Governor Gavin Newsome is making history with the largest reparations effort ever seen, worth over half a trillion dollars. If Newsome’s plan goes through, the descendants of slaves will be given around $223,200 each to compensate for the housing discrimination they experienced in California. This effort is focused on Black California residents in order to give them the reparations they are due for the abuses they faced from 1933-1977.
If California were to pay reparations, it would have to spend more than $512.8 billion which includes funds for education, transportation, law enforcement agencies, prisons, healthcare facilities, and universities.
Although Newsome is committed to giving away reparations to the Black people who were disenfranchised throughout the twentieth century, there are still a lot of questions about how the payments will be made. For example, the government of California is debating whether to give out financial assistance through checks or some other method.
Newsome has created a task force whose mission is to determine reparations for Black California residents. The group has until June 2023 to present their final suggestions to the California Legislature. Some of the areas they are focusing on include mass incarceration of Black people, unjust property seizures, devaluation of Black businesses, and discrepancies in health care and health equity.
“We are looking at reparations on a scale that is the largest since Reconstruction,” Jovan Scott Lewis, a professor at Berkeley and member of the task force, told the Times.
The destruction of Russell City is one example of housing discrimination in California. situated near the coast of San Francisco, this location was a safe haven for Black people during a time when People were trying to escape poverty and violence occurring in southern states.
Although Russell City was an oasis for Black people, California bulldozed it to make room for industry. This left thousands of families homeless and without proper restitution for their land or belongings.
Monique Henderson-Ford, a former Russell City inhabitant, was given $2,200 for her home – scarcely one-third of what she bought it for.
“Imagine if the houses were still here,” she stated. “We would all be sitting on a fortune.”
American attitudes toward reparations are diverse and complicated. Although Black people were enslaved for centuries and contributed greatly to the country’s development, many white Americans do not want to pay for reparations. In an attempt to atone for America’s history, several states and cities have started offering reparations to the people who helped make America great.
What are your thoughts on reparations for Black people in California?
