How Americans See Race and Racial Relations is Shifting Dramatically

 

by Perry Bacon Jr. 

Americans are increasingly telling pollsters that they are worried about "race relations" in the United States. These surveys are taken as a sign of a deepening racial divide. But that interpretation may be wrong.

Hillary Clinton visited Charlotte on Sunday, less than two weeks after the shooting of a black man by an officer there led to intense protests and some riots in the city. The former secretary of state, in a speech at Little Rock A.M.E. Church, was unusually candid for a presidential candidate in speaking about racial issues.

"My worries are not the same as black grandmothers," she said, because "my grandchildren are white, because they are the grandchildren of a former president and secretary of state."

 

Clinton and Donald Trump are asked often how they will improve America's racial climate, including by NBC's Lester Holt at the first presidential debate last week. The question is a natural one, with polls showing a sharp decline in American optimism on racial reconciliation. 

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Source: NBC News