This Black History Month, California must embrace equity for Black residents | Opinion

Black History Month began Sunday, but it is more than a commemoration — it’s a call to reflection and action. As we honor the immeasurable contributions and enduring legacy of Black Americans, we must also confront the work that remains. California, a state that prides itself on progress, cannot truly move forward without uplifting those who have so often been left behind.

Despite our liberal reputation, equity remains elusive in California. True equity is not simply a talking point —it is a moral imperative. It asks our state and its leaders to look unflinchingly at who has been excluded and to act decisively to remedy those injustices.

Assemblymember Corey Jackson, D-Riverside, recognizes the persistent disparities Black Californians endure, including the challenge of addressing the disparities within California law. For years, Jackson has been working to address Proposition 209, a restrictive law passed by state voters 30 years ago, that prohibited using race, ethnicity or sex as a criterion for public employment, public education and public contracting.

Jackson is the driving force behind Assembly Constitutional Amendment 7, which could be a bold step toward transformative change as it seeks to create exceptions to the blanket prohibitions in Prop 209. Every meaningful metric explaining poverty, educational attainment, and life expectancy tells a difficult story about Black people in California. If ACA 7 becomes law, it would create an exception to Prop 209 to fund research-based and culturally specific programs meant to close persistent educational achievement gaps, dismal health outcomes and poverty plaguing Black families.

“If you don’t come with the full context of who I am as a human being, then… you are not aware of all the different ways that I can be served,” Jackson told me.

This is not about exclusion or preferential treatment at the expense of white people. This is about using resources to help people who deserve justice.

For too long, policymakers have danced around the needs of Black Californians with vague language and indirect solutions because of Prop. 209 and the false notion that addressing historical injustices against Black Americans automatically results in discrimination against others. Prop 209 was billed as “a prohibition against preferential discrimination or preferential treatment by state and other public entities.” California voters passed it decisively in 1996 and several states followed, while societal inequality persisted.

ACA 7 would finally allow our leaders to name and serve communities explicitly, beginning with Black Californians, who have borne a disproportionate share of exclusion, and extending to all who have been marginalized. This is how we show true care.

California needs an updated view of race

At the heart of this amendment is a reckoning with Proposition 209—a relic from 1996 that barred our state from even considering race, sex, or ethnicity in public policy. Its outdated language has shackled progress for Black Californians and others seeking equity, placing California behind the moral curve.

“One of the most persistent foes that we face in California is Prop 209,” Jackson said on Tuesday. “Prop 209 sold us what is now a failed experiment, and that is a colorblind society.”

In 2020, as the nation reeled from the murder of George Floyd and calls for racial justice surged, California placed Proposition 16 on the ballot—a measure to repeal Prop 209 outright. Yet, despite the urgency, it fell short.

Now, Jackson is advancing ACA 7 for a third time—not due to indifference among his colleagues, but because timing and messaging have repeatedly stood in the way. The first effort was stymied by a political climate fixated on crime and fears about turnout amid a so-called retail theft “wave.” The second faltered in committee when Jackson and the Black Caucus recognized that the language lacked the clarity needed to rally both lawmakers and voters.

“ACA 7 is about creating equitable programs that meet the individual needs of our diverse population,” Jackson said on Tuesday. ‘When we see a population struggle, we need to create a program to make sure that they are able to be on a path to thrive.”

Importantly, ACA 7 creates a framework for every group—regardless of background—to seek tailored support. Equity for Black Californians is a starting point, but the amendment’s reach is universal.

California can no longer afford the illusion that broad gestures toward diversity are enough. True progress demands a deeper, more intentional commitment—one that begins with updating Prop 209 through the passage of ACA 7.

On January 22, ACA 7 passed Assembly Appropriations. Where it goes from here will test the moral compass of our state.

California is overdue for a new, just approach to serving its diverse populations.

Black History Month is a time to deeply engage with the richness of the Black experience. As we honor Black history and contributions, let’s fight to ensure Black Californians not only keep up, but move forward, with us all.