La. residents disagree on role discrimination plays in society

By Mahogani Counts
Contributing Writer

(LSU Manship School News Service) — An LSU survey shows that Louisiana residents disagree on the role that racial discrimination plays in our society, with 84 percent of Black residents believing more changes are needed to achieve racial equality.

Only 39 percent of whites agree. Twenty-six percent of whites think the country has made the necessary changes to achieve equal rights, and 30 percent of whites think that it has gone too far in making changes for the rights of Black people.

This study was conducted by researchers in the Public Policy Research Lab at the LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication. The researchers polled 781 adults throughout Louisiana to understand their views on race and class.

Respondents also differed on the extent of racial discrimination in several socioeconomic areas. Blacks and whites in Louisiana staunchly disagree on the degree to which racial discrimination plays a part in the job market, the service industry, applications for loans or mortgages, voting and healthcare.

A majority of all Louisiana’s residents – 55 percent – believe that Black people are treated less fairly than white people in interactions with the police. But when the responses are broken down by race, 86 percent of Black people say police treat Blacks less fairly, while only 42 percent of white respondents agreed.

This finding comes as the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin looms over the American public. Chauvin is on trial for second-degree murder after a Black Minneapolis resident, George Floyd, died in his custody. Investigators say that Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes after officers him on the ground.

The prosecution and defense have argued over whether this was a racially motivated case of police brutality. Through the first nine days of the trial, jurors have heard emotional testimony of individuals who were present at Floyd’s killing. Jurors also have heard testimony from medical practitioners and law enforcement officials familiar with Chauvin.

On other issues in the survey, about two-thirds of Louisiana residents think the economic system in America unfairly favors the wealthy, an eight percentage-point increase since 2016.

Seventy-eight percent approved of Gov. John Bel Edwards’ expansion of Medicaid in 2016 to include the working poor. This includes majorities among both Democrats (96 percent) and Republicans (54 percent).

Similarly, 76 percent of the respondents approved of last year’s expansion of unemployment insurance benefits in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes majorities among Democrats (94 percent) and Republicans (62 percent).

Interviews for the LSU survey, part of a larger 2021 Louisiana Survey covering a variety of issues, concluded on March 1.

This article originally published in the April 12, 2021 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.