The reparations task committee in California decided to endorse suggestions on how the state might make amends and provide compensation to Black citizens for years of suffering brought on by discriminatory laws.
A lengthy list of recommendations that will now be considered by state lawmakers for reparations legislation received final approval from the nine-member committee during a meeting in Oakland, which it initially convened nearly two years ago.
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At the conference, US Representative Barbara Lee, a Democrat from Oakland, called on the states and the federal government to implement reparations legislation. Ms. Lee is a co-sponsor of a measure in Congress that would investigate restitution alternatives for African Americans.
Lee commented on the topic of reparation stating, “Reparations are not only morally justifiable, but they have the potential to address longstanding racial disparities and inequalities.”
In its initial decision, the panel authorized a comprehensive description of historical discrimination against Black Californians in a variety of contexts, including voting, housing, education, disproportionate police and incarceration, and others.
Other suggestions on the table included calculating the amount of reparations the state owes descendants of slaves, as well as the establishment of a new organization to offer services to them.
“An apology and an admission of wrongdoing by itself is not going to be satisfactory,” said Chris Lodgson, a member of the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California, a group that promotes reparations.
The workforce’s draft suggestion states that any apology created by parliamentarians must “include a censure of the gravest barbarities” committed on the state’s behalf.
In its original ruling, the panel permitted a thorough account of historically occurring discrimination against Black Californians in a range of settings, including voting, housing, education, disproportionate use of the police and jail, and others.
Other ideas on the table included figuring out how much reparations the state owes slave offspring as well as creating a new organization to provide services to them.
“An apology and an admission of wrongdoing by itself is not going to be satisfactory,” said Chris Lodgson, a supporter of reparations and a member of the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California.
The draft proposal put up by the labor force mandates that any apology drafted by lawmakers “include a censure of the gravest barbarities” done on the state’s behalf.
The document noted, “By participating in these horrors, California further perpetuated the harms African Americans faced, imbuing racial prejudice throughout society through segregation, public and private discrimination, and unequal disbursal of state and federal funding.”
A public apology that acknowledges the state’s accountability for prior wrongdoing and its commitment to refraining from repeating it was authorized by the task team. It would be presented to those whose ancestors had been held as slaves.
California had already expressed regret for its role in the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II as well as for its treatment of Native Americans and violence against them.
The panel also agreed that qualified residents should get “cash or its equivalent” as part of their damages.
In Oakland, the home of the renowned Black Panther Party, more than 100 locals and activists congregated at Mills College of Northeastern University. They were both frustrated by the “broken promise” made by the government to newly freed slaves to receive up to 40 acres and a mule.
Many people stated that it is past time for governments to make up for the wrongs that have prevented African Americans from owning property, accumulating money, and living without fear of being wrongly imprisoned.
According to some economist projections, the state may owe Black people reparations in excess of $800 billion, or more than 2.5 times its yearly budget.
