Thread: Survey Points to Tensions Among Chief Minorities

Survey Points to Tensions Among Chief Minorities
By JULIA PRESTON



Distrust and racial tension among Hispanics, Asians and blacks in the United States are pressing concerns for all three groups, a new national poll conducted in English, Spanish and five Asian languages has found.

The poll, published Wednesday, found a stark gap between Hispanics and Asians, who are mainly immigrants, and African-Americans about their prospects for success.

About three-quarters of Hispanics and about two-thirds of Asians believe they will progress in this country if they work hard, the survey found. But only 44 percent of African-Americans polled said they believed that hard work would bring them success, and 66 percent of African-Americans said they did not believe that everyone in the United States had an equal opportunity to succeed.

The poll was published by New America Media, a national association of about 700 ethnic media organizations that promotes better relations among racial and ethnic groups. It was conducted by Bendixen & Associates, a polling organization in Miami.

Sergio Bendixen, who conducted the poll, said it was the first national survey to look into relations among the leading minority groups in the United States. The Asian languages used were Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese and Tagalog, which is spoken in the Philippines.

The sample of respondents reflected the demographic makeup of the three groups in the United States population, Mr. Bendixen said. About half of Hispanics and about four-fifths of Asians in this country are immigrants, while 90 percent of blacks were born here. The survey did not ask about the legal status of the immigrants.

It reported that 93 percent of Hispanics, 92 percent of African-Americans and 73 percent of Asians said racial tension was a very important problem in the United States.

But the groups’ perceptions of one another are not all negative. While 51 percent of African-Americans in the poll said Hispanic immigrants were taking jobs and political power from blacks, another large group of African-Americans — 45 percent — disagreed that they were losing ground to Hispanics. And while 44 percent of Hispanics said they feared African-Americans, identifying them with high crime rates, half of Hispanics had no such fear.

Views of the criminal justice system differ widely among the three groups. Among blacks, 71 percent said the system “favors the rich and powerful,â€

Maybe rathet than poll by phone they should have gone to Watt's in LA and asked the black people there how they felt...

Telemundo did a report about this. CHECK OUT THE SELECTION IN TESTIMONIALS. Pro-Hispanic. Anti-African-Amerian

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbCHyRb0ztc