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Black Californians could be in line for $360,000 payments each as part of the state’s plan to dish out ‘reparations’ to descendants of slaves.
Secretary of State Shirley Weber told a meeting today that California must ‘admit its sins and change the narrative,’ to pave the way for initiatives similar to ones already being considered in other states.
But there has been no detail about how the $650 billion project will be funded amid concerns over California’s $22.5 million budget deficit which is expected to worsen due to a tech jobs blood bath in its tax-generating Silicon Valley.
A nine-member ‘Reparations Task Force’ was set up in 2020 by California Governor Gavin Newsom following nationwide protests for racial justice in the wake of the killing of George Floyd.
Previous estimates suggested the payments could be as much as $220,000 each for the state’s 1.8 million black citizens.
But in a meeting on Friday, the Reparations Task Force indicated the cheques could actually be as high as $350,000 as they seek to compensate Black citizens for generations of discriminatory practices.
Members of the public welcomed plans to pay reparations, with one man saying, pictured, said money is the only to stop crime among California’s black community
In California, white families are roughly six times wealthier than their black counterparts.
Experts, politicians and members of the local community all had their say during the first of the two-day-long meeting.
But experts admitted there were difficulties in defining the historical period for measuring harms experienced by Black residents in a state where slavery was never legal.
One method being considered would use the state’s racial wealth gap to measure how much descendants of slaves had lost.
Using that model, a conservative estimate would say the state owed $636.7 billion.
Other strategies discussed were calculating damages related to specific injustices such as housing discrimination, mass incarceration and health harms.
The taskforce have until July 1 to publish its recommendations and outline exactly how the reparations will be made.
Members of the public were eager to welcome the initiative on Friday as one said money was the only way to make up for the injustices felt by black people in America.
Members of the public were met with rapturous applause as they discussed the injustices faced by black Americans
The idea of handing out reparations to black citizens has become popular across America, with cities like Boston, Massachusetts implementing similar taskforces
A nine-member ‘Reparations Task Force’ was first set up in 2020 by California Governor Gavin Newsom, pictured, following nationwide protests for racial justice in the wake of the killing of George Floyd
‘There is only one thing that would stimulate this economy – and I need you to spread the word what you heard – and that one thing is capital, money, reparations,’ he told the committee.
‘That will stimulate the economy for the millions of blacks in California.
‘There is only one thing that would stop our children busting into these liquor stores and grocery stores, stealing junk food and different things and that’s reparations.’
Another man said: ‘This is not reparations we are taking. This is a California money atonement.’
Meanwhile Secretary of State Weber, who wrote the bill to create the taskforce, said: ‘If California can admit its sins and change the narrative, then there is a way forward for states and cities across the nation.’
The idea of giving reparations to black citizens has become popular across America, with cities including Boston, Massachusetts, St Paul, Minnesota, and St Louis, Missouri, as well as the California cities, San Francisco and Los Angeles, among those to have set up similar task forces.
Evanston, Illinois, in 2021 became the first US city to provide reparations to its Black residents, including giving housing grants.
More recently politicians in Shelby County, Memphis, voted to allocate $5 million funding to a feasibility study which will ‘establish, develop and implement reparations.’
Task force Chair Kamilah Moore has stated she plans to be as ‘radical as possible’ when it comes to deciding who will receive reparations and how much
California State Senator Steven Bradford (left) and Dr. Cheryl Grills (right) also appear on the taskforce
Cities including Boston, Massachusetts, St Paul, Minnesota, and St Louis, Missouri, as well as the California cities, San Francisco and Los Angeles, have also set up task forces and panels to hatch their own reparations plans.
The taskforce in California is made up of: Chair Kamilah Moore, Vice Chair Dr. Amos C. Brown, San Diego Councilmember Monica Montgomery Steppe, California State Senator Steven Bradford, Dr. Cheryl Grills, Lisa Holder, Donald K. Tamaki, Jovan Scott Lewis, and Reginald Jones Sawyer.
Moore has previously stated she plans to be as ‘radical as possible’ when it comes to deciding who will receive reparations and how much.
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