On Saturday, the California Reparations Task Force voted to move forward with a reparations scheme. In the United States, this is the first initiative of its sort.
A proposal outlining compensation for victims of institutionalized racism, housing discrimination, mass imprisonment, and health care imbalances was given final approval by the nine-member panel. The state legislature will now examine the proposal. If it is approved, hundreds of billions of dollars might be distributed to black Californians.
Black California residents who are 71 or older and have lived there their whole lives might receive up to $1.2 million in benefits, it was showed before the vote.
The committee’s desire to make amends for various claimed wrongs on behalf of the state of California was made clear by the proposed payments that were made public on Wednesday. Each set of wrongdoings is unique depending on how long a person has been a California resident.
In the event that a person’s health deteriorates as a direct result of their time spent in California, they and their dependents would be eligible to receive $13,619 per year of residence in the Golden State. Those who claim to have been wronged by “overpolicing” in California between 1971 and 2020 would be eligible to receive up to $115,260 in compensation, or $2,352 each year of residency in the state.
On July 1st, the task force will release its report.
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) endorsed the concept of reparations for black Californians before of Saturday’s vote. She characterized the change as “long overdue” and a “human right” in need of being implemented.
On Saturday, Lee told the California Reparations Task Force that “reparations are not a luxury for our people, but a long overdue human right for millions of Americans.” Reparations are a tangible means to acknowledge and compensate for the apparent economic and social repercussions of slavery and institutional racism, and it is difficult to dispute that horrible things have been done to black Americans. It’s time to mend the broken things.