A recent piece in The New York Times uses PRRI data to help measure the impact of the growing number of white allies on the national movement to combat racial inequality. “One in five white respondents to a poll from the Public Religion Research Institute last year said that they rarely or never had an interaction with someone of a different race. In a 2013 study by the same group, a nonpartisan nonprofit, respondents were asked to identify the race of as many as seven people with whom they had discussed important matters in the six months before the survey. Among white respondents, 75 percent named only white individuals as their core friendship network,” the Times reports.

According to the Associated Press, President Trump will soon travel to Yuma, Arizona to mark the 200 miles of construction of a new border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, followed by a campaign stop at a church in Phoenix. The trip occurs as infection rates for the coronavirus surge in Arizona. According to the AP, the Trump campaign is focused on delivering their message to religious voters, a group slipping in their favorability of the president. “A poll released earlier this month by the nonprofit Public Religion Research Institute found that the share of white Catholics viewing Trump favorably had fallen by double digits since last year, measuring 37% in the last week of May compared with 49% across 2019,” the AP notes.

In an interview released last week, PRRI CEO and founder Robert P. Jones previewed his upcoming book “White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity” with Daniel Burke of CNN. “White Christian churches have not just been complacent; they have not only been complicit,” Jones writes. “Rather, as the dominant cultural power in America, they have been responsible for constructing and sustaining a project to protect White supremacy and resist Black equality.” According to Jones, “this project has framed the entire American story.” “White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity” will be released July 28th and is available for pre-order now.

In a March Spotlight Analysis, PRRI’s Jordun Lawrence wrote of the racism and xenophobia Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) experience due to the use of the divisive term “Kung flu.” The phrase, used to describe the coronavirus, was used by President Donald Trump and sparked debate over the harm and bias it inflicts against Asian Americans. “On March 17th, CBS News White House Correspondent Weijia Jiang reported on Twitter that an unnamed White House official referred to the coronavirus as the ‘Kung Flu’ in front of her. Jiang, a Chinese American, questioned if the official could be using more harmful language in private settings,” Lawrence writes. “While the incident shocked many and drew criticism from other journalists and members of the public, it wasn’t the first time White House officials have used racially insensitive language in reference to the virus. President Trump has repeatedly used the descriptor ‘Chinese virus’ on twitter and in public statements to describe the illness, drawing swift rebukes from many leaders.” On Monday, two days after President Trump referred to the virus as the “kung flu,” the White House stood firm when reporters sought an apology. “It’s not a discussion about Asian-Americans, who the president values and prizes as citizens of this great country,” White House spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany explains.