California Moves Forward with Reparations Effort

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Tuesday said his state is moving forward with efforts to create “a more equitable and inclusive future for all” at the first meeting of the state’s task force to study proposals for reparations for African Americans.

Newsom last year signed a bill approving the task force that will consider paying reparations for slavery. The statute requires a task force to make recommendations for lawmakers to address the findings by July 2023.

The recommendations are slated to include details on what form of compensation lawmakers should authorize, as well as who should receive those funds.

“With this bill, we’re bringing together some of the best, the brightest minds to chart a path forward, to move to a more equal California,” Newsom, who is facing a recall election later this year, said Tuesday.

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California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who also spoke at Tuesday’s meeting, said, “Although the horrors of slavery may have begun in the past, its harms are felt every single day by Black Americans in the present.”

“Yes, there has been progress in this country, but it has been all too uneven, and it has not moved fast enough,” he said. {snip}

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