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California’s first working group on reparations for black Americans said it has documented 170 years of systemic discrimination by the state and demanded “comprehensive reparations” for those harmed by that government-sanctioned history of oppression.
In A 500-page report released Wednesday, a working group required by law, argues that the current wealth gap between black and white Americans in California and the rest of the country is the direct result of slavery, the laws of Jim Crow, the Red Line and other governments. policies that locked black Americans in failed schools and over-police communities.
“Segregation, racial terror, harmful racist negligence and other atrocities in almost every sector of civil society have caused damage, which is cascading throughout life and is aggravating over generations,” he says. the report.
The working group convened its interim report the most extensive document about government discrimination against the black community since the 1968 Kerner Commission historical report.
He called for the creation of a government office to address past and possible future damage, and to help eligible black Californians through a reparations program. But it doesn’t put a price on their recommendations; which is expected to be detailed later in a second report.
The report told a story of mistreatment in California of black Americans since its founding. Although California was admitted to the union as a free state, the report notes that the state passed and enforced a runaway slave law that required the return of enslaved people seeking freedom there.
The report also cites the long history of “sunset cities” in California, communities that banned black Americans from living within their borders; The report says many suburban communities outside of Los Angeles and San Francisco, and most cities in Orange County, were once “sunset cities.” It also documents the history of urban renewal and highway projects that dismantled previously thriving black neighborhoods like San Francisco’s Fillmore District, effectively destroying generations of wealth accumulation.
An all-black historic city wants repairs to be rebuilt as a “safe haven”
The committee members themselves said they disagreed on whether direct cash payments are politically feasible in the state. The report, issued in conjunction with the state Department of Justice, arrives in Sacramento flooded with cash. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget included a $ 97.5 billion surplus, but the Democrat has also faced demands for taxpayer reimbursement, and other programs are asking for specific sums of money.
Even Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online.
“I hope this report will be used as an educational tool and an organizational tool, educating the state of California and the United States in general about the damage to the African American community and the contributions of the African American community to the United States. “said Kamilah Moore, chair of the working group. “This report documents the full body of evidence surrounding the damage to the African American community, which will justify the claims for redress in the final report.”
The interim report is halfway through the two-year term of the state repair working group. It was created in 2020 by legislation promoted by then-state Assemblywoman Shirley Weber (D), who has since become the first African-American to serve as California’s secretary of state.
As of Wednesday afternoon, a Newsom spokesman said the administration was still in the process of reviewing the lengthy report, but added that it represented a major step forward for racial justice not only in California but throughout the world. country.
“Once again, California is leading the nation in a bipartisan way on issues of justice and racial equity, which is a discussion we have had for a long time, not just in one state but across America,” he said. the governor’s office in an email. “We also look forward to reviewing the second report, which will be presented next year.”
California’s work comes when the idea of reparations has entered the mainstream of political conversation. More than three decades after it was first introduced in Congress, a House bill that would create a federal commission to study the repairs of black Americans has enough votes to pass them, its main proponents say. With odds against the bill split in the Senate equitably, supporters are pushing President Biden to sign an executive order that would create a similar commission to the California task force.
A 2021 Washington Post poll found that 65 percent of Americans opposed the idea of cash repairs to black Americans. A plurality of Democrats — 46 percent — favored the idea, while more than 90 percent of Republicans opposed it. Two-thirds of black respondents supported the repairs, but only 18% of white respondents did so. While most still oppose the repairs, the number of those who support the idea has increased markedly from previous polls. A 1999 ABC News poll found that only 19 percent of Americans approved repairs for black Americans.
Supporters say they have votes in the House to pass reparations bill after years of pressure
“This has to be a political campaign in addition to a political issue and any kind of moral argument,” said James Lance Taylor, a professor of political science at the University of San Francisco and a member of the the city. “Anything in favor of extending the rights of black people has always been received negatively. The odds are always against us, but we are more advanced than ever.”
It remains to do much of the thornier work for the task force. After months of discussion, in March, the working group voted 5 to 4 in favor limit cash repairs only to people who can prove they are descendants Black Americans who were in the country before the turn of the twentieth century. But the broader questions about the size and scope of cash repairs, and if they are even possible, remain unanswered.
“Personally I think, that’s me, that’s just my perspective, that whites won’t give money to blacks to put in their pockets,” said Rev. Amos Brown, vice president and pastor of the working group. of the Third Baptist Church in San Francisco’s Fillmore District. “But if we can get programmatic solutions in areas where we can quantify the gap and show that the state is responsible, in areas like education, the economy and our cultural enclaves, if we can get some form of repair along that line, then I think we will have done a job well done ”.
But Chris Lodgson, an organizer of the Coalition for a Fair and Equitable California, an advocacy group that helped draft the task force bill and continues to work closely with the commission through listening sessions, he said. cash payments are a must.
“We’re of the position that if it’s not direct compensation, it’s not repairs,” Lodgson said. “So we come up with ideas, and to see them flush it out, it’s really fun Direct financial compensation is the big challenge for us over the next year, but I’m sure we will. “
Followers remain optimistic that they can find a way.
“California has led the way in a number of big issues that were as difficult as repairs, namely marital equality and legalizing marijuana, so if there’s a place that could start a similar kind of effect. around the problem repairs, it’s California, “Taylor said. dit. “It’s the largest state in the union. It’s politically important and represents a kind of promise to the rest of America that no matter how outrageous the kind of political reaction, there’s a blue wall in California.”