{"id":21705,"date":"2022-03-11T20:58:27","date_gmt":"2022-03-12T04:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=21705"},"modified":"2022-03-11T20:58:29","modified_gmt":"2022-03-12T04:58:29","slug":"californias-reparations-task-force-is-struggling-with-its-first-big-test-who-should-qualify","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2022\/03\/11\/californias-reparations-task-force-is-struggling-with-its-first-big-test-who-should-qualify\/","title":{"rendered":"California\u2019s reparations task force is struggling with its first big test: Who should qualify?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/a>Justin Phillips<\/a> March 6, 2022 (SFChronicle.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"California
1of3California Secretary of State Shirley Weber has told the reparations task force to prioritize residents descended from enslaved people so the ambitious effort remains manageable. But the focus could potentially exclude many Black residents navigating systemic racism deeply embedded within American society.Salgu Wissmath\/Special to The Chronicle 2021<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Racial<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"California\u2019s<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After nearly two hours of fiery public debate on Feb. 24, California\u2019s reparations task force could have made a seminal decision on who gets reparations \u2014 all Black people or just the ones who can trace their ancestry to slaves in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, the first-in-the-nation body awkwardly punted<\/a> until later this month. Of the panel\u2019s nine members, five voted for the delay. The decision didn\u2019t sit well with the four who didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among them was San Diego City Councilwoman Monica Montgomery Steppe, who uttered her \u201cno\u201d vote with the same subdued frustration as the task force vice chair, the Rev. Amos Brown.<\/a> UC Berkeley Professor Jovan Lewis shook his head from side to side with each \u201cyes\u201d vote that came in, and fired off a since-deleted tweet afterward that said: \u201cJustice delayed is justice denied.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tense moment illustrated the disconnect between the spirit of the task force\u2019s mission \u2014 getting California to address the enduring harms of slavery<\/a> \u2014 and the reality of its first real challenge, which is to figure out if race matters as much as lineage when it comes to financial reparations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who wrote the 2020 bill to create the task force, has said from the beginning that slave descendants should be prioritized, arguing there\u2019s a distinction to be made between the subjugation enslaved Africans experienced and the oppression suffered by Black people who came to America after slavery was abolished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose who came after slavery … came here with their lineage intact,\u201d Weber said during a Jan. 27 task force meeting. Enslaved Africans \u201cdid not … all of our past was taken from us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State Sen. Stephen Bradford, D-Gardena, who voted in favor of the delay on Feb. 24, said the task force would be \u201cwell served if we just followed the path that Dr. Weber has created.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have concerns about where that path may lead: Allowing only descendants of slaves to qualify for reparations could create a difficult burden of proof, while disqualifying the Black Californians whose ancestors came to this country after slavery was abolished, but still live with its many vestiges.More from Justin Phillips<\/p>\n\n\n\n