Source: Carolyn Cole/Getty
The state of California has set aside $12 million in reparations funds for its black residents in reparation for the history of anti-Black oppression that has plagued black people for the vast majority of our existence in America.
The $12 million included in California's $300 billion budget is far less than what activists wanted, but it's also far more than what the MAGA world wants to see given to black people anywhere in the country, which is zero.
“Obviously, it's not enough, but this is the first time that reparations for black people will be a line item in the state budget,” said Chris Lodgson, a reparations activist who lobbied lawmakers to make it all happen. According to Washington Post.
The California Reparations Task Force, established by the state legislature, actually recommended billions in restitution funding, including $1.2 million in payments for Black Californians over 50 who have lived in the states their entire lives . While the state ended up approving only a fraction of the proposed amount, supporters of the initiative say it's fortunate that even the full $12 million was approved considering the state's current financial situation, which includes nearly $50 billion budget shortfall the next financial year.
“In this tough economic climate, finding this money for reparations sends a message not only to the state but to the nation that California is committed to addressing the harms that result from slavery in this country,” said the Senator. . Steven Bradford (D).
But it's not entirely safe for state Democrats to call passing the reparations a victory, since they still have to deal with salty white conservative activists who will surely fight them tooth and nail before allowing a black Californian to receive a check that isn't Black Californians also don't have access to.
From Position:
Recently, Judicial Watch, a conservative advocacy group, filed a lawsuit to stop the nation's first government-sponsored reparations program in Evanston, Ill., which had already paid nearly $5 million to 193 black residents of the city. And the Oklahoma Supreme Court recently dismissed the lawsuit by survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre seeking reparations.
“After the Tulsa decision and the Evanston lawsuit, people were asking, 'Is the reparations movement really going anywhere?' said Trevor Smith, executive director of the BLIS Collective, a nonprofit organization focused on Black and Native American recovery. . “So the fact that California continues to lead the way is really important.”
The state's reparations effort continues to face resistance from Republicans and some Latino and Asian lawmakers, who have argued that it is unfair to make today's residents, the majority of whom are people of color, pay for the sins of the state's White founders.
“Most every Californian, regardless of race or background, comes from a lineage that includes tremendous pain and struggle,” Assemblywoman Kate Sanchez (R) said in a statement. “To single out just one demographic is extremely problematic and likely unconstitutional. The problems of the past cannot be paid for by the people of today.”
Yes—It may be true that blacks do not have a global monopoly on historical oppression, but we are the only people in America to endure approximately two and a half centuries of slavery followed by another century of legally sanctioned second-class citizenship.
Well, there's that.
