California Task Force Recommends Reparations for Black Residents

In a historic move, California’s reparations task force approved recommendations to compensate and apologize to Black residents for generations of harm caused by discriminatory policies.

The committee, the first of its kind in the U.S., suggested cash payments to descendants of enslaved people and the establishment of an agency to provide services to those eligible for restitution.

The task force was formed in 2020 after the death of George Floyd and is composed of nine members, including civil rights leaders, attorneys, lawmakers, and academics.

People listen to the California reparations task force, a nine-member committee studying restitution proposals for African Americans, at a meeting at Lesser Hall in Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, Calif., on Saturday, May 6, 2023. The panel began voting Saturday on recommendations for how the state may compensate and apologize to Black Californians for generations of harm caused by discriminatory policies. (AP Photo/Sophie Austin)

Eligibility for reparations is limited to descendants of enslaved or free Black people who were in the U.S. by the end of the 19th century.

The task force’s proposals must now be considered by the state legislature and ultimately approved by California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Some estimates suggest that the state could owe upwards of $800 billion in reparations. However, the figure in the draft of the task force’s report is lower.

Click to listen to the report from AURN White House Correspondent Ebony McMorris. For more news, follow @E_N_McMorris & @aurnonline.