And all of a sudden race is considered a major problem once again:
Bottom Line: Where there is good is there is also unfortunately evil. For that reason there will always be bigots and racists. Our goal as a society should be to minimize those influences without compromising our values. Thankfully, over the course of time, we've done a good job of that in this country. First abolition and eventually the Civil Rights Act. We've also done a good jobs minimizing the influence of radical/racists movements.
At the peak of the KKK in the 1920's, 4 million Americans, or 4% of the US population were part of the white supremacist movement. According to the Pew Research Center today, the highest estimate is that only 100,000 Americans or .003% of the population is part of the movement and the low end estimate is 10,000. That being said we've also seen a bit of a resurgence in black activism with the rise of the "Black Lives Matter" movement. So despite our collective progress, the recent fanning of racial flames has resulted in unfortunate outcomes according to the latest on the race topic. Pew Research Center polls periodically on the question as to if we think race is a problem. In light of recent events the news isn't good.
- In 1995 - 41% of Americans thought racism was a big problem in the US
- By 2009 - 26% of Americans still did but today...
Most recently 58% of Americans now feel racism is a big problem. The highest since Pew specifically started asking this question. That's unfortunate. It's important not to play into the hysteria that far too many are attempting to perpetuate.