In his newsletter, reproduced at the New York Times David Leonhardt seems surprised that blacks don’t overwhelmingly think that reparations is the measure most likely to help them:
In the poll, people were given a list of 14 economic policies and asked how much they thought each would help the black community. The list was full of progressive ideas: paid leave and better workplace benefits; a higher minimum wage; a federal jobs guarantee; stronger laws against discrimination; reparations for descendants of slaves; and more.
On a straight up-or-down basis, a majority of black Americans favored every one of the 14 policies. But there was a fairly wide gap in how much they thought each would help. At the top of the list were a higher minimum wage, stronger discrimination laws and better workplace benefits and training. About 70 percent of respondents said each of those would help “a great deal.â€
At the bottom of the list: Slavery reparations. Second to last: a federal jobs guarantee. Only about half of respondents said each would help a great deal.
What’s going on here? To me, it’s a reminder that black Americans, as a group, don’t have the same political opinions as the most liberal parts of the Democratic coalition. On many issues, black Americans are more moderate — or perhaps more pragmatic.
My own experience has been that blacks are more conservative and more religious than non-black Democrats and that the division is growing.
In my experience very few on the left favor reparations. It gets a lot of coverage because it is a divisive issue and angers the right, the main reason some people on the left support it. That’s a pretty dumb reason to support something but then a lot of people voted for Trump just because he pissed off libs.
Steve
Quite a few of the Democratic presidential contenders have taken positions in favor of reparations.
Of the last five presidents four either benefited from slavery or have ancestors that supported it. In contrast none of my ancestors benefited from slavery, several were abolitionists, and two had lives that were cut short due to the privations they experienced fighting for the Union in the Civil War to the lasting detriment of their families.
Correction Steve: a lot of people voted for Trump because Hillary Clinton was the Democrat nominee.
Support for reparations is only one of a string of bad proposals submitted by democrats. In fact the crowded dem field is so bad this time around that I can’t even watch the debates, as I would probably end up attacking the TV or computer screen!
Correction jan- A lot voted for him because of Hillary AND because he pisses off libs. Easy to find the quotes.
Dave- They all support forming a committee to study reparations. Read your link. I think we are old enough to understand the purpose of a committee.
Steve
Perhaps you should go back and read it. Harris, Castro, and Williamson explicitly support reparations, the rest support a committee.
I don’t think that your implication that a committee is just a way of letting an idea die is accurate. I think it moves the Overton Window. In the present environment I think that means towards reparations willy-nilly becoming a mainstream idea.
In my experience with Afro-Americans, (are there any following Dave’s blog?) , What they want even more than money is respect. If they can have respect without money, that’s good. If they have money with no respect, unacceptable. Somebody’s gotta pay. Somebody’s gonna die. RESPECT!
OK, I missed Harris, bu there is the quote from the Castro section.
“Castro said he would create a commission to study reparations and determine the best policy proposal.”
Williamson? Really? That is beneath you.
Steve
From Politico about Julian Castro:
CNN:
About Williamson complain to Axios. She’s in their list of candidates.