Kisha Smith
State Senator Steven Bradford came forward this week to address erroneous reports making headlines around the country relative to the claim that the California Reparations Task Force has suggested the State compensate descendants of slaves with direct compensation for historical housing discrimination.
One headline read: California Reparations Payments Could Exceed $200K Per Person. The Washington Examiner wrote: California Panel Eyes Historic Reparations for Descendants of Slaves and the Daily Mail reported “Gavin Newsom’s reparations committee will recommend handing out $223,200 per person to all descendants of slaves in California for ‘housing discrimination’ at a cost of $559 billion.
All of which prompted Bradford to set the record straight on the misinformation and what he dubbed as “willful misrepresentation of the work from the Task Force.
“The fact is that the Task Force has not completed its work and has made no formal recommendations to the legislature,” reported Bradford, who was appointed as a member to California’s Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans last year. “More than six months remain between now and when our official recommendations will be reported.
“Instead of being caught up in rumor or insinuation, the Task Force will continue to finish its work in the coming months and the legislature will review and consider that work when it is complete. It’s important that we be deliberative and get this right because the nation is watching and it’s more than likely ours will be the model for all to follow.”
In 2021, California became the first state government in the country to establish a task force for this purpose. The Task Force is comprised of nine members appointed by the Governor and legislative leaders in order to conduct an examination of the lasting consequences of discrimination against freed slaves and their descendants and to make recommendations on how the state can potentially make reparations for those affected.
On June 1, 2022, the Task Force issued an interim report to the California Legislature with a final report expected before July 1, 2023.