untaxed cigarettes. Garner could be heard saying, “I can’t breathe,” and died of a heart attack in what a medical examiner ruled a homicide. The grand jury decision not to charge Pantaleo came just 12 days after a similar panel in Ferguson declined to charge Officer Darren Wilson, who in August shot to death 18-year-old Michael Brown. That altercation was not captured on video, and the prosecutor presented evidence of a physical confrontation between the two men before the fatal shots were fired.
https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2014-12-07/bloomberg-politics-poll-finds-most-americans-see-race-relations-worsening-since-obamas-election
What would one expect when you put Al the mouth Sharpton as a go between the man belongs in a prison cell. I believe if the black community searched they could certainly find a better spokesperson. I also think the officer that did the choke hold should have been indicted for at least manslaughter.
Obama is a man of no ideas so in order to ‘fire up his base’ he interjects himself into any situation in which he can get an audience.
His first blunder was jumping to the defense of Henry Louis Gates in Boston, who was clearly out of order and wrong (remember the ‘beer summit in DC”?
He takes sides based upon the race (black) before knowing ANY facts.
As usual, he is wrong.
Both of the recent dead blacks had criminal records.
He wasn’t there, you weren’t there, and I wasn’t there.
However, both could have EASILY been prevented.
If the Police say STOP, do no RESIST, or STOP RESISTING,… DO IT.
I’d have to guess that the fat guy in NY died from something other than the ‘choke hold’ (which was taught in the academy)
Why? because when you’re choking, you can’t fucking TALK.
So lets release the autopsy and see if in fact death was or wasn’t caused by asphyxiation.
Even if the cops in St Louis and Staten Island were indicted there’s no guarantee that they would’ve been convicted in an actual trial.
I don’t think that’s understood by the protesters.
Let me put my blinker on…I’m curious to see if a grand jury gets convened for the allegations made against Bill Cosby by 18+ women.
Will there be a grand jury for the incident at William Paterson last week ?
“He takes sides based upon the race (black) before knowing ANY facts.”
The definition of racist.
He may not be the first racist president, but he is definitely one of them.