Voters in California Oppose Cash Reparations for Slavery

*Voters in California oppose cash payments to descendants of enslaved African Americans, according to the results of a new poll.

The poll, conducted by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and co-sponsored by The Times, found that 59% of voters oppose cash reparations, while 28% support reparations for slavery, Los Angeles Times reports. The state’s Black population includes more than 2.5 million people.

“It has a steep uphill climb, at least from the public’s point of view,” said Mark DiCamillo, director of the IGS poll.

California’s Reparations Task Force was created in 2020 after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill to establish the panel. Since then, the group has held numerous public meetings, including more than 28 hours of public comments, and heard from 133 experts and witnesses.

In June, the Task Force released its final report with more than 115 recommendations for how the state should compensate those harmed by slavery and “historical atrocities.”

“Recommendations in the landmark report, comprised of more than 1,000 pages, include a formal apology on behalf of California to descendants of people enslaved in the United States and recommendations for reforms linked to health care, housing, education and criminal justice, among other areas,” per CNN.

“We’re putting before the legislators in California the challenge to come up with a feasible way to address these issues over the years,” Don Tamaki, an attorney and task force member, told CNN.

“To ignore them is to just invite not only the harm to continue, but to grow worse. We need to start this process,” he added. 

In the case of monetary reparations, only those individuals who can demonstrate that they are the descendant of either an enslaved African American in the US or a free African American living in the US prior to 1900 should be eligible, the report says.

Here’s more from the Times report:

In the Berkeley poll, when voters who oppose reparations were asked why, the two main reasons cited most often were that “it’s unfair to ask today’s taxpayers to pay for wrongs committed in the past,” picked by 60% of voters, and “it’s not fair to single out one group for reparations when other racial and religious groups have been wronged in the past,” chosen by 53%.

Only 19% said their reason was that the proposal would cost the state too much, suggesting that money alone is not the main objection.

State Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena) isn’t surprised by the new poll results.

“It speaks to the miseducation of most Americans when it comes to slavery and the impact that it had on this country and the impact that it still has on African Americans today,” said Bradford, who served on the task force, according to the LA Times. 

READ MORE: California Reparations Task Force Wraps Up 2 Years of Work – Releases FINAL Set of Recommendations

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