Reparations are politically divisive – ensures conservative backlash
Sonya Singh 7-11 {writer} - ("California faces backlash as it weighs historic reparations for Black residents," Guardian, published 7-11-2023, accessed 7-21-2023, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/11/california-historic-reparations-black-residents)//marlborough-wr/
As considers implementing large-scale reparations for Black residents affected by the legacy of slavery, the state has also become the focus of the nation’s divisive reparations conversation, drawing the backlash of conservatives criticizing the priorities of a “liberal” state.
“Reparations for Slavery? California’s Bad Idea Catches On,” commentator Jason L Riley in the Wall Street Journal, as New York approved to study the idea. In the Washington Post, conservative columnist George F Will the state’s debate around reparations adds to a “plague of solemn silliness”.
Roughly two-thirds of Americans oppose the idea of reparations, according to 2021 from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and 2022 from the Pew Research Center. Both found that more than 80% Black respondents support some kind of compensation for the descendants of slaves, while a similar majority of white respondents opposed.
Pew found that roughly two-thirds of Hispanics and Asian Americans opposed, as well.