NEW YORK, December 9 (Sputnik) – More than half of African-Americans say that relations between police and residents in the United States will deteriorate in 2015, a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center reveals.
"About half of blacks (52%) expect relations between local police and minorities to get worse over the next year, while just 16% see relations improving; 31% expect them to stay about the same. Among whites, 34% say relations will worsen, while 43% expect them to stay about the same," the Pew Research Center reported Monday.
The survey was carried out after US grand jury decisions to not prosecute two white policemen in the cases of Eric Garner, who was killed in a chokehold by officer Daniel Pantaleo in New York in July, and Michael Brown, who was shot and killed in Ferguson, Missouri, in August by officer Darren Wilson.
The Pew Research Center survey, conducted on December 3-7 among 1,507 adults, revealed that the majority of Americans do not think that race was a major factor in either of the grand jury rulings.
"About a quarter (27%) say race was a major factor in the Brown decision, and 16% say it was a minor factor; about half (48%) say it was not a factor at all in the ruling," the researchers reported, adding that in the Garner case, "28% say race was a major factor, 16% say it was a minor factor, while 39% say it was not a factor".
Over the past two weeks the United States saw two waves of race-related protests that erupted following the grand jury decisions on the Garner and Brown cases. Riots flared in the US town of Ferguson, Missouri following the grand jury decision on November 24 not to indict Wilson. Protests later swept across 180 US cities and 38 different states and even spread to some other countries including the United Kingdom.
A new wave of protests erupted in New York City after last Wednesday's grand jury decision not to bring charges against Pantaleo.
