How Martin Luther King Jr. was a trailblazer in pushing for universal basic income

"King's intuition was that white people with lower incomes would support this type of policy because they could also benefit from it. In 1967, King argued, "It seems to me that the Civil Rights Movement must now begin to organize for the guaranteed annual income . . . which I believe will go a long, long way toward dealing with the Negro's economic problem and the economic problem with many other poor people confronting our nation.""

"In recent years, more than a dozen U.S. cities have run universal basic income programs, often smaller or pilot programs that have offered guaranteed basic incomes to select groups of needy residents. As political scientists, we have followed these experiments closely. One of us recently co-authored a study which found that universal basic income is generally popular. In two out of three surveys analyzed, majorities of white Americans supported a universal basic income proposal."

"But there is one notable group that does not support universal basic income: those with higher levels of racial resentment. Racial resentment is a scale that social scientists have used to describe and measure anti-Black prejudice since the 1980s. Notably, in our research, whites with higher levels of racial resentment and higher incomes are especially inclined to oppose universal basic income."

Martin Luther King Jr. connected the struggle for racial equality with economic justice and advocated a guaranteed annual income to address poverty and displacement from automation. Universal basic income delivers direct cash payments to all citizens to help cover living expenses. More than a dozen U.S. cities have piloted guaranteed-income programs for selected needy residents. Survey evidence indicates general popularity for universal basic income, with majority support among white Americans in many surveys and especially strong support among lower-income people. Whites with higher racial resentment, particularly those with higher incomes, are especially likely to oppose universal basic income.

Read at Fast Company