The vote was split 5-4 with some members asking the committee to proceed with a clear definition of who would be eligible instead of studying the issue for months. “Please, please, please tonight, take the first step,” said Amos Brown, vice president of the task force. Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. They also said that black immigrants who chose to immigrate to the United States in the 20th and 21st centuries did not share the trauma of people who were abducted and enslaved. They also opened the eligibility for the release of blacks who immigrated to the country in the 19th century, due to possible difficulties in documenting the genealogy and the danger at the time of enslavement. Others have argued that compensation should include all blacks in the United States, regardless of origin, who suffer from systemic racism in housing, education, and employment. They also said it was difficult to prove the origin. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation into the two-year compensation group in 2020, making California the only state to study and plan on the institution of slavery and its ills, and to educate the public about its findings. The members of the task force were appointed by the governor and the heads of both legislatures. The committee has not spent a year in its two-year process and there is no compensation plan on the table. Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. Compensation could include free college, housing and start-up assistance, and grants to churches and community organizations, advocates say. However, the issue of eligibility has plagued the task force since its inaugural meeting in June, when viewers called on the nine-member panel to come up with targeted proposals and cash payments to eradicate the descendants of slaves in the United States. Arthur Ward, a Chicago resident, called the virtual meeting on Tuesday, saying he was a descendant of enslaved people and had a family in California. He supports origin-based compensation and expressed his frustration with the committee’s concerns about black immigrants experiencing systemic racism. “When it comes to some kind of justice, some kind of retaliation, we are supposed to take a step back and allow the Caribbean and Africans to be given priority,” Ward said. “Taking so long to decide something that should not even be an issue from the beginning is an insult.” The committee’s chairwoman, Camilla Moore, is in favor of descent based on descent rather than race, saying she will have a better chance of surviving a legal dispute in a conservative U.S. Supreme Court. He also said that it is clear that the legislation supports rehabilitation based on origin. California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who drafted the law to set up the task force, had passionately advocated in January for prioritizing descendants of forced labor, broken family ties and police terrorism. The daughter of shareholders who were forced to leave Arkansas overnight, recalled how the legacy of slavery disintegrated her family and hindered their ability to dream of anything beyond survival. Opening reparations to modern black immigrants or even to descendants of slaves from other countries would leave US descendants with mere pennies, he said. But the members of the task force – almost all of whom can trace their families to enslaved ancestors – are struggling with a key question that will shape compensation debates across the country. The committee must make a decision so that economists can start the calculations. California lawmaker Reginald Jones-Sawyer, a member of the task force, said there was no doubt that the priority was the descendants of slaves, but said the task force must also stop the continuing harm and prevent future harm from racism. . He said during the meeting that he wished the commission would stop “fighting” over the money they do not have and even start discussing how to close a serious wealth gap. “We are fighting over cash payments, which I do not strongly believe is the only end,” he said. Critics also say California has no obligation to pay because the state did not have a job and did not enforce Jim Crow’s laws separating blacks from whites in the southern states. But the testimony given to the commission shows that California and local governments were complicit in taking away blacks’ salaries and property, preventing them from amassing wealth to pass on to their children. Their homes were demolished for reconstruction and they were forced to live in minority neighborhoods and could not get bank loans that would allow them to buy real estate. Today, blacks make up 5% of the state’s population, but are overrepresented in prisons, jails and homeless populations. And black homeowners continue to face discrimination in the form of home appraisals that are significantly lower than if the home was in a white neighborhood or homeowners were white, according to testimonies. Nkechi Taifa, director of the Reparation Education Project, is among the longtime supporters who are excited that the discussion has become mainstream. But it is confused by the idea of limiting compensation to people who can show descent when descent is not easy to document, and slave owners often moved people between plantations in the United States, the Caribbean and South America. “I guess I tend to be more inclusive than exclusive,” he said, “and perhaps the fear of limitation is that there is not enough money to circulate.” A report is expected by June with a compensation proposal that is expected by July 2023 so that the Legislature can consider turning it into law.
title: “Calif. Group Votes To Limit Reparations To Slave Descendants " ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-14” author: “George Milligan”
The vote was split 5-4 and the long debate was at times tentative and emotional. Near the end, the Reverend Amos Brown, chairman of the NAACP San Francisco branch and vice-chairman of the task force, asked the committee to come up with a clear definition of who would be eligible for rehabilitation. “Please, please, I beg you tonight, take the first step,” he said. “We need to provide emergency care where needed.” Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation into the two-year compensation group in 2020, making California the only state to study and plan on the institution of slavery and its ills, and to educate the public about its findings. Remedies at the federal level have gone nowhere, but cities and universities are addressing the issue. Rhode Island Mayor Providence announced a city committee in February as Boston City considered a proposal to form its own compensation committee. Chicago’s Evanston suburb of Illinois became the first U.S. city to offer compensation to black people last year, though some say the program did nothing to correct a mistake. Members of the California Task Force – almost all of whom can trace their families to slave slaves in the US – knew that their discussions on a key issue would shape the nationwide compensation debate. The members were appointed by the governor and the heads of the two legislatures. Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. They also opened the eligibility for the release of blacks who immigrated to the country before the 20th century, due to possible difficulties in documenting family history and the danger at the time of enslavement. Others in the working group argued that reparations should include all blacks in the US who suffer from systemic racism in housing, education and employment, and said they determine eligibility very early in the process. Civil rights lawyer and panelist Lisa Holder suggested directing economists working with the working group to use California’s 2.6 million black people to calculate compensation while continuing to listen to the public. “We have to galvanize the base and that is the Blacks,” he said. “We can not move forward with this compensation proposal without having all the African-Americans in California behind us.” But Kamilah Moore, a lawyer and chair of the panel, said extending eligibility would create its own cracks and was beyond the scope of the commission. “This will make it difficult for the victims of the institution of slavery, who are the direct descendants of the enslaved people in the United States,” he said. “It goes against the spirit of the law as it is written.” The committee has not spent a year in its two-year process and there is no compensation plan on the table. Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. Compensation could include free college, housing and start-up assistance, and grants to churches and community organizations, advocates say. The issue of eligibility has plagued the working group since its inaugural meeting in June, when viewers were asked to ask the nine-member group to come up with targeted proposals and cash payments to eradicate the descendants of enslaved people in the United States. Arthur Ward, a Chicago resident, called the virtual meeting on Tuesday, saying he was a descendant of enslaved people and had a family in California. He supports origin-based compensation and expressed frustration with the commission’s concerns about black immigrants experiencing racism. “When it comes to some kind of justice, some kind of retaliation, we are supposed to take a step back and allow the Caribbean and Africans to be given priority,” Ward said. “Taking so long to decide something that should not even be an issue from the beginning is an insult.” California lawmaker Reginald Jones-Sawyer, who voted against limiting eligibility, said there was no doubt the priority was the descendants of slaves, but said the task force must also stop the ongoing damage and prevent future harm from racism. He said he hoped the commission would stop “fighting” over the money they do not have and even start discussing how to close a serious wealth gap. “We are fighting over cash payments, which I do not strongly believe is the only end,” he said. Compensation critics say California has no obligation to pay as the state did not perform slavery and did not enforce Jim Crow’s laws separating blacks from whites in southern states. But the testimony given to the commission shows that California and local governments were complicit in taking away blacks’ salaries and property, preventing them from amassing wealth to pass on to their children. Their homes were demolished for reconstruction and they were forced to live in minority neighborhoods and could not get bank loans that would allow them to buy real estate. Today, blacks make up 5% of the state’s population, but are overrepresented in prisons, jails and homeless populations. And black homeowners continue to face discrimination in the form of home appraisals that are significantly lower than if the home was in a white neighborhood or homeowners were white, according to testimonies. A report is expected by June with a compensation proposal that is expected by July 2023 so that the Legislature can consider turning it into law.
