SACRAMENTO, Calif. (TND) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an official apology Thursday for the state’s historical racism and discrimination toward Black residents.
The apology, addressed to “African slaves and their descendants,” is one of several measures put forth by the Golden State’s Legislative Black Caucus and Reparations Task Force to receive the governor’s signature. Other such measures included bills to increase access to literature in prisons and recognize some college campuses as “California Black-Serving Institutions.”
Gov. Newsom owned up to the state’s racist past in a press release, saying he intends to “make amends” with Black Californians.
“As we confront the lasting legacy of slavery, I’m profoundly grateful for the efforts put forward by Chair Wilson and the members of the California Legislative Black Caucus,” the governor wrote. “The State of California accepts responsibility for the role we played in promoting, facilitating, and permitting the institution of slavery, as well as its enduring legacy of persistent racial disparities.”
The lengthy apology acknowledges the fact that “well over 2,000” African slaves entered California from 1850 to 1860 despite having already become a free state. It also recognized California’s legacy of “extrajudicial police killings” and the creation of monuments dedicated to “Confederate principles.”
“The State of California accepts responsibility for all of the harms and atrocities committed by the state,” the apology reads. “The State of California humbly asks for forgiveness from those affected by past atrocities, both deliberately and negligently, and acknowledges and affirms its responsibility to end ongoing harm.”
Racial reparations have long been a priority for Golden State lawmakers. Under Gov. Newsom, the state created an “Ebony Alert” system for missing Black women and children and suspended the death penalty, which it said “is unfairly applied to people of color.”
However, Gov. Newsom has notably shied away from recommendations by the state’s reparations committee to award cash to California’s slave descendants. He vetoed two of the Black Caucus’s proposed bills this week, one of which aimed to compensate Black residents for property lost to the state through “racially motivated” eminent domain seizures.
Reparations, the governor’s office said in 2023, should be “about much more than cash payments.”
“We should continue to work as a nation to reconcile our original sin of slavery and understand how that history has shaped our country,” it said.
An online survey by researchers at the University of California Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies last year found voters openly oppose the idea of state-issued reparation payments, which some say could cost upwards of $800 billion in total.
Follow Jackson Walker on X at @_jlwalker_ for the latest trending national news. Have a news tip? Send it to jacwalker@sbgtv.com.