The Washington Post and ABC News recently conducted a poll to gauge how Blacks are treated by the criminal justice system.
Some of the results are predictably sad.
In particular, 58 percent of White evangelicals polled think that Blacks and other non-Whites are treated the same by law enforcement as Whites. That’s contrasted by 63 percent of Americans overall believing that Blacks and other minorities receive unequal treatment under the law.
Also not surprisingly, 52 percent of Republicans believe that the American justice system treats everyone fairly.
What can one say when confronted with such myopia?
A few things.
The White evangelicals and Republicans who believe that Black and Brown people are treated equally under the law must watch too much Fox News, OAN, Newsmax, and their ilk.
The White evangelicals and Republicans who believe that Black and Brown people are treated equally under the law have never heard of Breonna Taylor, Philando Castile, and so many other Black and Brown men and women needlessly killed by the police.
The White evangelicals and Republicans who believe that Black and Brown people are treated equally under the law weren’t paying attention on January 6 when Whites were allowed to vandalize the US Capitol.
The White evangelicals and Republicans who who believe that Black and Brown people are treated equally under the law must think that Black and Brown rioters would have been afforded the same deference and restraint.
Of course, these two groups made up the majority of the people rioting on January 6.
They already know that Black and Brown people aren’t treated equally under the law.
Why?
Because they’re still alive.