A new UC Berkeley poll co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times has found that a strong majority of California voters are opposed to cash payments to the descendants of enslaved African Americans. The poll also revealed, however, that California voters believe that the government should do more to address racial disparities.
Six in 10 said it was unfair to ask today’s taxpayers to pay for wrongs committed in the past, while 53% said it would be unfair to single out one group when other racial and religious groups were also historically wronged. About 1 in 5 said the proposal would cost too much.
Although cash payments were not widely favored, they received more support from women, younger voters, and those born in the U.S. State Senator Steven Bradford recently introduced a bill to create the California American Freedmen Affairs Agency, which would oversee and implement reparations, including cash payments.
“I know who will pay: It’s people like me,” said interviewee Richard Malone, 71. “It won’t be the rich. It won’t be the poor. It will be all of us in the middle. You don’t have to be a mathematician to know that our taxes will have to go up to pay for this.”
The report from the Reparations Task Force highlighted California’s history with slavery, including the presence of enslaved African descendants during the Gold Rush and the existence of loopholes that allowed slavery and discrimination to persist despite the state’s ban on slavery in 1849.
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