African-Americans have historically been skeptical of military intervention by their country in the affairs of others, at least when compared with other Americans. It is not surprising, then, that a New York Times survey being issued today, which asked whether the United States should try to change a dictatorship to democracy or stay out, found that 82 percent of African-American respondents wanted America to mind its own business, as opposed to 58 percent of all others.
Carroll Doherty, editor of the Pew Research Center, said there had been a consistent gap between whites and blacks in recent military undertakings.
The Iraq war has proved especially divisive, he said, with 72 percent of whites saying Washington was right to attack Iraq, compared with 41 percent of blacks, according to a June poll. But he noted that African-Americans were similarly skeptical during the first Persian Gulf War and the battle for Kosovo.
| Read the rest of Christopher Marquis' New York Times article "Blacks Counsel Caution on Liberia"
posted in articles on August 2, 2003 4:43 PM | t (0)
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