For a large majority of California voters, the question of whether the Golden State should offer cash payments to the descendants of enslaved African Americans has a clear answer: no.

But despite this grim finding, a new UC Berkeley poll co-sponsored by The Times shows that most California voters have a more nuanced view of the lasting legacy of slavery and how the state should address these abuses. They agreed that slavery still affects Black residents today, and more than half said the state is not doing enough or just enough to ensure a fair chance at success.

The debate and commentary over California’s recovery plan, the first of its kind in the country, has largely focused on cash payments. But the Reparations Task Force, established by Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers also recommended more than a hundred other policies in 2020 to address persistent racial disparities, including reforms to the criminal justice system and the housing market.

These options, contained in a 1,080-page report on the consequences of slavery and the discriminatory policies imposed by the government after slavery was abolished, could be included in the next legislative session next year, leaving plenty of room to explore the spectrum of opinions to explore. that voters have expressed so far, experts say.

Often people support the principle but not the policy, says Ange-Marie Hancock, executive director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University and former department chair of political science at USC. When you come to the question of what the government should do about it, the rubber meets the road.

Richard Malone, a 71-year-old retiree in Rancho Cucamonga and a registered Republican, said he fears what California’s recovery plan could do to his tax bill. He said the state is already becoming too expensive for people on fixed incomes.

A new poll shows that California voters are firmly opposed to cash reparations for slavery

I know who will pay: It’s people like me, said Malone, a retired IRS agent. It won’t be the rich. It won’t be the poor. We will all be in the middle of it. You don’t have to be a mathematician to know that our taxes will have to go up to pay for this.

Malone, who is white, said he would prefer to see California lawmakers provide more of a helping hand to all underserved residents, regardless of race. That could include more investment in schools in low-income neighborhoods, he said, as well as a revamp of community colleges and trade schools to create jobs that pay not just a living wage, but a good wage.

Malone said he supports some reparations, including the 1988 decision to pay $20,000 to each of the more than 80,000 Japanese Americans imprisoned by the government during World War II. But he questioned whether black people who were not themselves enslaved deserve the same treatment.

Malone’s concern reflects the most common reason most respondents oppose cash reparations. Six in 10 said it was unfair to ask current taxpayers to pay for crimes committed in the past, while 53% said it would be unfair to single out one group when other racial and religious groups have historically also been injustice was done. About 1 in 5 said the proposal would cost too much.

Kamilah Moore, the chair of the Reparations Task Force, said she considered it a victory that six in 10 California voters agreed that slavery still impacts Black residents today.

She said negative views of the task force and the cash were driven in part by media consumption, particularly payments from right-wing news media. Those who vote Republican, own homes and live in rural areas reported hearing about the Reparations Task Force in significantly higher numbers than Democrats, urban residents and renters.

The Daily Mail, Fox News and Breitbart have been following the task force consistently since December 2022, and that’s when we really started talking about the cash part, Moore said. So of course Republicans and conservatives will know more about it.

Cash payments were slightly more popular among women, younger voters and people born in the US

California’s Slavery Reparations: Eligibility, Payments, and Other Details

Moore said she would still like to see a lawmaker introduce a bill on cash reparations so the idea can be debated in a democratic process.

California Senator Steven Bradford (D-Gardena), who served on the task force, recently introduced a bill that would establish the California American Freedmen Affairs Agency, charged with overseeing and implementing reparations, including cash reparations, and helping people help determine eligibility.

Newsom and state lawmakers have reached a $310 billion deal on the state budget, Bradford said, and if we put just 0.5% into a fund, we can pay for this program.

Bradford said the California Legislative Black Caucus and task force members are also working to write legislation to address all the identified harms.

The remedies recommended by the task force go well beyond cash payments, including proposed reforms to the criminal justice system such as ending cash bail, repealing the three-strikes law and paying fair market wages to incarcerated people serving in prisons and jails. prisons work.

The report also details policies aimed at ending California’s history of racially discriminatory real estate policies, including enacting rent caps, subsidizing down payments in zip codes where black people were denied home loans and the right to purchase property because of their race, and providing interest. -free loans to small business owners in African American commercial areas.

The panel also recommended providing free tuition at California’s public colleges for anyone eligible for monetary reparations, and smaller community-based efforts, including funding health clinics and building more parks in predominantly Black neighborhoods.

Cheryl Thornton, a public health worker in San Francisco, said she strongly supports the state providing reparations to Black Americans as a way to make up for decades of systemic racism. She said the state should also do something to help other groups who faced discrimination and oppression, but that she sees a crucial distinction for Black Americans: No other group was enslaved, legally defined as property or with brought violence to the country.

The California task force will consider making reparations for slavery

Thornton said she felt empathy for Californians who are skeptical of reparations, especially those who belong to other marginalized groups.

It’s important to recognize that people may have different perspectives and concerns about this complex issue, she said, adding that people need to become more educated. Because they think the playing field is fair, but it isn’t.

Thornton, who is Black, works at the San Francisco Department of Public Health. She and eight other Black women in the department sued their employer in 2020 for discrimination against Black employees. The city settled Thornton’s lawsuit out of court last year for $100,000.

Reparations from California would allow Thornton to pay off her son’s law school tuition, she said, and help build generational wealth. She suggested the money could also be used to start or expand their own businesses in their communities.

Tina Mills, a 64-year-old Democrat from Murrieta, said she voted for Newsom and applauded him for creating the task force. But she said she is not in favor of cash reparations, nor does she see it as a winning issue for Democrats.

Mills, who is Latina, disagreed with the racial makeup of the nine-member task force. Eight are black, and the ninth is an Asian American civil rights attorney who has advocated for Japanese Americans imprisoned during World War II. Mills questioned why the task force did not take into account the harms experienced by Latinos and Chinese immigrants in California.

The money would be better spent strengthening schools in rural and underserved areas, Mills said. Many black students receive a poor education compared to their peers in Palo Alto and Beverly Hills, she said.

I think there is a significant learning curve, said Hans Johnson, the president of the East Area Progressive Democratic Club, which has more than a thousand members in Los Angeles County. The club has not yet had a formal discussion about reparations, he said, but will discuss it before next year’s hearing in Sacramento.

California’s reparations proposal goes to Newsom, state lawmakers

Johnson found voters’ response to cash reparations disappointing but not surprising. He remains optimistic that other parts of the reparations will be more popular.

I think Californians should get credit for the ability to make nuanced decisions, Johnson said.

The Reparations Task Forces report details California’s history with slavery, including Southerners who brought slaves to the Golden State to work in mines and do domestic work during the Gold Rush.

California outlawed slavery in its 1849 Constitution and entered the Union as a free state under the Compromise of 1850. But loopholes in the legal system allowed slavery and discrimination against formerly enslaved people to continue.

Census data shows that there were about 200 enslaved African descendants living in California in 1852, although at least one estimate from the time suggested the population was closer to 1,500 people, according to the task force report.

In 1852, California passed a fugitive slave law rare among free states, allowing slaveholders to use force to capture enslaved people who had fled to the Golden State.

Slavery was abolished by the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1865, which was ratified after the end of the Civil War.

Times staff writer Taryn Luna contributed to this report.