The state of California is definitely no stranger to ridiculous propositions, many of which have already become law.
And one of the newest and perhaps most insane proposals yet has been making headlines for months.
But now this crazy new plan in California is meeting some pretty heavy opposition from most of the state’s constituents.
According to a new poll conducted by the University of California Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, almost 60% of California voters oppose cash reparations for slavery.
The poll comes after the state’s Reparations Task Force made the crazy proposal to Governor Gavin Newsom and the state legislature earlier this year.
Yet while 59% of voters polled are somewhat or strongly opposed to the reparations, 28% said they are strongly or somewhat in favor of the proposal.
This support for slavery descendants comes even though California was never a slave state to begin with.
And despite three-quarters of Californians opposing the new proposition, over three-fourths of Black voters in California (76%), strongly or somewhat favor the idea of reparations.
The Black population in California only makes up 6.5% of the state’s total population, according to U.S. Census data.
In June, the Reparations Task Force issued over 100 recommendations including giving up to $1.2 million in cash payments to Black residents who descended from slaves and to free Blacks who lived in the state before 1900.
San Francisco is also looking at a separate reparations proposal, which would give eligible residents another $5 million.
But Democratic Senator Steven Bradford, who was on the task force, said that he wasn’t surprised by the poll results, claiming that 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.”
Mark DiCamillo, director of the IGS poll, said, “It has a steep uphill climb, at least from the public’s point of view.”
As it stands now, voters in California oppose the idea of offering cash payments by a 2-to-1 margin.
Yet progressive leaders like Gavin Newsom believe that the state’s reparations plan would serve as a model for the rest of the nation.
According to the task force, the cash payments would atone for everything from health and employment disparities to housing discrimination and mass incarceration that they claim have unfairly affected Black Californians.
The slave reparations proposal goes beyond just handing out money to California’s Black residents.
It would also call to create policies that would end the death penalty, pay a fair market value in wages for jail and prison labor, and restore voting rights to both former and current incarcerated people.
The proposal would also apply rent caps to historically redlined zip codes that have “disadvantaged Black residents,” among other things.
However, the poll results make it clear that most Californians do not support the idea of cash payments, let alone the myriad of other new laws the task force is trying to push.
People living in the state can now only hope that their voices are heard, and that California’s latest and craziest new law doesn’t pass.
Political Animal News will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
