NEW ORLEANS — We continue to get responses to a survey seeking your opinions and views on race.
We posted that survey several weeks ago. As of Wednesday afternoon, there have been more than 960 responses. The answers to the unscientific survey reflect a wide spectrum of opinions.
Here’s the first question on the survey:
Do you believe everyone in America has an equal chance to prosper, regardless of race? Why?
One respondent answered “Yes, look all around New Orleans and you see all sorts of people doing well. It takes hard work.”
Another response read, “No, history has shown the exact opposite.”
With the worldwide attention that was placed on the murder of George Floyd, the survey included the following question:
Do you believe everyone in America is treated equally in the criminal justice system? Why?
These are just two responses to the question:
“No. The propaganda has been set that black people are dangerous and black lives are less valuable than others. It was a success. Many believe it.”
“Yes, it’s easy don't break the law then you have no problem.”
Following a roughly 46% increase in so-called hate incidents against Asian Americans in the past year as reported by the forum Stop AAPI Hate, President Biden is expected to sign into law a new anti-hate bill recently passed by both chambers of Congress.
“Asians are invisible in this country. The only time that you know Asians exist is when there’s a pandemic or a war,” Barbara Weaver said.
Weaver was featured in the latest installment in our ongoing series “The Talk,” which focuses on issues related to race. That segment included several and differing perspectives on discrimination against Asian Americans. The survey on race sought opinions on that through this question:
Do you believe Asian Americans are facing increasing hate crimes in America, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic? why?
Here are five different answers:
“No, this nonfactual nonsense is driven by the media.”
“Yes. The previous White House administration started and perpetuated the blame to Asians for COVID-19.”
“No. I think the hate crimes that have consistently been done to them are now gaining more attention. Asian Americans have faced hate crimes since they first arrived here.”
“I'm not sure if what we are seeing in the media is just being given more attention while the amount of hate crime has remained consistent.”
“Yes, and not by conservatives. The truth about who is committing these crimes should be told.”
The survey had only four questions. We know the conversation about race is much more complex. We invited people to leave us a voice message and say whatever is on their mind when it comes to race. The following are portions of two voice messages we received.
“My stance on race is that America doesn’t want to -- American whites don’t want to -- realize their founding fathers were sex traffickers, human traffickers, murderers. America was founded on crime, and white people don’t want to accept that,” said one woman.
“So, I’m 28, I’m a single mother, I am a student. My sexual orientation is bi-sexual. I am a Republican. I think the race issue has only gotten worse since we’ve been pushing a narrative that white people are racist, when I’ve only met one person that was racist, and he’s dead. He was my grandfather and fought in World War II. He was from a different generation,” said another woman.
These beliefs and views were shared anonymously, which can reveal more honest and sometimes surprising comments. Of course, life doesn’t unfold like a survey, and there’s a deeper question of how those beliefs and views influence us when we’re face to face with people.
You can take the survey yourself here: