Researchers studying race issues in America have compiled data that suggests white liberals are more “woke” on racial issues than black Americans.
Zach Goldberg, a researcher at Georgia State University, pointed to a 2018 American National Election Studies survey as proof in a Tuesday NPR interview. The study showed white Democrats were more likely than black Democrats to say the United States is “a better place” because of increased diversity.
Goldberg explained that the trend of being a “woke,” white liberal is fairly new and accelerating.
“The white liberals of 2016 or even 2014 are very distinguishable from the white liberals of the 1970s, the 1980s and the 1990s,” he said.
He pinned the shift in “wokeness” among white liberals as coming from increased media attention on injustice and inequality.
“[White liberals’] exposure to injustice inequality has been heightened because of the internet,” he said. “The moral buttons of white liberals are being more frequently pressed.”
Andrew Engelhardt, a researcher with Brown University, also found evidence of white liberals becoming more “woke” than other racial groups.
“Starting about 2016 … white liberals actually rate non-white groups more positively than they do whites,” he said, explaining that most of the time racial groups view themselves more positively than members of other races.
Engelhardt suggested white liberals were looking to distance themselves from certain parts of the white population in part because of the rise of President Trump.
Both Engelhardt and Goldberg agreed coverage of police shootings of black Americans were a potential cause for the shift, with Engelhardt noting the case of Michael Brown as a potential turning point.
The change has not gone unnoticed by both sides of the political spectrum, with even some traditionally liberal members of the Left criticizing the new “ultrawoke” Democratic Party.
