Californians oppose cash reparations for descendants of slaves

A poll about whether Californians support cash reparations for the descendants of African American slaves showed that two in three oppose such a plan.

58% of respondents did not support reparations, and only 28% said they did, according to the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll. More than four in 10 strongly opposed it.

Lawmakers plan to consider the idea of reparations during the next session and are fairly serious about following through on it.

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

60% of those polled said “it’s unfair to ask today’s taxpayers to pay for wrongs committed in the past,” and 53% said “it’s not fair to single out one group for reparations when other racial and religious groups have been wronged in the past."

Most were not concerned about the cost, with only 19% saying the plan to give each slave descendant $13,619 for each year of California residence for health disparities and more for discrimination during the war on drugs and housing discrimination.