Pro-reparations groups in California are threatening Governor Gavin Newsom and other state lawmakers that the backlash against racism will have a “direct impact” on Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign if they don't pass a slavery reparations bill.
Lawmakers decided to postpone passage of two state Senate bills following “heated” debate and protests on Saturday. legislation Fox News reported that the bill was proposed as a response to racism and the enslavement of Black Americans.
While measures were approved to return land and provide compensation to families whose property had been “unjustly confiscated by the government,” as well as to offer a formal apology, the SB 1403 and 1331 A bill that would have established a compensation fund and given leaders appointed by Newsom the power to oversee how compensation is provided was excluded.
California Legislative Black Caucus Chair Lori Wilson announced the caucus had withdrawn the bill because more work was needed.
“We knew from the beginning it was going to be an uphill battle, and we knew from the beginning that this was going to be a multi-year effort,” Wilson told reporters after the session ended.
Members of the Coalition for a Fair and Equitable California, a group that advocates for reparations, were outraged.
“The speaker needs to table the bill now. This is their bill. Their name is on it. They are killing their bill because they're afraid of the governor,” one man from the coalition told reporters.
“They're killing bills because they're afraid of the governor.”
Supporters of a reparations bill that would create a new Freedmen's Affairs Agency and Reparations Fund in California are urging the Legislature to vote on the bill.
“This is going to impact your friend, Kamala Harris.” pic.twitter.com/PeLi3EgGDZ
— Ashley Zavala (@ZavalaA) August 31, 2024
“Look, they're going to see this and they're going to get mad at us. They're going to kill their bills and then they're going to get mad at us,” he continued. “They're killing their bills because they're afraid of the governor. We don't care. Get that damn bill in now, now, now.”
“We need to send a message to the governor,” a woman from the coalition agreed.
“The Governor needs to understand that the world is watching California and that this directly impacts your friend Kamala Harris who is running for President,” the woman warned. “This will have a direct impact so take up the bill now, vote and sign it. We have been waiting over 400 years.”
“We have the votes,” the man added.
State Sen. Steven Bradford (D), the author of SB 1403 and 1331, said his fellow senators refrained from introducing the bills out of fear that Newsom would kill them.
“We are at the finish line, and as the Congressional Black Caucus, we have an obligation to the descendants of slavery, to black people in California, and to black people in America to move this bill forward,” Bradford reportedly told his colleagues on the floor.
“We owe a debt of gratitude to our ancestors,” he added, “and in some ways I think we've let them down.”
Newsom agreed with lawmakers, but spend $12 million A budget proposal to implement a proposal to provide reparations for slavery in June did not specify how the funds would be sent, Breitbart News reported.
According to Fox News, the governor's administration has “indicated opposition” to some of the proposed compensation methods. The governor has until the end of the month to decide whether to sign the bill into law.
The California Legislative Black Caucus responded to the backlash in a statement posted to X, saying the withdrawn bill is not part of a 2024 “reparations priority package” and that they remain “committed” to the long-term goal of “advancing reparations.”
— @clbcpolicyinstitute (@CABlackCaucus) August 31, 2024
The statement was called a “lie” by the Coalition for a Fair and Equitable California, which claimed the lawmakers “misbehaved to stop a compensation bill from reaching the Governor's desk.”
This statement is false. The truth is Translator (CLBC) lied and cheated to stop it. #compensation We blocked the bill from reaching the Governor's desk. Once again, black legislators blocked a reparations bill for black Americans in California. We had the votes to pass it and they knew it… https://t.co/Y8gjcrL8ap pic.twitter.com/q5FZ75xhAe
— Coalition for a Fair and Equitable California (@cjecofficial) September 1, 2024
“This kind of betrayal cannot go unchecked; a political price must be paid. The days when politicians of any race or party can disrespect Black Americans and expect no political consequences are over,” the coalition said.
