Black Californians still suffer historic injustices. Reparations can right those wrongs

Reparations are the making of amends by paying or otherwise helping those who have been wronged. Despite knowing the definition of the word, America has done little to offer amends for the centuries of wrongdoing endured by Black people who were captured, shipped, sold and enslaved.

As a California lawmaker, I was appointed to a historic reparations task force formed in 2020, the first of its kind to study how to make amends. My selection to the task force was due in part to my family’s legacy of involvement in the civil rights movement — my uncle was one of the Little Rock Nine, the students integrated into an all-white Arkansas high school in the 1950s — as well as my work on progressive reforms of law enforcement and the judicial system.

Last month, the task force voted to limit compensation to Black families who can prove their ancestors were the descendants of slaves or of freed Black people living in the U.S. before the end of the 19th century. The Task Force is set to issue its first report in June, when it will outline methods and approaches to issuing reparations. A final report is expected in 2023.

There are those who would argue that since the end of slavery in the U.S., much has been accomplished in the way of civil rights, negating the need for reparations. But for generations of Black Americans, the pathway to the American Dream has been rerouted, blocked and, in many cases, destroyed by way of racist policies and laws.

Today we see a continued assault on the descendants of slaves through legislation reminiscent of Jim Crow laws aimed at limiting or derailing access to voting, housing, education and economic growth.

Many who oppose reparations say slavery, though wrong, has ended, and that we as a nation have acknowledged our sin and must move on. But we continue to deal with the legacy of slavery today. In fact, Congress didn’t outlaw lynching until last month, when it passed the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act 422-3.

Although the remnants of slavery do exist in our society, today it’s the color of your skin that puts you in harm’s way more than whether or not you are a direct descendant of a slave.

The issue of reparations for Black Americans should not be controversial. It should be a matter for state and national leaders to take up to right the wrongs of our past.

It’s not an unprecedented matter, either. After the Civil War, President Lincoln offered slave owners reparations by paying $300 per slave lost because of the war. Japanese Americans, who were interned during World War II, also received reparations. And in the 1940s, Congress worked on a reparations package for Native Americans.

Reparations would be an act of reconciliation for the past atrocities of slavery and the continued legacy of bigotry and racism that has held Black Americans back, limiting their potential. Repaying a debt that is owed is the cost of doing business.

We should strive to make good on that repayment through actions, not rhetoric, to heal the wounds of our nation’s past while giving new generations of Black Americans an opportunity to close the racial wealth gap that has persisted.

As the California Reparations Task Force works through challenges in identifying qualifying markers for individuals to claim reparations, we must acknowledge the positive impact such a program will have for Black communities in our state and race relations in general. The outcome could become a national model that finally gives restitution and closure to Black families who had to bear the pain of slavery and its lasting effects in America.