California is considering reparations for Black residents
Image: Jason Henry/NYT
Over the weekend, California’s task force on reparations approved a series of recommendations involving direct payments to all Black folks who can prove their or their family’s residency between a certain period of years, as compensation for generations of harm caused by the state’s discriminatory policies.
📜 Some quick background: While California was technically admitted to the US as a “free state” in 1850, historical records contain evidence that slavery still persisted in California over the next decade-plus without legal authority. And even after slavery was abolished nationwide in 1865, institutional discrimination against the state’s Black residents continued.
- Last summer, CA’s reparations task force published a report detailing how the state has systematically abused its Black residents since 1850 in areas such as voting, housing, education, policing, and incarceration.
- Other research has shown that Black residents in California have the shortest life expectancy of any racial group – 75 years compared to the state average of 81 – and that they collectively earn ~60% as much money compared to white residents.
🤔 So, what are the recommendations?... After consulting with experts, the task force identified three key categories for which there exists sufficient data to determine Black residents’ monetary losses, then calculated a “conservative” estimate of individual reparations:
- Health harms; $13,619 for each year of residency dating back to 1850
- Mass incarceration and over-policing; $2,352 for each year of residency between 1971 and 2020
- Housing discrimination; $3,366 for each year of residency between 1933 and 1977
California officials also identified two other key areas of historical harm to Black residents – unjust seizure of property via eminent domain and devaluation of Black-owned businesses – but said the state currently lacks enough data to determine an estimated figure of repayment.
- While the report didn’t outline the overall cost to the state, economists have previously estimated the total could exceed $800 billion, or 2.5x California’s entire annual budget.
✋ Yes, but… The new recommendations still have a ways to go before becoming law. The authority to spend money on reparations lies with California’s legislature, which is scheduled to debate the issue this summer once the task force submits its formal recommendations. And if reparations are approved by lawmakers, the measure would still require Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature to become law.
📊 Flash poll: Do you agree with the task force’s recommendations for reparations to Black California residents?
See a 360° view of what media pundits are saying →
Sprinkles from the Left
- Some commentators argue that reparations for Black residents of California and elsewhere in the US make sense due to pronounced disparities in life expectancy compared to other races, which science has shown isn’t a result of genetic differences between races.
- Others contend that California’s reparations task force has conducted an exhaustive investigation into the impact statewide policies have had on Black residents over the decades, and lawmakers should vote to enact the panel’s final recommendations.
- “The overlooked reason reparations make sense in California and elsewhere” –Christopher Kuzawa, LA Times
- “California is studying reparations for African Americans. Here’s how the program might work.” –Monica Montgomery Steppe, CA Reparations Task Force member
- “It’s time to atone for racist housing policies once rampant in California” –Modesto Bee Editorial Board
Sprinkles from the Right
- Some commentators argue that while the reparations task force appears to have an argument for awarding money to Black residents, it risks going too far and asking for too much from a Legislature elected by voters who never owned slaves.
- Others contend that California’s reparations task force is a sham designed to draw voters’ attention away from the widespread and ongoing failures of state Democrats and Gov. Newsom’s government.
- “A cautionary note for California’s reparations task force” –Thomas D. Elias, Orange County Register
- “California, Never a Slave State, Considers Reparations” –Will Swaim, WSJ
- “Solid-blue California (of all places) may be where identity politics go to die” –Phil Boas, Arizona Republic
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