Recently, Daniel Politi wrote a piece for Salon.com that began, "In the four years since the United States elected the country’s first black president, a majority of Americans express outright prejudice toward blacks." His assertion, supported by surveys conducted by the Associated Press, was repeated numerous times on the airwaves, across MSNBC and countless online news sites. Of course, Politi's claim comes as no surprise to many if not most Black Americans who, over the years, have made the same claim ad nauseum.
But historically, claims of racism gain serious attention when a white person or white organization is making it -- like the Associated Press.
White anti-racist writer and lecturer, Tim Wise, frequently reminds the scores and sometimes hundreds who fill auditoriums to hear him that he, as a white man, can attract thousands for saying things about racism that are regularly ignored when Blacks say the same thing. If you are unfamiliar with Tim Wise, here's a link to one of his many videos - http://youtu.be/...
As a Black American, I didn't need to be informed by the Associated Press of the increased racism against Blacks in the U.S. since Barack Obama became president but I'm glad they conducted the survey and just as happy that it's getting the attention it is getting.
I write on this topic frequently for the LA Progressive with mixed reviews.