California’s reparations task force voted last week to recommend that the state pay compensation to black residents “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.” A more extreme proposal to include all blacks was defeated by just one vote, 5–4. The task force was formed in 2020 when Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill passed overwhelmingly by the legislature to study California’s involvement in slavery. Its recommendation will be included in a final report due by 2023.
Similar efforts in other Democrat-led states, including Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Oregon, failed. In 2019, Senator Cory Booker (D., N.J.) and Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D., Texas) introduced legislation to establish a federal commission to study reparations. The House bill attracted 173 co-sponsors and the Senate bill 20 co-sponsors. During the 2020 presidential primaries, nearly all the Democratic candidates were favorably inclined. The bills remain in committee.
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