For one, people are already mad and this has about as much of a chance of making things worse as commemorating Martin Luther King day. We literally celebrate aholiday that recognizes civil rights which does not celebrate our finest moments in the history of our country and this doesn’t make things any worse.
Finalizing reparations would be no different than establishing Martin Luther King day and there is nothing about listening to the voter population that would ever be considered a way of manipulating votes.
A survey about this subject says, “White Americans, 81%, are much more likely than African Americans, 35%, and Latinos, 47%, to oppose giving monetary compensation to descendants of slaves.”
http://maristpoll.marist.edu/510-reparations-for-slavery-in-the-united-states/
This is the same as saying 65 percent of the African American population would like to see reparations finalized. I can’t see how doing something that a significant number of people within this community wants is going to make things worse.
It won’t fix every problem with economic inequality, but it would be a good place to start.
This article also suggests that there are private companies who recognize they may have profited from slavery. It is suggested that they be involved in finalizing this offer. I am on the fence about this because I don’t know much about what this entails, but that would be an option that wouldn’t involve the taxpayer too. There are other options and it is always good to do what you say you are going to do. This country said they would pay reparations and this should be done.