Gosh, and it just seems like it has something for everyone who isn’t white…Asian…Hispanic…you get the drift. But will certainly annoy folks who were looking for a big, fat direct deposit. That doesn’t sound like it’s in the cards right now.
California’s Legislative Black Caucus released a slate of reparations bills to implement ideas from the state’s landmark task force on the issue. The proposals include potential compensation for property seized from Black owners but do not call for widespread direct cash payments to descendants of enslaved Black people.
If approved, the proposals would expand access to career technical education, fund community-driven solutions to violence and eliminate occupational licensing fees for people with criminal records. Another proposal would pay for programs that increase life expectancy, better educational outcomes or lift certain groups out of poverty.
One of the Black Caucus members said there wasn’t any reason members couldn’t advance their own, additional reparations legislative proposals – such as payments if they so chose – but what they’d already brought forward was going to be a tough enough slog as it was.
There was almost immediate pushback, as you’d expect, but from quarters where the thought is that these bills are nowhere near enough compensation.
They want so much more.
…But the 14 proposals are already drawing criticism from advocates who don’t think they go far enough.
Chris Lodgson, an organizer with the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California, which pushed to create the reparations task force, said the proposals are “not reparations.”
“Not one person who is a descendant who is unhoused will be off the street from that list of proposals. Not one single mom who is struggling who is a descendant will be helped,” he said. “Not one dime of the debt that’s owed is being repaid.”
He seems nice.
California is the first to bring reparations into the legislative process after much study, but it sure does seem to come down to an issue of financial compensation when push comes to shove. Both Gov Gavin Newsom and “many state Democrats” aren’t really fans of the cash-free plan.
California state lawmakers introduced a slate of reparations bills on Wednesday, including a proposal to restore property taken by “race-based” cases of eminent domain and a potentially unconstitutional measure to provide state funding for “specific groups.”
The package marks a first-in-the-nation effort to give restitution to Black Americans who have been harmed by centuries of racist policies and practices. California’s legislative push is the culmination of years of research and debate, including 111-pages of recommendations issued last year by a task force.
…“While many only associate direct cash payments with reparations, the true meaning of the word, to repair, involves much more,” Assemblymember Lori Wilson, chair of the caucus, said in a statement. “We need a comprehensive approach to dismantling the legacy of slavery and systemic racism.”
The package does have a provision that would give some monetary relief. The proposed bill, authored by State Sen. Steven Bradford, a Democrat from the Los Angeles area, deals with “property takings.” It would, “Restore property taken during raced-based uses of eminent domain to its original owners or provide another effective remedy where appropriate, such as restitution or compensation.”
There are also requests that would require changes in the state constitution in order to protect and advance “specific” groups because of poverty based on racism, etc. They’re running straight into a constitutional buzz saw there.
CA voters passed Proposition 209 in 1996 by a 55.4% to 45.4% margin specifically to do away with affirmative action style set-asides. Do these Black Caucus members truly believe all of CA wants to return to those days? Or do they believe CA voters are obligated to?
Proposition 209 added Section 31 to the California Constitution’s Declaration of Rights, which said that the state cannot discriminate against or grant preferential treatment on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, and public contracting.[1] Therefore, Proposition 209 banned the use of affirmative action involving race-based or sex-based preferences in California.
A survey of CA voters should give the Caucus pause. At least have advocates tone down the “debt that’s owed” rhetoric. With numbers like these, they’re going to need all the soft touches they can get.
The California Task Force on Reparations has called for the legislature to “cleanse” the state constitution of Proposition 209. But the legislature’s effort to do that—through ACA7–seems likely to fail precisely because of its association with reparations. pic.twitter.com/8G1dkCugou
— Gail Heriot (@GailHeriot) February 1, 2024
And really – “cleanse” Prop 209, which guaranteed EQUAL treatment for everyone?
Oh. I’ll bet they want anything to do with color-blind stuff wiped away, and would do it by fiat in an instant if they could.
CA is in such dire shape and there are so many more things these people could be doing with their time vice fomenting racial division and grift.
Major cities are looking like ghost towns in the middle of the week, for crying out loud.
Progressives killed San Francisco. https://t.co/rKqQbwmjWR
— Michael Oxford – Santa Cruz Mountain Goat (@SCMountainGoat) February 2, 2024
Keep at it, progs, and there may not be anyone left to pay them off if they pull it off.