Task force examines "calculations for reparations" for eligible Black Californians
SACRAMENTO – Reparations have often led to heated discussions in California. The first-in-the-nation panel listened to economists to determine what should compensation look like for eligible Black Californians.
Can America make atonement for its dark history of slavery and the mistreatment of Black people fighting for freedom?
"I was born in the cotton fields and I was raised in the cotton fields," Bishop Henry William, who used to be a sharecropper.
The 80-year-old lived in the South. He told CBS13 he is only a few generations away from when his great-grandfather was enslaved. He now lives in the Bay Area.
On Wednesday, the California Reparations Task Force met with economists to discuss payments. But what determines how much money should people get?
So far, the experts say they examined health harms, housing discrimination and incarceration rates and over-policing.
The team of experts said it looked at a long list of harms and atrocities the State of California is at least partially responsible for and narrowed it down to five categories, but they only produced preliminary estimates for three harm citing missing public data for unjust property takings by eminent domain and devaluation of Black business.
An AP article reports it could cost the state $800 billion for payouts. However, a task force spokesperson refuted those claims and said no dollar figure has been presented yet.
"Reparations, when it comes to my mind — I think of the term, repair. It's the operable term in reparations," said Matthew Morris of Sacramento.
For the task force, restitution is part of reparations. It is not reparations.
"We were just talking about the racial justice act and how that could totally turn around the criminal justice system," said Asm. Reginald Jones-Sawyer, Sr., a task force member. "It may not have any financial implications, but it could have a dramatic implication on how many African Americans in over mass incarceration of black people in the criminal justice system."
The clock is ticking. A final report for lawmakers is due by June 30.
The recommendations have no legislative power. When asked whether state lawmakers may have the appetite to look at some of the harms outlined in the 400-page report, Jones-Sawyer believes so.
"Right now, even now — elected officials and legislators in the assembly and the senate are anxious to look at the harms," he said.