California’s reparations task force complains the $800B figure it is suggesting dominates headlines

A member of the California Reparations Task Force is frustrated that headlines are dominated by the $800 billion figure it is expected to recommend.

Cheryl Grills, a member of the task force, said the actual amount the state pays black residents is the “least important” aspect of the program, which is ultimately about acknowledging how harm has been done.

The latest proposals call for more than $400,000 to be paid to each of the state’s approximately 1.8 million black residents, amounting to about $800 billion — more than twice California’s annual budget of about $300 billion.

In 2020, California became the first state to establish a reparations task force, which is still finalizing the amount it will recommend paying.

After nearly three years of research and deliberation, the task force will publish a final report outlining the proposed reward on July 1. Once submitted, state legislators will consider the proposal.

One point of confusion in the reparations discourse has been whether the amount the task force is recommending will be a literal suggestion to the legislature or rather a broader estimate of the losses Black people have suffered from decades of inequality.

“We want to make sure this is presented in a way that doesn’t reinforce the preoccupation with a dollar figure, which is the least important part of this,” Cheryl Grills, a member of the state task force, told me. Cal Matters.

“It is important, but least important, to get to a point in our country’s history and in California’s history where we recognize that the damage spans multiple areas and domains and that the repair needs to align with that.

‘It’s a real pity. I think it’s actually sad to see that our news media can’t nuance better. It’s almost like, “What’s going to be sensational” as opposed to what’s important,” she said.

The task force has produced thousands of pages of reports identifying the need for reparations, including mass incarceration, unjust property seizures, black business devaluation and health inequality.

But at a task force meeting last month, Senator Steven Bradford said it would be an “uphill battle” to get the legislature to pass recommendations, CalMatters reported.

Assembly member David Alvarez told the publication he supported the task force’s work in formulating its recommendations, but would not comment on the preliminary numbers that have been circulated.

“I appreciate the work the Reparations Task Force has done,” he said.

“The Task Force is led by respected members of the African American community who have spent the past two years studying and discussing these historic impacts.

“Once the Task Force has completed their meetings and issued a final report with recommendations, I will review the full findings.”

The task force is currently considering two ways in which beneficiaries can be identified.

Either it will recommend that a standard amount be handed over to all descendants of American slaves living in California, or it will distribute compensation based on specific individual losses, such as incarceration or housing discrimination.

Kamilah Moore, the chair of the panel, told me KCRAit is now for the state legislature to determine the dollar amount, based on a method recommended by economists and approved by the task force.

‘The task force is more or less done with the compensation component. Our task was to create a methodology for calculating different forms of compensation that match our findings,” she told the channel.

Assembly member Reggie Jones-Sawyer, who also sits on the panel, told CalMatters that a crucial recommendation is that a letter of apology be issued, and that “it won’t cost a penny.” “I think one is as important as the other,” he said.