A California Democrat choked back tears earlier this month when Republican lawmakers said it was unfair to make Asians and Latinos pay slavery reparations to African Americans.
The exchange took place during a June 11 meeting of the California Assembly Judiciary Committee. Lawmakers were discussing SB 1331, a bill that would establish a “Reparations and Compensatory Justice Fund” in California’s coffers. This is the culmination of a months-long effort by California Democrats to craft a reparations proposal for the descendants of American slaves.
“I’m concerned about the proposal to make it easier to distribute reparations,” Rep. Kate Sanchez, a Republican from Santa Margarita, said at the hearing.
Sanchez cited economists who analyzed California’s reparations task force proposal and concluded it could cost $800 billion.
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California Assemblywoman Kate Sanchez (R-Santa Margarita) said it’s unfair to make Asian and Latino Californians pay slavery reparations to African Americans. (California State Assembly)
“This is two and a half times the size of our entire state budget,” she said. “Funding it will require significant tax increases the likes of which this state has never seen before. I recognize and acknowledge this painful part of our history. The pain of the past should not be borne by people today.”
The Republican lawmaker, who is Hispanic, noted that the majority of California’s population, 55 percent, is Latino or Asian, including many who are first- or second-generation immigrants who “have nothing to do with slavery, discrimination or Jim Crow laws.”
“It’s fundamentally unfair to force these people to pay this,” she said.
Democratic Rep. Ash Kalra of San Jose responded by dismissing the possibility that reparations could be paid for with an $800 billion “contingency payment from the state budget.”
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Assemblyman Ash Kalra, a Democrat from San Jose, California, said reparations for the descendants of slaves are “necessary.” (California State Assembly)
“The reality is that action is needed and that includes reparations, potentially monetary compensation,” said Kalra, who in 2016 was the first Indian American elected to the California Assembly and serves as chair of the Judiciary Committee.
“I know it’s hard to ask those of us currently in Congress to make that commitment, but nobody has asked generations of Black families whether it’s OK to take their wealth, whether it’s OK to enslave them, whether it’s OK to …” he said, pausing as he grew emotional.
“If we are to allow generations of their children to live in poverty. This country became a superpower because of hundreds of years of unpaid labor by African-descendants. We need to acknowledge that.”
“It can be hard to admit that you’ve actually caused pain,” Kalra added.
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Kalra fought back tears as he defended slavery reparations. (California State Assembly)
After some debate, the Judiciary Committee voted 9-3 to move forward on a partisan basis with SB 1331. The proposal is one of four reparations bills being considered by the California Legislature, according to the Sacramento Observer.
In May, the state senate passed three of more than a dozen reparations bills introduced by the California Legislative Black Caucus, ABC7 reported. The bills are “an apology to black Californians for the slavery and discriminatory practices that have been in place since the state’s founding,” the outlet reported. The bills will now be voted on by the California Assembly.
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California introduced a reparations bill in January that would provide property compensation and cash benefits to descendants of slaves and other black Californians, after the Legislature rejected previous bills on the issue, including ones that would have offered homebuying assistance and property tax relief to the descendants of slaves, according to ABC7.
SB 1331 allocates funds for a reparations policy that the Governor signs into law.
Fox News Digital’s Yael Haron contributed to this report.
