A California Senate committee gave the green light to a controversial bill that seeks to establish a state agency dedicated to implementing "reparations" programs for descendants of Black people who resided in the country before the 20th century.
Legislative Proposal 1403, introduced by Gardena Democratic Senator Steven Bradford, aims to create the California American Freedman Affairs Agency, charged with evaluating the eligibility of descendants of Blacks who were victims of the slave trade.
The right to reparations claim is based on the assumption that historical injustices, violence, and segregation have left a lasting impact on California's Black communities.
Kamilah Moore, chair of a task force tasked with developing proposals for "reparation" for the Black community, noted that the agency would serve to dismantle barriers and address deep-rooted disparities that she says continue to plague the Black community.
However, not all Black people would be chosen to claim this supposed reparation. According to an analysis by Courthouse News Service, "the race of the claimant would not be at issue; the sole question would be whether they are descended from the people whom the state subjected to the abuses for which it now seeks to make restitution."
Additionally, the analysis explains that Bradford's bill is primarily limited to creating the agency without specifying how to implement the task force's reparations recommendations. It would be the Legislature's job to decide which recommendations to approve and send them to the agency for enactment.
With the bill gaining approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee, it now advances to the Senate Governmental Organization Committee for review and consideration, generating intense debate over the government's role in "reparations" for slavery.
It is relevant to note that California was the first state to establish a commission to analyze the issue, even though slavery was illegal in California when the territory joined the Union in 1850. Illinois was the second state to create a commission, followed by New York.
These racial "reparations" have been criticized by Republicans not only for the "astronomical costs" they could represent for taxpayers but also for considering that there are actually no reparations to pay.
"The reparations of slavery were paid with the blood and lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans who fought to end slavery during the Civil War," opined New York State Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt.
