Long considered the nation’s test tube for progressive policies, this summer a California reparations task force gave the state legislature recommendations for repairing the damage of slavery and racism.
After two years of often-intense public hearings, the California Reparations Task Force task voted in May, 2023 to approve a more than 1000-page document including more than 200 recommendations for how to undo centuries of unfair treatment for Black Californians, especially descendants of enslaved people.
It recommended California formally apologize for its role in enabling slavery, and make cash payments to those whose ancestors were enslaved. An eligible Black resident who has lived seven decades in California could be owed up to $1.2 million.
But while a majority of California voters surveyed support an official apology, they are wary of cash reparation payments. A September, 2023 poll by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies showed them opposing payments by a 2-to-1 margin.
Years of effort went into making California the first state in the nation to get reparations laws to the governor’s desk to be signed into law. Yet, in the final hours of this year’s legislative session, two key bills to repair harm for African American descendants of enslaved people met their bitter demise. Governor Newsom is off the hook, and so is the rest of our nation . . . for now.
Here’s a few good reasons why Californians haven’t approved this reparation grab:
According to the US Supreme Court, the federal government is not supposed to give an entire racial group special treatment, or make payments to it, just because different members of that group were mistreated in the past. That is considered an unconstitutional racial preference.
Reparations would cost trillions but CA is already in deficit $73 billion. Last month, California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office, or LAO, which is the nonpartisan state department advising California’s policymakers on the state’s fiscal issues, increased their estimate for the state’s 2024–25 budget deficit to $73 billion. This almost doubles Newsom’s estimate of a $38 billion deficit, largely the consequence of the state’s unwise and unsustainable choice of enormously expanded socialistic spending. Its wealthy tax base rapidly declined as it emigrated to avoid the highest state income tax in the nation.
Black examples of meritorious wealth and fame debunk deprivation. Here’s a limited list of Black men and women who owe America big time for the unique opportunities it gave for their advancement based on meritorious achievement. Of Black prominence: George Washington Carver, Frederick Douglas, General Colin Powell, Booker T. Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr. Justices Thurgood Marshal, Samuel Alito Jr and Ketanji Brown Jackson, and the former president of the US, Barack Obama.
US-Born Black Billionaires, 2023, who have Mightily disproved the deprivation claim.
If the Black race had not been brought to America, but stayed in Africa, would it have achieved what it has? Doesn’t the Black race owe America big for its economic rescue? If no reparations meant returning to Congo Africa, how many would actually leave here for that war-torn land of steamy jungles and senseless violence?
That’s why 10,000 Italian-Americans detained during WWII never claimed reparations, despite over 600,000 nationwide being placed under restricted movement. They were so deeply grateful for having the priceless opportunities and advantages America offered, even though they suffered great hardship during that war.
Alien Enemy Italian-Americans of WWII
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