California Reparations Task Force Meets in San Diego

ARTICLE CONTINUATION FROM COVER

By Voice & Viewpoint Newswire

The hot topic with the proposal of African American reparations is a potential financial payout. Although that part of the discussion has generally been promoted in the media, the proposal drafted by The Task Force has several components that speak towards key difficulties and hurdles black people experience here in

America. The proposals represent more than monetary demand.

A detailed 485-page interim report was issued in June of 2022 that listed five categories of harm Black residents in California have suffered and that should be fixed. They are: housing discrimination, mass incar- ceration, unjust property seizures, the devaluation of Black businesses, and health care.

Another of the proposed line items in the task force’s initial report is an acknowledgment of participation and an apology by the California State Government for its role in the slave trade.

A final report will be issued before July 1, 2023.

Secretary of State Weber said Friday, according to Market Watch, that the task force was addressing “some of the most important issues in the state.” She also mentioned the significant role she thinks California plays in the reparations movement, Market Watch reported.

As reported in Market Watch, Weber “introduced the bill in the California legislature in 2020 because ’the bill in D.C. once again had failed,’ Weber said. ‘We never seem to get across the line and make progress.’ So, she said,

‘California could do that. California is always the one that does innovative things.’”

“Other local governments around the nation are considering or exploring their own reparations programs,” the Market Watch report said. Federal legislation on reparations has been introduced several times since 1989 but has never gotten anywhere.

Secretary Weber stressed that the 9-member Task Force needs to create a “game changer”. She even addressed the members, saying, “You have to make sure your recommendations are going to have a lasting impact.” She further stated, “We have the brainpower and capacity to make this happen.”

Although both days were long, the public showed up and were patient and attentive throughout the discussion.

The community was even given time to address the Task Force both in person and via telephone call-in.

Many San Diego residents, a majority of them African Americans of all ages, approached the Task Force and expressed themselves.

Chad Brown, a spokesperson for the National Assembly of American Slavery descendants said this: “We are asking for the Task Force to take up, across these harm areas that they have identified, bold measures such as free education, tax abatements, land allotment/land grants, running the entire gambet of what has been done to our community over several centuries”

Although the task force is confident that the July 1st deadline will be met, they are also in agreement that more time is needed for the life of the Task Force to ensure the follow-up and implementation of the actual rollout goes smoothly. Voice & Viewpoint Contributing Writer Dawud Hasan contributed to this article.