No, California has not approved $1.2 million in reparations for Black residents | Fact check
The claim: California approved $1.2 million in reparations for every Black resident
A May 9 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) makes a claim about purported payouts in California.
"$1.2 MILLION approved in reparations for every black resident in California??!" reads the post. "this should be interesting MAYday."
A tweet with the same claim generated over 600 likes in less than two weeks. Similar posts have spread elsewhere on Facebook and Twitter.
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Our rating: False
A California task force voted in May to recommend slavery reparations for Black residents for harm caused by issues such as mass incarceration and housing discrimination. However, the group never recommended $1.2 million as a compensation amount, and to date the recommendations have not been approved by the California Legislature.
Reparations for Black residents have not yet been approved in the state
In 2020, Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill establishing a nine-member task force to recommend ways to educate Californians about slavery and develop reparation proposals for Black Americans. The move came after the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was pinned down by a white police officer in an incident that spurred nationwide protests over racial injustice.
But California has not approved $1.2 million reparations for Black residents, according to Don Tamaki, a task force member appointed by Newsom.
The claim surfaced after the task force voted May 6 to approve proposals on how California will compensate Black Americans for health harms, housing discrimination, mass incarceration, over-policing, unjust property takings and the devaluation of Black businesses. The group consulted economists and policy experts to “develop a methodology for analyzing and calculating losses” in each category, according to the report.
The group then came up with hypothetical numbers to give the public some idea of "the economic loss suffered by African Americans as a result of the continuing impact of racial discrimination," according to Tamaki.
For instance, a Black resident could be eligible for housing discrimination reparations up to $148,099, or $3,366 for each year spent in California between 1933 and 1977. They could also receive up to $115,260, or $2,352 for each year of residency in California during the 49-year period between 1971 and 2020, for reparations related to mass incarceration and over-policing.
"The numbers are not recommendations on what the state should pay," Tamaki said. "Rather, the numbers are estimates of what the economic harm is and has been."
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The task force also never used the $1.2 million figure referenced in the post, Jovan Lewis, a task force member, told USA TODAY.
The figure is based on calculations by some news outlets, such as the New York Times, which reported that lifelong state residents who are 71 years old could theoretically “be eligible for roughly $1.2 million in total compensation for housing discrimination, mass incarceration and additional harms outlined in the report.”
But all estimates in the report are preliminary, as the Times reported.
“We calculated the losses for specific harms and provided methodologies that the state can use, should it decide to provide cash reparations,” Lewis said. “We have also recommended dozens of policies. Nothing has been approved.”
And even if these numbers were approved, not every resident would receive that same payout. It would depend on how long they have been a resident of California and several other factors, as the report details.
The task force will submit a final report in June. It will then be up to California lawmakers to decide whether to provide individual compensation and, if so, determine the amount, according to Tamaki.
USA TODAY reached out to the social media users who shared the claim for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
PolitiFact also debunked the claim.
Our fact-check sources:
Richard Garcia, May 17, Email exchange with USA TODAY
Don Tamaki, May 17, Email exchange with USA TODAY
Jovan Lewis, May 17, Email exchange with USA TODAY
State of California Department of Justice, accessed May 18, Reparations Task Force Members
State of California Department of Justice, May 6, Reparations Task Force Meeting – May 6, 2023
State of California Department of Justice, May 6, PART IV/Chapter 17: Final Recommendations of Task Force Regarding Calculations of Losses to African American Descendants of a Chattel Enslaved Person, or Descendants of a Free Black Person Living in the United States Prior to the End of the 19th Century, and Forms of Compensation and Restitution
Office of Governor Gavin Newsom, Sept. 30, 2020, Governor Newsom Signs Landmark Legislation to Advance Racial Justice and California’s Fight Against Systemic Racism & Bias in Our Legal System
New York Times, May 6, California Panel Calls for Billions in Reparations for Black Residents
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: California has not approved $1.2 million in reparations | Fact check
