By Wendy Fry. CalMatters. Bay City News.
The California Reparations Task Force released documents Monday indicating it plans to recommend that the state apologize for racism and slavery and consider "down payments" of varying amounts for eligible African-American residents.
The documents, which total more than 500 pages, do not contain a general price tag for the repairs, but do include ways the state could calculate how much money African-Americans in California have lost from 1850, when the state was established, to today. due to certain government practices.
Loss calculations would vary based on the type of racial damage and how long a person has lived in California. Estimates of losses range from $2,300 per person per year of residence from overpolicing of Black communities, to a total of $77,000 per person from losses and devaluations of Black-owned businesses over the years. .
State-appointed task force has a July 1 deadline to make repair recommendations to the Legislature and the Governor Gavin Newsom. Task force leaders have said they expect the Legislature to come up with the actual amounts of reparations.
The task force also recommends a variety of policy changes to counter discrimination.
“It is essential that we compensate, but we do not only compensate. We also need to assess the politics that continue to hold us back,” said Monica Montgomery Steppe, a San Diego city council member who is part of the task force. She spoke at a "listening session" in San Diego this Saturday.
Who would receive reparations?
The task force documents discuss two types of remedies: those that arise from particular instances of discrimination or harm that require an individual to file a claim, and those that involve the distribution of money or benefits to all eligible black Californians for the damage. racial experience experienced by the entire community.
A recent example of an individual claim was Bruce's Beach, a beachfront property and resort that the city of Manhattan Beach seized from a black family nearly 100 years ago. Recently, in part because of the task force, government leaders returned the deed to the land to Bruce family descendants, who resold it to Los Angeles County for $20 million.
It is one of the few times that a local government restored a property owned by a black family.
Eligibility for reparations remains controversial. The task force in March 2022 voted to limit potential compensation to the descendants of free and enslaved African Americans who were in the United States in the 19th century. The group narrowly rejected a proposal to include all African Americans, including recent immigrants, regardless of ancestry.
Everyone in the eligible class must be compensated, the task force report says, even if they can't prove they suffered specific harm.
"The State of California created laws and policies that discriminate against and subjugate free and enslaved African Americans and their descendants," the report says. “In doing so, these discriminatory policies made no distinctions between these individuals; the compensatory remedy must do the same.”
The final report, like the task force's previous interim report, presents the history of systemic racism and ongoing injustices in California.
Racial Damage Costs
The latest batch of documents also calls for eligible people to be compensated in cash, sooner rather than later. The records instruct the Legislature to begin with "down payments" rather than wait for full loss calculations.
The final report suggests dollar figures for certain categories of racial harm:
-Due to the mass incarceration and excessive surveillance of black communities, he estimates a loss per person of $115,260, or $2,352 for each year they lived in California from 1971 to 2020, corresponding to the National War against the drugs;
-For housing discrimination, it offers two loss calculation methods. A method based on the gaps between white and black "real estate wealth" would peg the loss at $145,847 per person. The other method, based on governments' "red-lining" histories, including discriminatory lending and zoning, would calculate the losses for black residents at $148,099 per person, or $3,366 for each year they lived in California from 1933 to 1977; and
-For health injustices and discrimination, estimates $13,619 per person for every year lived in California, or $966,921 total for someone living to age 71 or so: the average life expectancy of African-American residents in California in 2021.
The reparations program would be overseen by a new state agency that would determine eligibility and distribute funds, the report says. The agency would also be responsible for helping people document and provide evidence of specific injustices.
Eligible black residents should not expect cash payments any time soon. The state Legislature and Newsom will decide whether to pay reparations, and it is unclear what they will do with the task force's recommendations.
“This is the time when we really need the voice of the public,” said Khansa T. Jones-Muhammad, also known as Friday Jones, a member of the Los Angeles reparations advisory commission. “This is the time to gather your churches. This is the time to assemble your school boards."
Jones made the comments during the listening session in San Diego.
Non-monetary repairs
Some members of the task force have been dismayed by the amount of attention given to the dollar figures being discussed. The final report provides dozens of policy recommendations intended to prevent further discrimination and harm against black residents.
"The biggest fight is the implementation of all these recommendations," said Montgomery Steppe. After the task force issues its final report, those recommendations need strong support in the California Legislature and government. It will take everyone getting on board to ensure we push for policy change from our state legislature."
The task force is scheduled to meet again at 9:00 am Saturday in Lisser Hall at Northeastern University, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., in Oakland. The meeting will be broadcast live on https://oag.ca.gov/ab3121.
This publication was supported in whole or part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.
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