MORE THAN a decade after America elected its first black president, fears of worsening racial tensions are palpable. A poll in February from the Pew Research Centre, a think-tank, found that 58% of Americans think race relations are "generally bad" and 45% believe it has become more acceptable to express racist views since Donald Trump was elected president. Some have used these data to assert that racists have been emboldened by Mr Trump's victory and are perpetrating hate crimes against their neighbours at higher rates than before, a picture that seems to be confirmed by attacks on synagogues, or by marching white supremacists. This is misleading, however. Over the past ten years, racial biases have become less pronounced in America. It is possible that its citizens are more tolerant today than they have ever been before.
展开▼
机译：在美国当选第一位黑人总统十年后，人们对种族紧张局势恶化的担忧显而易见。智囊机构皮尤研究中心（Pew Research Centre）在2月进行的一项民意调查发现，有58％的美国人认为种族关系“总体上是不好的”，而45％的人认为自唐纳德·特朗普当选总统以来，表达种族主义观点已变得可以接受。一些人利用这些数据断言，种族主义者对特朗普的胜利感到鼓舞，并以比以前更高的比率对邻国实施仇恨犯罪，这一画面似乎已被犹太教堂的袭击或白人至上主义者的游行所证实。但是，这具有误导性。在过去的十年中，种族偏见在美国变得不那么明显。今天，它的公民可能比以往任何时候都更加宽容。
展开▼
