Poll Finds Blacks Least Likely

To Back War Against Iraq

NEW YORK (AP) - President Bush's push toward war with Iraq has found less  support among blacks than among whites and Hispanics, reflecting what some say are economic fears and long-standing resentments over past mistreatment.

"The black community realizes that war is not good for us - not good for our economic situation now, and not good for the many of us who are going  to be in the war," said Nicholas Wiggins, 21, a college student from East Stroudsburg, Pa.

A Pew Research Center poll found 44 percent of blacks support a war with Iraq, the lowest level of any group surveyed. Overall, 66 percent of  Americans favored military force, with support at 73 percent among whites and 67 percent among Hispanics. The February survey of 1,254 adults had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, and slightly larger for the subgroups.

Democrats, women and college-educated Americans are also less likely to support a war than the overall population, according to the Feb. 20 poll.  

The lagging support among blacks found in the survey and in earlier polls is coupled with strong opposition to war from organizations such as the Congressional Black Caucus and the NAACP.

NAACP President Kweisi Mfume said many blacks believe the conflict can be resolved short of war, and they worry that war could sour the nation's already sagging economy.

"What some communities might feel as a mild cold during war time, will really be pneumonia in black and brown communities economically," he said.  

Mfume said blacks' stance against the war should not be viewed as unpatriotic. "We have fought in every war and defended a democracy that we never fully enjoyed and to protect liberties that were often not afforded to ourselves," he said.

Analysts said blacks' support for war in Iraq reflects a partisan view of Bush, who drew only 9 percent of the black vote in the 2000 election.  

They also cited the role the black church has played in previous anti-war movements, such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s stand against the Vietnam War, and mistreatment of black veterans after previous wars.  

"We believe it is anti-American to go to war prematurely," said Democratic presidential hopeful Rev. Al Sharpton, who is among the most vocal opponents of military action against Iraq.

"I'm a disciple of the Rev. Martin Luther King," said Faye Williams, a lawyer from Washington who opposes the war. Williams noted a decades-long tradition among black ministers of preaching nonviolence, and said, "There are a lot of people today, too, who are listening to these ministers."

Blacks are also less likely to perceive Saddam Hussein as the same type of direct threat as al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden, said Joseph Jordan, director of the Sonya Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History at the University of North Carolina. He said many blacks believe the drive toward war has come at the expense of domestic concerns.

"They draw some relationship between retreats on domestic issues like affirmative action and assistance programs for the poor and the escalation of these hostilities," he said.

Conservative commentator Armstrong Williams, who supports military action against Iraq, said blacks' views are shaped as much by historical and economic concerns as they are by partisan issues.

"They have seen how we were treated in World War II and how black veterans were treated," Williams said. "It's just something that has been passed down from their grandparents and parents."

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