{"id":21886,"date":"2022-03-30T17:44:04","date_gmt":"2022-03-31T00:44:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=21886"},"modified":"2022-03-30T17:44:06","modified_gmt":"2022-03-31T00:44:06","slug":"californias-reparations-effort-moves-ahead-heres-whats-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2022\/03\/30\/californias-reparations-effort-moves-ahead-heres-whats-next\/","title":{"rendered":"California\u2019s reparations effort moves ahead: Here\u2019s what\u2019s next"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"People<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

BY\u00a0TARYN LUNA<\/a> STAFF WRITER\u00a0(LATimes.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MARCH 30, 2022\u00a0 SACRAMENTO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

California\u2019s Reparations Task Force voted Tuesday to define those who are eligible for reparations<\/a> as descendants of African Americans enslaved in the U.S. or of free Black people living in the country before the end of the 19th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of the discussion among the task force members focused on differing interpretations of the state law that created the panel and on whether all Black Californians should receive some form of reparation because of the lasting effects of slavery and the discrimination that has continued long after abolition. After hours of tense debate, the group voted to tie reparations to lineage.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis measure is about reparations for those who are harmed by chattel slavery in this country,\u201d said the Rev. Amos Brown, a civil rights leader and vice chair of the task force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government-appointed panel took action to define who should be able to receive reparations almost 10 months into a two-year process<\/a> to develop a proposal for addressing slavery and discrimination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After hearing from nearly a dozen experts in genealogy and other aspects of the reparations movement, the panel voted 5-4 in support of the lineage-based approach. The vote marks a major milestone for the task force, but many other difficult questions lie ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who is eligible for reparations?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The motion that narrowly passed defines \u201cthe community of eligibility based on lineage determined by an individual being an African American descendant of a chattel enslaved person or the descendant of a free black person living in the United States prior to the end of the 19th century.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did the task force choose to limit eligibility in this way?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders appointed the task force \u2014 which comprises elected officials, civil rights leaders, attorneys and reparations experts \u2014 with a mission \u201cto study and develop reparation proposals for African Americans, with a special consideration for African Americans who are descendants of persons enslaved in the United States.\u201d Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who authored the <\/a>law that Newsom signed in 2020 <\/a>to launch the effort, emphasized in January that providing reparations is \u201can issue of descendancy and lineage<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slim majority of the task force interpreted that language and Weber\u2019s statements to mean that reparations should be lineage-based and go strictly to those who can trace their ancestry to the era of slavery. But the decision was not unanimous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state law also directs the task force to consider the lingering negative effects of the institution of slavery and discrimination on living African Americans and on society in California and the United States. Several members argued that provision meant reparations should also be offered to all Black Californians, a population the task force estimates to include 2.6 million people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What bar must be met to prove eligibility?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The task force has not adopted any rules yet for how someone would prove lineage in order to qualify for reparations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several genealogy experts raised concerns that some descendants might not be able to prove their ancestral connections because the names of African Americans who were enslaved changed, some records don\u2019t exist or were destroyed or details changed in stories passed down from one generation to the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Genealogist Kellie Farrish told the task force that proving lineage to any African American who lived in the United States prior to 1900 could suffice because so few were allowed into the country voluntarily from Africa or the Caribbean before that period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTherefore, tracing an ancestor back to the early 1900s living anywhere in the country would prove descent from American chattel slavery since the only Africans that were here were the ones brought involuntarily, if unable to identify an enslaved ancestor by name,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What reparations will eligible African Americans receive?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s still undecided. The task force is not expected to produce a detailed proposal outlining specific recommendations for reparations until July 2023. Then the California Legislature must pass those recommendations in a new law approved by the governor to take effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s next?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The task force meets again Wednesday at 9 a.m. to hear expert testimony on the \u201ccriminal justice system and anti-Black bias<\/a>.\u201d Some of that testimony will appear in the task force\u2019s first report, which is expected to publish June 1 and include findings to help establish the existence of state-sanctioned racism rooted in slavery from before and after emancipation to the present day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9 2022, Los Angeles Times <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY\u00a0TARYN LUNA STAFF WRITER\u00a0(LATimes.com) MARCH 30, 2022\u00a0 SACRAMENTO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0 California\u2019s Reparations Task Force voted Tuesday to define those who are eligible for reparations as descendants of African Americans enslaved in the U.S. or of free Black people living in the country before the end of the 19th century. Much of the discussion among… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21886"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21886"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21890,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21886\/revisions\/21890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}