Black People Should Get $350,000 Each in Reparations, Landmark California Committee Hears

Black Californians should get $350,000 to help shrink the racial wealth gap and right historical wrongs, a landmark California reparations task force has heard.

Max Fennell, a 35-year-old businessman and former professional triathlete, told the committee the money should be given to all black California residents. He argued that black-owned businesses should receive grants of about $250,000 and 15-20 acres of land to help further boost black wealth during the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals’ public hearing.

“It’s a debt that’s owed, we worked for free … we’re not asking; we’re telling you,” he told the panel, the Daily Mail reported . “The tangibles of what I’m asking for is $350,000 per black American in California — that’s tangible, small business grant $250,000, and land 15-20 acres.”

{snip} The meeting took place in the Oakland City Hall, in the city that served as the birthplace for the Black Panthers, a black power political group that was heavily active in the 1960s and 1980s.

Economic research presented to the team suggested California’s maximum liability for housing discrimination inflicted upon black residents between 1933 and 1977 was about $225,000, but panel Chairwoman Kamilah Moore subsequently suggested that reparations recommendations from the task force will likely be more narrowly tailored.

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