California lawmakers on Wednesday introduced a reparations package to the state Legislature that includes 14 bills it says will help support the state’s Black communities following historic abuses.
Members of the California Legislative Black Caucus said the 14-part reparations bill would require the governor and the Legislature to formally apologize for slavery and other human rights violations, and return property taken in race-based lawsuits in prominent territories. , said it is seeking other compensation.
These bills are intended to be just the first legislative steps in what is likely to be a multi-year effort.
According to Reuters, Rep. Lori D. Wilson, chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus, said, “Many people only associate direct cash payments with reparations, but they don’t understand the true meaning of the word remediation.” There’s a lot more involved.”
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Members of the California Legislative Black Caucus introduced 14 reparations bills on Wednesday, February 21, 2024. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
The 14 bills follow an extensive 1,100-page report compiled in June by the California Reparations Task Force, a group of lawmakers created by a 2020 state bill.
The task force includes Mr. Wilson as Chair, Stephen Bradford as Vice-Chair, Isaac Bryan, Dr. Akira Weber, Mia Bonta, Christopher Holden, Dr. Corey Jackson, Kevin McCarty, and Tina McKinner. , Laura Smallwood-Cuevas, Mike Gipson, and Reggie.Byron Jones-Sawyer Sr.
The report took two years to write and ultimately made more than 100 recommendations to state legislators.
Among the issues listed above, other recommendations include reparing people and funding community-based programs to reduce violence in Black communities.
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Wednesday’s 14 bills —
- Expand access to career technical education through a new competitive grant program.
- Add career education financial aid.
- Amends the California Constitution to allow the state to fund programs that increase life expectancy, improve educational outcomes, and lift certain groups out of poverty.
- Formal recognition and acceptance of responsibility for all harms and atrocities committed by representatives of the state who facilitated, facilitated, enforced and permitted the institution of chattel slavery.
- Prohibits discrimination based on natural and protective hairstyles in all competitive sports.
- Restore property acquired during the use of race-based prominent domains to the original owners or provide restitution or compensation in such cases.
- Formal apology for human rights violations and crimes against humanity against African slaves and their descendants.
- Amend the California Constitution to prohibit involuntary servitude of incarcerated people.
- Eliminate the practice of banning books without oversight or review.
- Fund community-driven solutions to reduce community violence at the family, school, and neighborhood levels in African American communities.
- Restrict solitary confinement in detention centers.
- Make medically supported diets and nutritional interventions a permanent part of Medi-Cal benefits.
- Address food inequity by requiring advance notice of grocery store closures.
- Removing barriers for people with criminal records to obtain business licenses and prioritizing African American applicants for occupational licenses.
These items were first announced in January. None of the first 14 bills proposed Wednesday call for cash reparations, a subject that has drawn criticism from both sides of the proverbial spectrum.
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Rep. Jones-Sawyer argued that the bill addresses decades of laws and policies aimed at marginalizing Black Americans.
Members of the Black Caucus said the bill addresses decades of laws and policies aimed at marginalizing Black Americans. (Visions of America/Joe Sohm/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
California Governor Newsom signed a state bill in 2020 establishing the California Reparations Task Force. (AP Photo/Jeff Chee, File)
“These atrocities are seen in education, access to homeownership, access to startup capital for small businesses, all of which have been linked to hundreds of years of generational wealth,” Jones-Sawyer said, according to a Reuters report. “It contributed to the denial of this,” he said.
Reuters contributed to this report.
