Numbers from a recent Pew Research Center survey indicates that almost half of those polled (46 percent) who said they attended a BLM protest were white. Only 17 percent of those who say they attended a protest focused on race or racial equality in the last month were black. Hispanic Americans account for 22 percent of recent protest attendees, and Asians another eight percent.
Pew Research polls have broken down the make-up of Americans participating in protests or rallies focused on issues related to race or racial equality. These demographic studies show participants not only by race by but other categories such as gender, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education, and whether they live in urban or rural areas.
About four-in-ten (41 percent) of those responding to a June poll who said they recently attended a protest focused on race are younger than 30.
City dwellers made up 41 percent of those who protested within the past month, with 42 percent of participants living in suburbs. Those living in rural areas accounted for just 17 percent of recent protesters.
There was a large divide based on political party affiliation, with 79 percent of those who said they participated in a protest focused on racial equality in the last month identifying with or leaning toward the Democratic Party, while just 17 percent said they are Republican.
About six-in-ten U.S. adults said the protests were motivated in part by people taking advantage of the situation to engage in criminal behavior, but there are wide partisan gaps in these views. Eight-in-ten Republicans said people taking advantage to engage in criminal behavior has been a major factor, while only about four-in-ten Democrats agreed.
The large numbers of white participants in Black Lives Matters protests have encouraged, but also surprised, some supporters of the BLM movement.
Not all BLM leaders appreciated their white supporters. A June New York Times article (“Black Activists Wonder: Is Protesting Just Trendy for White People?”) quoted Anthony Beckford, president of Black Lives Matter Brooklyn, who recalled feeling uneasy about the large number of white people who had shown up at a protest in Brooklyn.
“I looked around and I was like: ‘I feel outnumbered. Is my life in danger?’” Beckford said that he feared that some of the protesters were white nationalists infiltrating the march.
The Times cited a study of the George Floyd protests on one weekend that found overwhelmingly white crowds. White protesters made up 61 percent of those surveyed in New York, 65 percent of protesters in Washington, and 53 percent of protesters in Los Angeles.
Such overwhelming white support seems to contradict the very assertion that the protesters are trying to make, i.e., that black people have been marginalized and are victims of “systemic” racism. While racists undoubtedly exist in our population, to say that racism is prevalent or systemic is to fail to give credit to the overwhelming majority of people of all races who have tried to build bridges across racial divides and live in harmony.
Photo: AP Images
Warren Mass has served The New American since its launch in 1985 in several capacities, including marketing, editing, and writing. Since retiring from the staff several years ago, he has been a regular contributor to the magazine. Warren writes from Texas and can be reached at [email protected].
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