California‘s black lawmakers are under fire for a package of bills on reparations for black residents that makes no mention of the $1.2 million payouts they were promised earlier.
The California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) announced on Wednesday 14 reparations bills aimed at tackling systemic racism across the state, making it the first in the nation to take such a step.
But critics pounced on the lack of cash payments, and the $1.2 million sum that was floated last year by the state’s Reparations Task Force for every black resident who could show they had suffered.
Instead, the proposals include a call for the state to apologize for its role in slavery, to ban involuntary servitude in prisons and to return property officials had unfairly seized from black families.
‘This package does NOT include any cash payments to foundational black Americans at all,’ internet personality Tariq Nasheed posted on X/Twitter.
‘It’s a 111-page nothing-burger, dipped in nothing-sauce.’
California lawyer Antonio Moore added: ‘Pure craziness. This is NOT reparations for slavery and the theft of wealth.’
Erika Smith, a California-based writer, called it ‘one of the most half-baked package of bills that I’ve ever seen.’
Law scholar Jonathan Turley added that voters could well see it as ‘bait-and-switch given the building expectation of huge cash awards.’
Cash payouts for the descendants of slaves are a controversial issue in California and beyond — popular among the black people who would gain, but anathema to the whites and others who would foot the extra tax bill.
California Gov Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, has signalled that he did not support cash reparations payouts, especially when the Golden State is struggling to offset a budget shortfall of some $38 billion.
In its press release this week, the CLBC said it was steering clear of the divisive issue.
‘While many only associate direct cash payments with reparations, the true meaning of the word, to repair, involves much more,’ said the group’s chair Lori Wilson.
‘As laid out in the report, we need a comprehensive approach to dismantling the legacy of slavery and systemic racism.’
Instead, the ‘2024 Reparations Priority Bill Package’ of bills, as they are known, focus on reforms to education, civil rights, criminal justice, health, and business.
The caucus called it a ‘multi-year effort to implement the legislative recommendations’ from the task force, which held a series of emotionally-charged meetings over two-year before submitting its report last year.
‘This year’s legislative package tackles a wide range of issues; from criminal justice reforms to property rights to education, civil rights and food justice,’ Wilson added.
‘The Caucus is looking to make strides in the second half of this legislative session as we build towards righting the wrongs of California’s past in future sessions.’
The package features amendments to the state’s constitution, including plans to ‘fund programs for the purpose of increasing the life expectancy of, improving educational outcomes for, or lifting out of poverty specific groups.’
Another proposal would ban ‘involuntary servitude for incarcerated persons.’
One measure would allow for the restoration of ‘property taken during race-based uses of eminent domain to its original owners,’ in a reference to the historic property grabs against black families that blight the state’s record.
It would also lead to ‘a formal apology by the Governor and the Legislature for the role that the State played in the human rights violation and crimes against humanity on African Slaves and their descendants.’
Advocates of reparations say it’s time for America to repay its black residents for the injustices of the historic Transatlantic slave trade, Jim Crow segregation and inequalities that persist to this day.
Critics say that payouts to selected black people will inevitably stoke divisions between winners and losers, and raise questions about why American Indians and others don’t get their own handouts.
A survey last year of 6,000 registered California voters found that only 23 percent supported cash reparations, while 59 percent were opposed.
Public attitudes have only hardened since then.
Conservatives are pushing back against all types of DEI efforts and affirmative action policies. Giving a leg-up to one group inevitably means another loses out, the critics say.
Mike Gonzalez, co-author of the forthcoming book NextGen Marxism, told DailyMail.com that reparations were the ‘epitome of injustice.’
‘To hold someone responsible for a crime he never committed but that may have been committed by a long-deceased ancestor — let alone by someone completely alien to him — betrays our basic conceptions of right and wrong, is immoral.’