Commonwealth Policy Center

Democrats in Congress held a hearing on whether to set up a commission to study and respond to the question of reparations for slavery. A few Democratic presidential candidates appear to favor the idea. But a recent Fox News poll found that 60 percent of Americans oppose giving cash reparations to descendants of slaves. Only 32 percent support it.  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell didn’t think reparations are necessary because it involves something that happened 150 years ago that none of us today are currently responsible for. While slavery is our original sin and a blight on our national history, reparations are meant to repair a wrong committed against an actual person. While repairing wrongs are laudable, the idea of reparations may end up creating more racial division than the healing they intend.