California Reparations Task Force calls for the elimination of child support debt for black residents

California’s controversial Reparations Task Force has called on the state legislature to end child support debt for black residents, claiming the country’s laws have stunted their growth and torn African-American families apart.

The task force released their final report last week with a series of calculations that could add up to hundreds of billions of dollars in payment.

The 1,100-page document revealed that the state’s black residents represent a greater percentage of those in child support debt than their share of the state’s population.

The task force claimed that “discriminatory” laws have “torn African-American families apart,” and that one of its consequences is the “damage” caused by “the disproportionate number of African-Americans being saddled with child support debt.” .

The report alleges that the 10 percent interest the state charges on child support arrears has hindered black residents from finding work, keeping a home and continuing their education because of the legal ramifications of failing to pay such debts.

Walter Foster, age 80, long-time resident, holding up a sign as the Reparations Task Force meets to hear public input on reparations at the California Science Center in Los Angeles

Senator Steven Bradford, Secretary of State Shirley Weber, Task Force member Lisa Holder, and Assembly member Reggie Jones-Sawyer hold aloft a final report from the California Task Force to Study and Develop Restoration Proposals for African Americans at a hearing in Sacramento, California on Thursday

“The Task Force recommends that the legislature enact legislation to terminate all accrued interest on child support arrears, requiring only payment of principal due,” the report said.

“The proposal at a minimum recommends that the legislature abolish future interest accrual on child support debt for low-income parents,” the report said.

The Task Force further recommends that the legislature amend Family Code section 17560, the “offerings in compromise” provision, to allow compromise offers and forgiveness of child support debt based solely on a parent’s financial (sic) circumstances and ability to pay ,’ it added.

The report is the culmination of two years of research by the task force into what it believes is the historic discrimination faced by black Californians and their ancestors in the state.

It also provides a broad account of the ways in which it accuses the state of wronging the descendants of black slaves.

The state legislature will now determine which aspects of the report, including financial compensation for black residents, will be approved or rejected.

The report is the culmination of two years of research by the task force into what it believes is the historic discrimination faced by black Californians and their ancestors in the state.

Kamilah Moore (pictured), an intellectual property and entertainment attorney who led the task force, called the past two years a whirlwind

The landmark report, which took two years to complete, was presented to state lawmakers after a fiery meeting in Sacramento, where members of the task force said the document was a “book of truth.”

But the report will spark further controversy among reparations opponents after it repeated eye-popping estimates of the present value of inequities faced by black people in California.

A summary of the 1,200-page report said the “mass incarceration and over-policing of African Americans” was equivalent to $228 billion.

The group did not list an overall reparations figure in the document, but rather touted that a whopping $800 billion would be handed over to black people.

Lisa Holder, a civil rights attorney and member of the task force, said the report is a “book of truth” that will be “a legacy, proof of the full story.”

“Anyone who says we are colorblind, that we have solved the problem of anti-black racism, I challenge to read this document,” she said.

Kamilah Moore, an intellectual property and entertainment attorney who led the task force, called the past two years a whirlwind.

“It was very labor intensive, but also very cathartic and very emotional,” she said. “We are in the shoes of our ancestors to essentially complete this sacred project.”

In all, the panel proposed more than 100 policies and also called for formal apologies for “committing gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity against African slaves and their descendants.”

The state recovery panel is the first of its kind in America. But the recommendations are far from reality.

State legislators and Governor Gavin Newsom must agree to pay money or make policy changes.

The California panel did not recommend a set dollar amount for financial reparations, but endorsed controversial economic methodologies to calculate what is owed for decades of overpolicing, disproportionate incarceration and housing discrimination.

Initial calculations put California’s potential cost at more than $800 billion — more than 2.5 times the state’s annual budget.

The estimated cost was reduced to $500 billion in a later report, although no explanation was given for the change.

The panel recommended prioritizing elders for financial compensation.

Economists recommended nearly $1 million for a 71-year-old black person who lived in California all his life — or $13,600 a year — for health disparities that shorten the average lifespan.

According to the calculations, black people who were subjected to aggressive policing and prosecution during the “war on drugs” from 1971 to 2020 could get $115,000 each if they lived in California during that period, or more than $2,300 a year.