The New York Times, June 17, 2019: Reperations? Yes, but…
Several top-tier Democratic presidential candidates went to Charleston, S.C., this weekend to speak at an event on black economic empowerment. I was there, and I was fascinated by a nationwide poll of black Americans that was done as part of the event.
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.”
