--- description: Amid national protests over police use-of-force against African-Americans title: FRace Concerns Americans More Than It Has in 20 Years image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt89366f3fcac165c1/69877019428a9ec5dacc639c/black-lives-matter.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Race](/tag/race/) ## Race Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Race Concerns Americans More Than It Has in 2 Decades by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 19, 2014 4:17 PM CUT  A protestor holds a black lives matter t-shirt during a "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" demonstration in front of the San Francisco Hall of Justice on December 18, 2014 in San Francisco, California. A protestor holds a black lives matter t-shirt during a "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" demonstration in front of the San Francisco Hall of Justice on December 18, 2014 in San Francisco, California.Justin Sullivan—Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 19, 2014 4:17 PM CUT The percentage of Americans who consider “race relations” or “racism” to be the biggest problem facing the country is at its highest level since 1992, [according to a new Gallup poll](http://www.gallup.com/poll/180257/major-problem-race-relations-sharply-rises.aspx "undefined"). At 13%, the current rate is only two points behind its peak two decades ago, in the aftermath of the riots that followed the Rodney King verdict. Just last month, only 1% of Americans viewed race as the top concern, proving what an enormous impact the Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Tamir Rice cases have had on the public. Among nonwhites, 22% named race relations or racism as the country’s biggest problem; among whites, it was only 9%. “The economy” ties with race among those polled, and the highest-ranked concern is “government” at 15%. \[[_Gallup_](http://www.gallup.com/poll/180257/major-problem-race-relations-sharply-rises.aspx "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3641961/race-ferguson-michael-brown-eric-garner-tamir-rice/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3641961/race-ferguson-michael-brown-eric-garner-tamir-rice/"},"headline":"Race Concerns Americans More Than It Has in 2 Decades","datePublished":"2014-12-19T16:17:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:01:00.077Z","description":"Amid national protests over police use-of-force against African-Americans","url":"https://time.com/3641961/race-ferguson-michael-brown-eric-garner-tamir-rice/","keywords":["Race","Racism","Eric Garner","Michael Brown","black lives matter"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt89366f3fcac165c1/69877019428a9ec5dacc639c/black-lives-matter.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt89366f3fcac165c1/69877019428a9ec5dacc639c/black-lives-matter.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"San Francisco Public Attorneys Hold \"Hands Up, Don't Shoot\" Demonstration","caption":"San Francisco Public Attorneys Hold \"Hands Up, Don't Shoot\" Demonstration","creditText":"Justin Sullivan—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/race/","name":"Race"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3641961/race-ferguson-michael-brown-eric-garner-tamir-rice/","name":"Race Concerns Americans More Than It Has in 2 Decades"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Behind the Video of a Deadly Confrontation With Police","description":"TIME interviews the man who captured a fatal incident between Eric Garner and NYPD officers","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/QGZo2z1Q/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-07-22T16:49:46.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/QGZo2z1Q.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3641961/race-ferguson-michael-brown-eric-garner-tamir-rice/","duration":"PT3M49S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3641961/race-ferguson-michael-brown-eric-garner-tamir-rice/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```