California could owe over $1 million in reparations per Black resident, say economists
The California Reparations Task Force will meet in Oakland for their second-to-last in-person public meetings discussing the vestiges of enslavement in California and which remedies will occur to repair the harms caused.
The meeting will take place at Mills College at Northeastern University inside of Lisser Hall, at 5000 MacArthur Boulevard.
During the meeting, the task force will share their final recommendations on reparations and what forms of repair should be carried out. There will also be a vote on the final report, which includes historical atrocities such as: enslavement, racial terror, political disenfranchisement, housing segregation and unjust property takings.
According to the task force’s report, there is not yet an official dollar amount for reparations in the form of cash payments; however, economists have estimated that California could owe over $1 million per Black resident within the eligible class, based on health harms, mass incarceration and over-policing, housing discrimination, unjust property taking by eminent domain, and the devaluation of Black businesses.
The state’s task force has consulted a team of economists to develop a method for calculating losses to African American descendants of enslaved persons, or descendants of a free Black person living in the United States prior to the end of the 19th Century, to establish the amount of compensation due.
Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2020 signed AB 3121, authored by then-Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, to explore how California might compensate Black residents for harms caused by enslavement and racial discrimination.
The final meeting will be June 30. The location has not yet been determined.
The task force is scheduled to complete its study and submit it to the California Legislature and governor on July 1.
