From AP. Read this carefully as a window toward understanding how blacks think.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Blacks are more likely than whites to commemorate Martin Luther King's birthday, an AP-Ipsos poll found. They're also more inclined to harbor doubts about progress toward his dream of racial equality.
Three-fourths of Americans say there has been significant progress toward equality, but only 66% of blacks felt that way.
Racial integration has swept across much of American life, and blacks have gained economic ground since the height of the civil rights movement. Two decades ago, the government established a federal holiday in honor of the slain civil rights leader.
On some measures such as annual income, blacks have closed the gap considerably with whites over the past few decades, census figures show. The progress for blacks may have stalled, however.
"People have opportunities, but things get in the way of those opportunities," said Latoya Williams, a black mother of four in Norfolk, Va. "The way the economy is now, you're working just to put a little food on the table. You just work, work, work yourself to death."
Just under a fourth of the population said they planned to commemorate King's birthday on Monday. A solid majority of blacks, 60%, said they would be involved.
"Participating in the march and in church services is a good time of fellowship and is important in keeping the dream alive," said Aubrey Jones, a black deputy warden at a state prison near Macon, Ga.
Fewer than one in six whites, 15%, planned to commemorate the day, the poll found.
Sandy Smith, a white health care worker from Medford, Mass., said she likes to participate in services at work for King Day. "It honors somebody who contributed quite a bit to our culture," she said.
All 50 states gradually recognized a King holiday. But only one-third of businesses offer a paid holiday, according to the Bureau of National Affairs.
Participation in the holiday was enhanced by legislation passed in 1994 establishing the day as one of service.
In many places, people will help with projects aimed to improve the community and help the needy. Supporters of the holiday try to discourage businesses from using it as a marketing gimmick.
"Martin Luther King would turn over in his grave if he thought he was recognized by a day of shopping and rest," said former Sen. Harris Wofford, D-Pa., who worked with Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., to establish the holiday as a day of service.
"The idea that it's a day on and not a day off is catching on," Wofford said. "But the King holiday is well short of what it needs to be."
Some say the fight for racial equality has stalled.
"We've made great progress over the last 50 years," said Julian Bond, national chairman of the NAACP. "Progress has always been stop-and-start, and sometimes backup. We're in a holding pattern right now."
Three-fourths of those polled say King should be honored with a federal holiday. Blacks almost unanimously favored that, according to the poll of 1,242 adults that included an oversample of blacks.
The poll, taken Monday through Thursday, has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Accusations that King committed adultery and plagiarized material in academic writings emerged in the years after the holiday was established. Those claims remind people that King had human failings despite his larger-than-life image as a hero of the civil rights movement, said William Boone, a political scientist at Clark Atlanta University.
"It does not diminish the mission he was on," Boone said. "People now have a tendency to sanitize him, to make him more palatable to a broader spectrum of the American population."
NOTES:
WHO COMMEMORATES THE HOLIDAY: Blacks, at 60%, were more likely than whites, at 15%, to commemorate the holiday. At 13%, people age 65 and older were less likely than people in other age groups to participate. People in urban areas, at 30%, were more likely than those in the suburbs or rural areas to participate. Single people were more likely than married people to participate. Democrats, at 30%, were twice as likely as Republicans, at 14%, to get involved.
PROGRESS TOWARD THE DREAM: Whites, at 78%, were more likely than blacks, at 66%, to feel that significant progress has been made toward racial equality. Young adults, at 85%, were the most likely to feel significant progress has been made. Those who live in the suburbs were more likely than those in the cities to think progress has been made. Republicans, at 84%, were more likely than Democrats, at 72%, to think much progress has been made.
SHOULD THERE BE A HOLIDAY: Blacks, at 96%, were more likely than whites, at 67%, to feel that King's birthday should be a national holiday. People under 50 were more likely than those over 50 to think MLK Day should be a national holiday. Those with a college degree were more likely to feel that way than those with a high school education or less. Democrats, at 84%, were more likely than Republicans or independents, to feel the day should be a holiday.
ECONOMIC COMPARISON: Comparative numbers on median incomes of whites and blacks from the Census. The median salary is the midpoint of the range of salaries. 1. In 1955, when Rosa Parks helped spark the civil rights movement by refusing to give up her seat on a bus, blacks' median annual income was 43% of the median income of whites. 2. In 1968, the year King was killed, blacks' median annual income was 63% of whites' median income. 3. In 1986, the year King's birthday was made a national holiday, blacks' median annual income was 68% of whites' median income. 4. In 2003, the most recent year available in the census data, blacks' median annual income was 81% of whites' median income.
The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, slightly larger for blacks. The comparative racial information comes from the Census Bureau.
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