Backing the Blue as a Person of Color: Probing Minority Attitudes Toward Police

• In Event: Policing, Politics, and Participation

Abstract

Even before heightened racial tensions boiled over into a national movement for greater oversight of police officers in 2020, there existed a wide racial gap in attitudes towards local police. While this racial gap in views towards local law enforcement has often been characterized as one between non-Hispanic Whites and minorities, the literature has not fully examined the degree to which Black, Latino, and Asian American attitudes towards police officers differ. Using a recent nationally representative survey, this paper finds significant differences in minority attitudes towards local law enforcement. Results suggest that colorblind racism and acculturation are associated with attitudes towards local police for Blacks, Latinos, and Asian Americans. Additionally, we find that while victimization, neighborhood context, and partisanship predict attitudes towards local police for some minority groups, they do not for others. Implications are discussed.

Authors

• Gabriel E Martinez

• Rudy Alamillo, Western Washington University