Poor Blacks are ‘Sunny Jims’ about the future?

(Special from NorthStarNews Today) – It may come as a surprise to most of us, but poor Blacks are more optimistic than other racial and ethnic groups and the reasons are grounded in President Barack Obama’s election and re-election and their religion, even though African Americans feel less safe than other groups walking in their neighborhoods at night, according to Brookings, a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan research organization.

In an article titled “The surprising optimism of Black Americans,” Brookings analyzed Gallup Healthways’ data and found that poor Blacks are more optimistic about the future than poor Hispanics, whites and Asians. The U.S. poverty line is defined as around $20,000 in annual household income, according to Brookings’ analysis of the Gallup Healthways poll.

It is not clear how the poll was taken and whether those surveyed gave pollsters honest answers.

The report notes that although President Barack Obama’s popularity has waned with other groups, the president’s popularity has remained steady among African Americans.

Religion also is a key factor in happiness among Blacks. After the Dylann Roof, a white supremacist, massacred nine unarmed worshippers in a Charleston, S.C., church on June 17th, the incident did not result in Black anger and violence. Instead it resulted in a show of community solidarity and support, Brookings found.

“Black churches are an important part of the picture, given the importance of religion to their members,” the article said.

The report notes that optimism is high even though there are daily reports in of police shooting or killing unarmed Black men, like in Ferguson, Mo., or Baltimore; both incidents set off days of rebellion.

Gallup Healthways polls survey a sample of Americans daily. They are asked to predict where they think they will be five years from now. Blacks are under-represented in the poll and the most-destitute among them — incarcerated Black men and illegal immigrants — are not represented at all.

This article originally published in the October 5, 2015 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.