A new poll released today quantifies the racial tensions surrounding Ferguson, Mo., with some not-so-surprising findings: 62% of white residents of St. Louis believe that the shooting of Michael Brown at the hands of a police officer was justified, while 65% of African-American residents did not.
The poll, released by the Remington Research Group, asked 604 residents of St. Louis County various questions about the shooting and its fallout, which sparked protests, overwhelming displays of police force, and a nationwide conversation about the relationship between law enforcement and the African-American community.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported, 77% of white respondents believed that Brown was not “targeted because of his race,” while 65% of African-American respondents believe his race played a role in his death.
More tellingly, 70% of African-Americans felt like blacks were unfairly targeted by law enforcement, while 61% of whites disagreed.
The racial splits didn’t stop there:
Based on what the residents have seen and heard over the past month, 41 percent believe that “organized street gangs” bore the primary responsibility for the violence that erupted along West Florissant Avenue in the days following the Brown shooting.
But that number, again, split according to race with only 31 percent of African-Americans affixing the blame on gang members, compared to 46 percent of whites and 36 percent who offered other opinions on the source of the violence.
African-Americans were instead more likely to hold law enforcement accountable for spurring looting, shooting and other incidents that prompted the use of tear gas, rubber bullets and other means of crowd control.
Thankfully, everyone of all races disapproves of how Gov. Jay Nixon handled the situation, with 62% of whites and 70% of blacks agreeing that he acted poorly.
And then there’s this, which proves that hatred of the 24/7 media is a bridge between the vast racial divide:
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