The panel responsible for guiding California’s potential reparations plan declared that the state, which never had legal slavery, should pay Black residents $1.2 million each in what could be a landmark decision.
The Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans was created in the aftermath of the George Floyd protests and signed into law by California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) in 2021.
The task force’s report stated that the “African American story in the United States is marked by repeated failed promises to right the wrongs of the past” and a “failure to acknowledge and take responsibility for the structural racism that perpetuated these harms.”
The total value averages about $1.2 million for Black residents that live an average of 71 years. The committee did not release any information about how the state could pay out such reparations.
These include more than $100,000 per Black resident for the cost of “mass incarceration,” almost $150,000 due to housing discrimination and nearly $1 million for health care differences, discrimination and pollution.
Breaking: The California Reparations Task Force published documents Monday indicating it plans to recommend the state apologize for racism and slavery and consider “down payments” of varying amounts to eligible African American residents. 1/3
— CalMatters (@CalMatters) May 2, 2023
The plan attempted to calculate the potential damages of what the panel termed “Historical Atrocities.”
The report stated that a delay of “reparations is in itself an injustice that causes more suffering and may ultimately deny justice, especially to the elderly among the harmed.”
The effort reflects the first firm number calculated by the group.
The group also issued an almost 500-page report in 2022 which reported on the value of Black-owned property “stolen or destroyed through acts of racial terror” and means that the state can pay reparations.
The initial report stated that the state should “make housing grants, zero-interest business and housing loans and grants available to Black Californians.” It also recommended creating a separate series of schools for Black students.
The California panel also called upon the federal government to “create a Reparations Commission.”
If the plan goes forward, the state would pay out approximately $800 billion, though a final number has not yet been calculated. The reparations task force numbers are being sent back to the governor and state legislature for consideration.
