Newsom has been slow to move CA reparations, which he embraced

from Dan WaltersCalMatters

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George Floyd, a black man who was taken into custody by Minneapolis police after a store clerk allegedly used a counterfeit $20 bill, died as officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes, ignoring Floyd’s complaints that he couldn’t breathe.

Video of Floyd’s death on May 25, 2020 caused mass protests across the nation and around the world, energizing the Black Lives Matter movement that was founded in 2013.

Four months after Floyd’s death, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed three bills into law to address, he said, “the scourge of racial injustice rooted in the legacy of slavery and systemic racism,” including a authorization of a nine-member task force to explore reparations for black Californians.

“As a nation, we can only truly thrive when each of us has the opportunity to thrive,” Newsom said. “California’s rich diversity is our greatest asset, and we will not turn away from this moment to correct the discrimination and disadvantages that black Californians and people of color still face.”

Three years later, in 2023, the task force produces 1060 page report which describes California’s discriminatory treatment of blacks after its admission in 1850 as a state that officially prohibited slavery. The report recommended “appropriate means of compensation, rehabilitation, and restitution for African-Americans, with special consideration given to African-Americans who are descendants of persons enslaved in the United States.

“Compensation should be provided for any economically assessable damages, as appropriate and proportionate to the gravity of the violation and the circumstances of each case,” the task force wrote.

The report identified a range of reparations amounts for various purposes, with some estimates as high as $360,000 for each of the 1.8 million black Californians believed to have enslaved ancestors. That would amount to nearly $650 billion — about twice the state’s annual budget.

News coverage of the prominent figure put Newsom on the spot. He responded with what political professionals call a slow roll — appearing to support something but making excuses to delay actually doing something.

Newsom initially said in a statement that “dealing with the legacy of slavery is about much more than cash payments,” but when the media suggested he was backing away from his alleged 2020 support for reparations, he issued another statement to the Sacramento Bee:

“The sensationalist framing in pieces published by outlets like Fox News and others is inaccurate. The governor looks forward to reviewing the final report — and all recommendations — when it is completed.” Newsom’s chief communications adviser, Anthony York, said the cash payment issue “will be resolved” after Newsom meets with legislative leaders later in the year.

Two years later, the slow motion continues.

Black lawmakers have introduced many bills to implement parts of the 2023 report, but without Newsom’s support, none have raised the question of monetary reparations and he was very selective about which accounts it accepts. Last year he vetoed a bill that would allow descendants of slaves to seek compensation for black-owned land seized by public agencies.

This year saw the introduction of the black caucus of the legislature 16 bills on its Road to Repair agenda. Several reached Newsom’s desk and he vetoed five of them. He signed two give up to $6 million to the state university system to explore ways to identify descendants of slaves and established the Bureau of Descendants of American Slavery to build a recovery structure.

Effectively, Newsom’s slow rollover has prevented him from taking any meaningful action, thus bequeathing reparations to his successor, much like his many other unresolved issues in California.

From a purely political point of view, it makes perfect sense. Newsom’s governorship is coming to an end. He obviously wants to become president of the United States and financial reparations are not popular nationally.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.