According to the national survey, fewer than half of all Americans say the country has made substantial progress toward racial equality. When it comes to Latinos, around 43 percent of Latinos say that the U.S. has made “a lot” of progress in the past 50 years to achieving Martin Luther King’s dream. Meanwhile, slightly more — 48 percent of Hispanics — think “a lot” more has to be done to achieve racial equality.
Latinos’ perspectives aren’t too far off from the rest of country’s. Fewer than half — or 45 percent — of all Americans think the country has made substantial progress toward racial equality. About the same amount, 49 percent of all Americans, think “a lot” more remains to be done.
The report also examined group relations in the United States and found that the majority of whites, black and Hispanics get along well with each other. Three-quarters of white Americans say that their group and Hispanics get along well — a view largely shared by 74 percent of Hispanics. According to the findings, the relationship between whites and Latinos fares slightly better than the relationship between blacks and Hispanics. Six in ten Hispanics say the two groups get along well compared to 78 percent of blacks.
Overall, the survey hints at improving relationships between Hispanics and other races. Since the question was last asked in a 2009 Pew survey, the proportion of Americans saying whites and Hispanics got along well increased from 67 percent to 74 percent. The proportion that say blacks and Hispanics got along well also increased, from 48 percent to 54 percent.
Despite progress on race relations, at least one in five Latinos say they have personally experienced discrimination.
The demographic and economic data provides a mixed picture of Latinos’ well-being in recent decades. The income gap between Hispanics and whites has remained unchanged since 2007. The number of Latinos owning homes has also slightly dropped since 2007, when Hispanic homeownership was at 66 percent that of whites. Meanwhile, Latino students have slightly bridged the high school completion gap. In 2012, the Hispanic rate was 70 percent that of the white rate, compared to 54 percent back in 1971, when data on Latinos first became available.
Source: Published originally on NBC Latino as What do Latinos think of state of race relations today? New study releases findings,by Jacquellena Carrero, August 22, 2013.