BATON ROUGE, LA.: The threat of violence by people inspired by foreign extremists invokes fear in a majority of young Americans across racial groups. But for young people of color, particularly African-Americans, that fear is matched or surpassed by worries about violence from white extremists.
A new GenForward poll of Americans age 18-30 shows widespread anxiety among young people about attacks from both inside and outside the United States.
Sixty-two percent of young African-Americans and 55 percent of Hispanics surveyed said they were very concerned about the threat of violence committed by white extremists, compared to one-third of whites and 41 percent of Asian-Americans.
GenForward is a survey by the Black Youth Project at the University of Chicago with the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll is designed to highlight how race and ethnicity shape the opinions of a new generation.
Gregg Higgins, 27, was one of the whites who said he was very worried about violence by extremists in his own race. In fact, he said he was more concerned about “the homegrown white extremists” than the threat of violence from people outside the United States or people inspired by foreign extremists.
A social worker in Pittsburgh, Higgins said the growing political tension has “shown a really ugly part of our past coming through and being more heard.” He described it as “white males who are angry and who aren’t now afraid to show that anger.”
“That fear of loss of control and loss of privilege is what’s inspiring this vitriol and this hate,” Higgins said.
Worry about attacks from people currently living in the U.S. who are motivated by foreign extremists spreads more evenly across racial groups, with at least half of whites, blacks, Asians and Hispanics describing themselves as very concerned about that threat.
Violence committed by people from outside the U.S. also caused unease, especially among Hispanic young adults. Fifty-six percent of Hispanics polled said they were very concerned, compared to 49 percent of African-Americans, 40 percent of Asian-Americans and 41 percent of whites.
Darsi Vazquez, a 25-year-old Hispanic college student from Huntsville, Ala., described herself as very concerned about the threat of violence from foreign and domestic extremists alike, but she thinks the fear is exacerbated by news coverage of mass shootings and the types of overt racism that appear in social media.
“A few years back technology wasn’t where it’s at it now, so you couldn’t see things like this happening like you see it now,” Vazquez said.
Terrorism concerns have young Americans across racial groups largely in agreement that some rights and freedoms should be sacrificed in efforts to prevent an attack. But more than two-thirds of those surveyed said they oppose a temporary prohibition on any Muslim who isn’t a U.S. citizen from entering the country.