Although the California Senate put on hold plans to provide reparations to the state’s citizens, Congress voted to formally apologize for the state’s role in slavery.
California’s House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill to send to the Senate, acknowledging responsibility for “all the harms and atrocities committed by the state.” Los Angeles Times reported. AB 3089 passed unanimously among Democrats, but some Republicans abstained from voting.
“There is no denying that our system of government has been complicit in the oppression of African Americans. …California’s history is tainted by the oppression of black people,” Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas said in support of the bill, according to the Los Angeles Times. The paper reported. “It’s a wound that still has to heal.”
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At a Black Lives Matter protest in Bayside, Queens, a crowd of masked protesters walk through a neighborhood holding signs that say “Reparations Now.” (Ira L. Black/Corbis via Getty Images)
“It’s not just the apology that matters… it’s whether we fulfill the dream my ancestors had of making us a full part of the American Dream,” said the bill’s author, California House of Representatives. Councilman Reggie Jones said. Sawyer said on the floor, the LA Times reported.
California introduced a series of reparations bills in January that would provide property taxes and cash payments to descendants of slaves, but the plan was put on hold during Thursday’s Senate fiscal proceedings, when lawmakers decided to reduce the state’s large budget deficit. The Los Angeles Times reported that the event had been postponed for some reason. .
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“The next few years will be a difficult legislative and budget process,” said Democratic state Sen. Anna Caballero, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee. She said: “Finding a balance is important to keep government functioning efficiently and prudently.”
Walter Foster, 80, a longtime Los Angeles resident, holds a sign during a meeting of the Special Committee on Reparations to hear public input on reparations at the California Science Center in Los Angeles on September 22, 2022. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
The controversial cash compensation proposal was proposed last year by the state’s Reparations Task Force, which aims to inform lawmakers on how to best implement reparations. It received wide media coverage after the government recommended payment.
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However, this was not included in the proposed bill, and there was no mention of providing cash payments to descendants of slaves or people historically discriminated against by the government.
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“We know that generational wealth has been built through homeownership, but African Americans have not been allowed to own homes since the Emancipation Proclamation. Their freedom is about land. said Democratic state Sen. Stephen Bradford, who authored the two blocked reparations bills. .
According to the Los Angeles Times, Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher said slavery was a “terrible stain on our history” but that the state continues to deny some rights to black residents. He did not support a part of the bill that says police shootings are “state-sanctioned violence,” the Los Angeles Times reported. report.
“We have made great strides towards a more equal society,” Mr Gallagher said.
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