California’s reparations task force voted Tuesday to limit only Black Californians who have a direct lineage to enslaved ancestors will be eligible for the statewide reparation payments.
QUICK FACTS:
- California’s reparation task force voted to only allow state compensation to the descendants of free and enslaved Black people who were in the U.S. in the 19th century.
- This split 5-4 vote rejects a previous proposal that would include reparations for all Black people regardless of lineage.
- Many task force members explained they expect cash payments to be one part of the proposal as well as a formal apology, which will be decided in the coming months.
BACKGROUND:
- Critics of the proposal took to Twitter to express outrage over the payments, the first to take place in the country.
- “Reparations are a stupid, useless idea. Naturally, California leads the way. “Task force: California reparations for slavery descendants only – CalMatters,” one user tweeted.
- “We’re letting the insane asylum run the country. California Greenlights Slave Reparations Without Plans To Prove Ancestry,” another said.
- An earlier amendment that pushed to include all 2.6 million African Americans in California, with “special consideration” for those with a direct lineage to enslaved persons failed to pass.
