California reparations committee will recommend handing out $223,200 to descendant of slaves

A reparations committee in California suggested that the descendants of slaves in the state could be awarded compensation of $223,200 each for “housing discrimination.”

The nine-member reparations task force was formed by California Governor Gavin Newsom as part of the nation’s largest effort to address reparations for slavery.

One focus of the California task force has been “housing discrimination,” and it has been estimated that it would cost about $569 billion to compensate the 2.5 million black Californians for mishaps between 1933 and 1977. according to the New York Times.

That’s more than California’s $512.8 billion spending in 2021, which included funds for schools, hospitals, universities, highways, policing and corrections.

However, discussions are still ongoing and the panel continues to consider how payments should be made: some suggested tuition and housing allowances or cash.

The task force has also identified four other causes for reparations: mass incarceration, wrongful property seizures, devaluation of businesses, and black health care.

He has until June 2023 to present his final recommendations to the Legislature.

Their estimates came after the task force organized meetings across the state to meet with members of black communities to better understand the economic impact of slavery.

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law in 2020 launching the largest slavery reparation program in the country’s history.

Kamilah Moore is chair of the California Remedies Task Force (left) and Dr. Amos C. Brown (right) is vice chair. The California Repair Task Force listens to public input on repairs at the California Science Center in Los Angeles in September

“We’re looking at repairs on a scale that’s the largest since Reconstruction,” task force member Jovan Scott Lewis, a Berkeley professor, told the Times.

One example of housing discrimination that the task force has considered is Russell City, a city that once existed just off the coast of San Francisco and provided refuge to Black families fleeing violence in the Deep South.

People who lived in Russell City, which has since been demolished, told the task force that the area was replaced with an industrial park and that residents were evicted.

One former resident, Monique Henderson-Ford, told the Times she was paid $2,200 for her house, less than a third of what she bought it for.

“Imagine if the houses were still here,” he said. We would all be sitting on a fortune.

Median wealth for black households in the US is $24,100, compared with $188,200 for white households, according to the most recent Federal Reserve Board Survey of Consumer Finances, the Times reported.

One example of housing discrimination that the task force has considered is Russell City, a city that once existed just off the coast from San Francisco. In the photo, a mural in what was Russell City

People who lived in Russell City told the task force how it was demolished to make way for an industrial plant and residents were not properly reimbursed.

“We’re looking at repairs on a scale that’s the largest since Reconstruction,” task force member Jovan Scott Lewis, a Berkeley professor, told the Times.

In September 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom signs into law a bill establishing a task force to come up with recommendations on how to award redress to African Americans.

After a task force meeting in September, Newsom vetoed a bill that would have extended its term.

The bill, which was introduced by Assembly member and task force Reggie Jones-Sawyer, would have allowed them to deliberate for another year until 2024.

Jones-Sawyer hoped it would provide time to hear more testimony, but some did not like the idea.

‘[The bill which would extend] it’s a betrayal of black Americans,’ said audience member Tiffany Quarles during a hearing, CalMatters reported. ‘We have been waiting for 400 years. We don’t need an extension.

The task force met at the California Science Center in South Los Angeles in September.

At that meeting he discussed the time frame in which damages should be considered and whether payments should be made exclusively to Californians.

He also said that he had been consulting with historians about how reparations had been paid in earlier circumstances, such as after World War II.

Their next meetings, according to their government website, are scheduled for mid-December.

Earlier this year, the task force produced a 500-page document outlining why African-Americans who are descendants of 19th-century slaves received “comprehensive remedies.”

After a task force meeting in September, Newsom vetoed a bill that would have extended its term. Some objected that giving him more time to deliberate would delay payment of reparations.

Announcement of a remedial meeting posted by Kamilah V. Moore, chair of the California Remedial Task Force

People line up to speak during a repair task force meeting at Third Baptist Church in San Francisco in April.