Poll: Race was factor in treatment of rioters

By a wide margin, Americans say the police response to the mob that stormed the U. S. Capitol would have been harsher if the rioters had been mostly Black rather than mostly white, a new USA TODAY/ Suffolk University Poll finds.

A 55% majority says law enforcement would have employed harsher tactics against the melee than they did, almost double the 28% who say the response would have been the same. Just 9% say the response would have been less harsh to a largely Black mob.

“It kind of just showed the whole world about how there’s white privilege and how the justice system really fears on color,” says Jonathan Muteba, 28, an engineer from Somerville, Massachusetts, who was among those polled. Muteba, an African American, says he was shocked by the double standard. “If that was a group of Black people, there would be a lot more bloodshed.”

President- elect Joe Biden and civil rights leaders have contrasted the massive show of force for Black Lives Matter protests last year in Washington with the treatment of supporters of President Donald trump who assaulted the Capitol and threatened lawmakers Jan. 6.

“No one can tell me that if that had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesting yesterday, they wouldn’t have been treated very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol,” Biden said soon after the attempted coup.

On this poll question, there is a racial divide.

● Among whites, 49% say the police response would have been harsher, 32% say it would have been the same; 10% say it would have been less harsh.

● Among Blacks, an overwhelming 85% say the response would have been harsher. Just 8% say it would have been the same, and 5% say it would have been less harsh.

● Among Hispanics, 59% say it would have been harsher; 25% say it would have been the same; 9% say it would have been less harsh.

The partisan divide is even deeper: 89% of Democrats say the police treatment would have been harsher for Black protesters, compared with 16% of Republicans. A majority of Republicans, 53%, say police behavior would have been the same.

Views also vary by age. Two- thirds of those 18 to 34 years old say the police response would have been harsher. Half of those 65 and older agree.