Governor Gavin Newsom declined to endorse recommendations presented by the California Reparations Task Force, a body he established, which called for certain black residents to receive up to $1.2 million each.
While acknowledging the group’s responsibility in advancing a collective understanding of race relations in America, the Democratic governor sought to deflect from its financial recommendations, noting that the process “is about much more than just cash payments.”
“This has been an important process, and we should continue to work as a nation to reconcile our original sin of slavery and understand how that history has shaped our country,” Newsom told Fox News. “Dealing with that legacy is about much more than cash payments.”
“Many of the recommendations put forward by the task force are critical action items we’ve already been hard at work addressing: breaking down barriers to vote, bolstering resources to address hate, enacting sweeping law enforcement and justice reforms to build trust and safety, strengthening economic mobility — all while investing billions to root out disparities and improve equity in housing, education, healthcare, and well beyond,” Newsom added.
The announcement is unwelcome news for the task force, which voted Saturday in favor of a recommendation that eligible black residents in the state receive reparations checks starting at $360,000. Exacerbating individual factors – such as previous incarceration, redlining, and enslaved ancestors – could see such payments increased up to $1.2 million depending on eligibility.
In December, the task force’s nine-member panel estimated that Black residents who experienced housing discrimination, alone, could be eligible for as much as $223,200. At the time, nearly 7 percent of Californias were deemed to meet the criteria, translating into a $569 billion statewide payout.
Still, many members of the task force were disappointed with its stringent lineage-based approach to determining eligibility. “We must make sure we include present-day and future harms. The system that folks are advocating for here, where we splice things up, where only one small slice benefits, will not abate the harms of racism,” committeewoman Lisa Holder told Cal Matters last March.
Newsom created the task force in May 2020 following the murder of George Floyd. Estimates have found that reparations could cost California $800 billion, equivalent to two and a half times the state’s annual budget.