California reparations amount, if any, left to politicians

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March 30, 2023

JANIE HAR, Associated Press

The leader of California’s first-in-the-nation reparations task force said it won’t take a stance on how much the state should compensate Black residents.

Morris Griffin, of Los Angeles, speaks during the public comment portion of the Reparations Task Force meeting in Sacramento, Calif., on March 3, 2023. Photo Credit – Paul Kitagaki Jr./The Sacramento Bee via AP

The leader of California’s first-in-the-nation reparations task force on Wednesday said it won’t take a stance on how much the state should compensate Black residents whom economists estimate may be owed more than $800 billion for decades of over-policing, disproportionate incarceration and housing discrimination.

The $800 billion is more than 2.5 times California’s $300 billion annual budget and does not include a recommended $1 million per older Black resident for health disparities that have shortened their average life span. Nor does the figure count compensating people for property unjustly taken by the government or devaluing Black businesses, two other harms the task force says the state perpetuated.

[…]

Black residents may not receive cash payments anytime soon, if ever, because the state Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom will ultimately decide whether any reparations are to be paid. The task force faces a July 1 deadline to recommend the forms of compensation to be awarded and who should receive it, along with other remedies to repair the harm.

Continue reading how legislators will be left to decide

Learn more about Reparations

Read more breaking news here

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