A 500-page report outlines the current impact and aftereffects of slavery and promoters of reparations rejoice. Senior Editor James R. Sanders reports.
The fight for reparations for Blacks and descendants of African slaves may have experiences a small but relevant victory on Wednesday with the release of an exhaustive 500-page report chronicling California’s role in discrimination against Blacks as a direct consequence of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
Per the Associated Press:
The 500-page document lays out the harm suffered by descendants of enslaved people even today, long after slavery was abolished in the 19th century, through discriminatory laws and actions in all facets of life, from housing and education to employment and the legal system.
Longtime reparations advocate Justin Hansford, who is a law professor at Howard University and director of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center in Washington called the moment exciting and monumental.
The African American Reparations Task Force began meeting in June of last year but is set to release a completed plan in 2023. In March of 2022, they voted to limit reparations to descendants of African Americans living in the US in the 19th century.
“Four hundred years of discrimination has resulted in an enormous and persistent wealth gap between Black and white Americans,” said the report by the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans.
California has the fifth large Black population — right after Texas, Florida, Georgia and New York. Roughly 2.8 million Blacks live in California — though that number altogether isn’t said to necessarily be eligible for reparations.