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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The highly anticipated California event repair reportreleased Thursday, it outlines how black Californians can receive monetary compensation for the damages of slavery and systemic racism.
The task force proposed more than 100 state policies to address generations of discrimination and racial disparities. Still, the report does not issue a specific dollar amount owed to people “who can show that they are the descendants of an enslaved African American in the United States or a free African American who lived in the United States before 1900.”
this final report follow a page of 500 interim report published last year detailing the legacy of enslavement for black California residents. That report was a scathing indictment. of the ways the state was complicit and at times an active leader in “innumerable harm” against the black community.
The nearly 1,100-page document released Thursday offers a comprehensive look at the ways the United States and California harmed the descendants of enslaved blacks through racial terror, political disenfranchisement, unequal housing and educational opportunities. , and environmental racism, among other damages. . It also offers suggestions for issuing a formal apology and implementing a curriculum based on the task force’s findings.
These are the key points from the California repair report.
How much money will the state issue to black Californians?
Not so fast: Instead of a dollar amount, the task force proposes a method to determine some form of payment. Factors behind the calculation include dollars lost due to race-based health disparities, mass incarceration, housing discrimination, wrongful land seizures, and other harms that have had a major impact on black Californians.
Who is entitled to receive remuneration and restitution?
In short, first in line for monetary compensation would be people whose ancestors were enslaved in the US or a free black person who lived in the US before 1900.
Reparations task force chair Kamilah Moore, a restorative justice expert and lawyer, wrote in a post on twitter on the report’s release Thursday to coincide with the Supreme Court’s divisive decision to strike down race-conscious college admissions.
“Our repair recommendations are not based on race, but rather on lineal descent,” Moore wrote.
What happens next with the legislative recommendations?
The ball is now in the court of the California Legislature.
The task force provided more than 115 recommendations for “critically needed law and policy reforms” that repair the ongoing damage to the black community from slavery and systemic racism.
Lawmakers will review the recommendations and have the authority to adopt, drop, or adjust them. Whatever they decide must be approved by both houses before it is presented to Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign into law.
Members of the task force shared information about some of the recommendations at a press conference prior to the official release of the report.
“One of the recommendations is to provide free college tuition at public colleges and universities for descendants of slaves,” Moore said Thursday. “To that end, that recommendation is not affected by the SCOTUS decision today because it is not an admissions preference based on race.”
How soon can eligible black Californians expect to receive compensation?
It is unclear if any payments will be issued, as such a compensation program would need to be approved by the state Legislature and approved by Newsom.
The financial compensation part of the repairs is a concern, evident by a woman who yelled during the hearing: “It’s my money and I want it now.”
“I am 78 years old,” another audience member said during the public hearing section of Thursday’s news conference. “I don’t want to wait any longer.”
