California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) issued a formal apology for the state’s historical role in slavery.
Newsom signed Assembly Bill 3089, which requires the state to issue a formal apology as well as create a plaque “memorializing this apology to be publicly and conspicuously installed and maintained in the State Capitol Building,” the bill’s text reads.
“The State of California recognizes and accepts responsibility for all of the harms and atrocities committed by the state, its representatives thereof, and entities under its jurisdiction who promoted, facilitated, enforced, and permitted the institution of chattel slavery and the enduring legacy of ongoing badges and incidents from which the systemic structures of discrimination have come to exist,” the bill says.
Newsom said in a statement, “As we confront the lasting legacy of slavery, I’m profoundly grateful for the efforts put forward by Chair Wilson and the members of the California Legislative Black Caucus.”
“The State of California accepts responsibility for the role we played in promoting, facilitating, and permitting the institution of slavery, as well as its enduring legacy of persistent racial disparities,” the governor continued. “Building on decades of work, California is now taking another important step forward in recognizing the grave injustices of the past — and making amends for the harms caused.”
Slavery was banned in California after it became a state in 1850.
Assemblymember Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, a Democrat from Los Angeles, called the bill a “monumental achievement.”
“This is a monumental achievement born from a two-year academic study of the losses suffered by Black Americans in California due to systemic bigotry and racism. Healing can only begin with an apology,” he said. “The State of California acknowledges its past actions and is taking this bold step to correct them, recognizing its role in hindering the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness for Black individuals through racially motivated punitive laws.”
Although he signed the bill mandating a formal apology for slavery, Newsom vetoed a bill that would have supported reparations efforts.
The bill would have created a process for black Californians to file claims or be compensated for property that was taken from them decades ago, the Associated Press reported. Newsom said that the bill “tasks a nonexistent state agency to carry out its various provisions and requirements, making it impossible to implement.”
