Almost eight years after Barack Obama’s election as the nation’s first black president – an event that engendered a sense of optimism among many Americans about the future of race relations – a series of flashpoints around the United States has exposed deep racial divides and reignited a national conversation about race

A new Pew Research Center survey finds profound differences between black and white adults in their views on racial discrimination, barriers to black progress and the prospects for change. Blacks, far more than whites, say that black people are treated unfairly across different realms of life, from dealing with the police to applying for a loan or mortgage. And, for many blacks, racial equality remains an elusive goal. An overwhelming majority of blacks (88%) say that the country needs to continue making changes for blacks to have equal rights with whites, but 43% are skeptical that such changes will ever occur. An additional 42% of blacks believe that the country will eventually make the changes needed for blacks to have equal rights with whites, and just 8% say that the country has already made the necessary changes. A much lower share of whites (53%) say that the country still has work to do for blacks to achieve equal rights with whites, and only 11% express doubt that these changes will come. Four-in-ten whites believe that the country will eventually make the changes needed for blacks to have equal rights, and about the same share (38%) say that enough changes have already been made.