The decision means that a fraction of the state’s 2.6 million Black residents (6.5% of the population) will benefit from reparations. Excluded will be Black immigrants in California, many of whom come from East and West Africa and the Caribbean
Assemblyman Reginald Jones-Sawyer, a member of the California reparations task force, speaks during a hearing in Sacramento on April 19, 2019. AP Photo/Rich PedroncelliCalifornia’s first-in-the-nation task force to identify reparations for African Americans voted Tuesday to limit eligibility to those who can trace their lineage.
who are direct descendants to enslaved people. Authored by former Assemblymember Shirley Weber, now the California secretary of state, the bill also established a two-year reparations task force to study and develop a plan on what reparations may look like. “The system that folks are advocating for here, where we splice things up, where only one small slice benefits, will not abate the harms of racism.”This vote establishes that going forward, only those Black Californians who are able to trace their lineage back to enslaved ancestors will be eligible for the state’s reparations.Kamilah Moore, task force chairperson, said that not going with a lineage-based approach would “aggrieve the victims of slavery.
“It’s rough justice,” Tamaki said. “We had to exclude groups too within our community … practical and very difficult decisions were made.”