Task Force: Blacks are owed hundreds of thousands – CalMatters

In summary

Black Californians could be due hundreds of thousands of dollars for housing discrimination, incarceration, and health disparities alone, consultants said at reparations task force hearings.

Editors Note: This story was updated to reflect Newsoms veto of a bill that would have extended the task force by a year.

Californias task force on reparations has begun putting dollar figures to potential compensation for the various forms of racial discrimination, generational pain and suffering Black Americans experienced in the state.

The rough estimates by economic consultants may mean that hundreds of thousands of dollars could be due to Black Californians who are descendants of enslaved ancestors. However some politicians on the task force indicated the reparations would be a difficult case to make.

Task force member and state Sen. Steven Bradford, a Democrat representing South Los Angeles, told an audience at public meetings in Los Angeles over the weekend it would be a major hurdle to pass any reparations plan in the Legislature.

For a state that didnt have slavery, dont think theyre going to be quick to vote on this final product of this task force, he said. We need to stay unified, we need to be together. We arent always going to agree, but we have to put forth a unified front.

Meeting in the California Science Center Friday and Saturday, the nine-member state-appointed group invited a team of economic experts to describe reparation ideas in financial terms. It was the groups first gathering since June, when the task force released a 500-page report on the states history of slavery and racism.

In March the task force voted to recommend to state leaders that if California makes some form of reparations available, they should go to Black Californians who can establish lineage to enslaved ancestors, rather than to those who are more recent immigrants or descendants of recent immigrants. The reparations could be in the form of cash, grants, tuition assistance, loans or other financial programs, the task force said.

At this meeting, the task force described several scenarios for which Black Californians could receive monetary compensation.

For instance, the task force considered redlining, a practice of denying mortgages to Black homeowners and of devaluing residential property in primarily minority neighborhoods.

The four economic consultants calculated that each Black Californian who lived in the state between 1933 and 1977 experienced a housing wealth gap of $223,239, or $5,074 for each year in the period. The experts said that number which is the difference between the average value of all homes in California and the value of Black-owned homes could be considered for reparations.

Such calculations are far from final, the consultants said, and there is no total estimate, though it is based on all 2.5 million Black California residents today, they said. The consultants said they havent calculated how many people would qualify for each type of reparation.

The consultants are William Darity, an economics professor, and A. Kirsten Mullen, a researcher, both at Duke University in Durham, N.C.; Kaycea Campbell, an economics professor at Pierce College in Los Angeles; and William Spriggs, chief economist for the AFL-CIO and a Howard University professor.

For another example of injustice, mass incarceration, the consultants calculated potential income lost by incarcerated Black Californians from 1971, the beginning of then-President Richard Nixons announced War on Drugs, until today. The economists pointed to many studies showing Black people were incarcerated far beyond their numbers in the general population.

Without discussing guilt or innocence, the economic consultants estimated that incarcerated Black residents were out $124,678, or $2,494 a year, for unpaid prison labor and years of lost income. The consultants mixed into the calculations the average salaries of California state workers and the $15,000 that some Japanese Americans received in reparations after their internment during World War II, from 1942 to 1945.

One of the most pervasive forms of racial injustices Black Californians faced is disproportionate health outcomes. The economic consultants noted that Black Californians have the shortest life expectancy of any racial group at 71 years, which is 7.6 years shorter than whites. Black Californians also faced higher death rates from cancer than other racial groups, and Black mothers were four times more likely to die in childbirth than any other group.

Although there is no actual price tag on a year of life, for statistical purposes some economists use a $10 million valuation for a persons entire life. This group of economic consultants calculated the dollar amount of the gap in life expectancy for Black Californians to be worth $127,226 per year.

The consultants dollar estimates are rough, Campbell said Friday.

Were not the Supreme Court. Were only commissioners, and we serve at the will of the deployment agent.

Task force Chairperson Kamilah Moore noted that the list of injustices and harms the task force is considering was much longer and has been narrowed down from a dozen last spring to five.

The economic consultants disclosed numerous pages of data analysis they have yet to complete, and they have a November deadline to request more racial and financial data from the states Department of Justice to make more accurate calculations.

After this process is over, we need to get you all a Nobel Peace Prize in economics, Moore joked.

The task force also has to narrow down how many people would be eligible for payments, the time frame for reparations, and decide how recipients would establish residency in California.

The discussion about reparations hasnt been just about money. In June, the task force issued a preliminary report that recommended a public, formal apology in addition to cash payments, free college tuition, and zero-interest housing loans.

Cash payments were the most popular form of reparations suggested during 17 community listening sessions and in 46 testimonies uploaded to a website hosted by UCLAs Bunche Center think tank, researchers told the task force Friday.

Meanwhile, Gov. Gavin Newsom considered but recently rejected a bill that would have extended the life of the task force. Introduced by Assemblymember and task force member Reggie Jones-Sawyer, Assembly Bill 2296 would have let the task force deliberate a third year, to 2024, instead of ending in 2023.

Weve been waiting for 400 years. We do not need an extension.

The task force is required to submit its final recommendations to the Legislature in June 2023.

Jones-Sawyer, a Democrat who represents South Los Angeles, told CalMatters he hoped to keep the task force together another year after delivering its report, to leave room for additional hearings and to allow for input from members of the task force who are not legislators.

This is just so that we as a body can stay united, he said. Its really difficult to get things to the Legislature so were going to need everybody involved to make sure it gets done. The best experts are those people in the room right now. Theres nobody else on the planet right now that knows more about reparations than the nine members of the task force.

Some audience members, however, said they worried that the bill would delay reparations.

AB 2296 is a betrayal of Black Americans, said Tiffany Quarles, a member of the audience. Weve been waiting for 400 years. We do not need an extension.

Jones-Sawyer said that the bill would not slow reparations.

Newsom said he vetoed the extension bill at the request of Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who when she was in the Assembly authored the legislation that created the task force.

Another controversial provision in the bill would allow legislators to remove and replace task force members. Many audience members argued against that.

Chris Lodgson, with the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California, which push to create the task force, told CalMatters the removal clause is dangerous.

It politicizes this, he said. If some of the politicians dont like the fact that were getting cash reparations, they could simply remove people on the task force who support them.

Jones-Sawyer says the removal clause would hold task members accountable for malfeasance or sexual or racial harassment.

Were not the Supreme Court, he said. Were only commissioners, and we serve at the will of the deployment agent.

State Senate, District 35 (San Pedro)

How he voted 2019-2020

Liberal Conservative

District 35 Demographics

Race/Ethnicity

Latino 55%

White 10%

Asian 12%

Black 19%

Multi-race 2%

Voter Registration

Dem 58%

GOP 13%

No party 24%

Other 6%

Campaign Contributions

Sen. Steven Bradford has taken at least $1.1 million from the Labor sector since he was elected to the legislature. That represents 21% of his total campaign contributions.

State Assembly, District 59 (Los Angeles)

How he voted 2019-2020

Liberal Conservative

District 59 Demographics

Race/Ethnicity

Latino 77%

White 3%

Asian 2%

Black 16%

Multi-race 1%

Voter Registration

Dem 65%

GOP 5%

No party 24%

Other 5%

Campaign Contributions

Asm. Reggie Jones-Sawyer has taken at least $2 million from the Labor sector since he was elected to the legislature. That represents 30% of his total campaign contributions.

Newsom appointed five task force members. Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon each picked two.

Lodgson said he believes Jones-Sawyer wants the composition of the task force to change so eligibility for reparations could be voted on again. Jones-Sawyer was among four task force members who voted against limiting reparations to those who could trace their ancestry to enslaved relatives.

Jones-Sawyer responded that he cannot predict what will happen to task force members.

Other public commenters urged the task force to keep its word and limit reparations to those who descended from an enslaved or freed ancestor.

In other discussions, Amos Brown, a civil rights leader and task force member, asked that every member of the Legislature receive a copy of the task forces first report, to ensure they cant ignore it. And the task force heard from experts on international models of reparations from Chile, South Africa, and Germany, and discussed the United Nations standards for remedying human rights violations.

The task force plans to meet again in Oakland on Dec. 14 and 15.

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Task Force: Blacks are owed hundreds of thousands - CalMatters