More Americans think the U.S. criminal justice system is biased against blacks, while the worry about the racial relations keeps rising, a latest Gallup study has found.
The findings come after the recent killings of two black men by police in the U.S. states of Louisiana and Minnesota, which have ignited nationwide angry protests by African Americans against police brutality and racial discrimination.
In a related incident, five police officers were killed and seven others wounded Thursday by a black gunman who ambushed the police during a black protest in Dallas, Texas to retaliate against white policemen in the wake of the Louisiana killing. This is the deadliest police-killing incident since the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attack.
Americans, taken as a whole, have become more likely to say that the American justice system is biased against blacks, according to the Gallup analysis of its polls conducted since 1993.
The percentage of Americans holding that view has increased to 49 percent in Gallup's June 7-July 1 survey, from 47 percent in 2015. In comparison, between 33 percent and 38 percent of Americans said the system was biased in surveys done in 1993, 2008 and 2013.
The Gallup study also found that perceptions of bias have risen among both whites and blacks, although a large gap remains between the two racial groups.
In the June 7-July 1 Gallup survey, 76 percent of blacks believe the U.S. justice system is biased against blacks, compared with 45 percent of whites.
Significant majorities of American blacks have historically perceived that blacks are treated less fairly than whites in dealings with police, the Gallup analysis discovered.
While 67 percent of American blacks think they are treated by police less fairly, only 40 percent of American whites who feel that way.
So far as the racial relations in the U.S. are concerned, American blacks are far more worried than whites.
Combing polls conducted in 2015 and 2016, Gallup found that 53 percent of American blacks say they worry a great deal about the race relations, while only 27 percent of whites feel the same.
On average, a March Gallup found 35 percent of Americans are worried a great deal about the race relations in the U.S., which is higher than any time since Gallup asked the question in 2001. The percentage had been below 20 percent from 2007 through 2014 and was 28 percent in 2015.