America


Dems Push Reparations in Bid to Keep Black Support


They hope it will galvanize voters without ever having to pay out any money.


A BY MARISA HERMAN


growing number of dem- ocrat-led cities and states saying they want to pay reparations to the descen-


dants of slaves are doing so in a man- ner that they hope will galvanize lib- eral voters without ever having to cut a single check, political analysts say. About a dozen cities and several


states recently announced high-pro- fi le eff orts to study remedies for what offi cials consider historic racial dis- crimination. In 2021, Evanston, Illi- nois, became the nation’s fi rst city to actually pay reparations to eligible Black residents. “Democrats have made reparations


for slavery a key policy issue,” said Houston-based GOP political strate- gist Vlad Davidiuk. Last month, New York became the


newest state to tackle the issue. The Empire State’s eff orts come on


the heels of a California task force’s 1,100-page report on reparations. The group spent two years studying the topic before making recommen- dations that included a formula to calculate fi nancial compensation for those eligible. After the panel recommended pay-


ing up to $1.2 million in reparations, Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, seemed to minimize the importance of the money, saying: “Dealing with that legacy is about much more than cash payments.” Before any reparations can be bud-


geted, California lawmakers must fi rst fi gure out how to combat a projected $68 billion defi cit for 2024-2025. In December, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, signed a law cre-


POWER PLAY Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, signs a reparations bill in December surrounded by powerful New York African American leaders: State Sen. James Sanders, left; state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins; Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages; veteran political kingmaker Rev. Al Sharpton; Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie; and Yohuru Williams, founding director of the Racial Justice Initiative.


ating a nine-member commission to consider reparations to address the harmful eff ects of slavery in the state. “In New York, we like to think


we’re on the right side of this. Slavery was a product of the South, the Con- federacy,” Hochul said. “What is hard to embrace is the


fact that our state also fl ourished from that slavery. It’s not a beautiful story, but indeed it is the truth.” Numerous other cities have


formed committees or are conducting studies, including Boston, Detroit, St. Louis, San Francisco, and Kansas City, Missouri. Despite the recent push for repara-


tions by the political class, Davidiuk notes that there is “widespread oppo- sition among Americans toward the failed concept.” In California, 59% of voters oppose


making cash payments to descen- dants of slaves, with more than 4 in 10 voters “strongly” opposed to the reparations plan, according to a poll from the University of California, Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies. Sixty percent said they thought it


was “unfair to ask today’s taxpayers to pay for wrongs committed in the past.” San Francisco-based political ana-


lyst Brian Sobel said the topic “smacks of symbolism over substance.” “The idea of just paying people who


are descendants — and we are talk- ing multigenerational descendants — money for something that happened that many years ago, for a lot of tax- payers is a nonstarter,” he said. When it comes to fi guring out “who


owes who money” and whether writing someone a check for $1,000 puts “salve on any grievance someone might have on a checkered history of slavery,” Sobel said the popular “political thing to do” is to form a commission.


18 NEWSMAX | FEBRUARY 2024


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