California Reparations Task Force to Recommend ‘Down Payments’ for Slavery, Racism 

The California Reparations Task Force published documents Monday indicating it plans to recommend the state apologize for racism and slavery and consider “down payments” of varying amounts to eligible African American residents. 

The documents, numbering more than 500 pages, do not contain an overall price tag for reparations, but they do include ways the state could calculate how much money African Americans in California have lost since 1850, when the state was established, through today due to certain government practices. 

The loss calculations would vary depending on type of racial harm and how long a person has lived in California. The loss estimates range from $2,300 per person per year of residence for the over-policing of Black communities, to $77,000 total per person for Black-owned business losses and devaluations over the years. 

The state-appointed task force faces a July 1 deadline to make reparations recommendations to the Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom. Task force leaders have said they expect the Legislature to come up with actual reparations amounts.

The task force also is recommending a variety of policy changes to counteract discrimination. 

“It is critical that we compensate, but not just compensate. We also need to evaluate policy that continues to hold us back,” said Monica Montgomery Steppe, a San Diego city council member who is on the task force. She spoke at a “listening session” in San Diego Saturday. 

Who would get reparations?

The task force documents discuss two kinds of reparations: those arising from particular instances of discrimination or harm that require an individual to file a claim, and those that involve distributing money or benefits to all eligible Black Californians for racial harm the entire community experienced. 

A recent example of an individual claim was Bruce’s Beach, a beachfront property and resort that the city of Manhattan Beach seized from a Black family nearly 100 years ago. Recently, partly because of the task force, government leaders returned the land deed to descendants of the Bruce family, who re-sold it to Los Angeles County for $20 million.

It is one of the few times a Black family was restored property taken by a local government.

“It is critical that we compensate, but not just compensate. We also need to evaluate policy that continues to hold us back.” MONICA MONTGOMERY STEPPE, REPARATIONS TASK FORCE AND SAN DIEGO CITY COUNCIL MEMBER

Eligibility for reparations continues to be a controversy. The task force in March 2022 voted to limit potential compensation to descendants of free and enslaved Black people who were in the United States in the 19th century. The group narrowly rejected a proposal to include all Black people, including recent immigrants, regardless of lineage.

Everyone in the eligible class should be compensated, the task force report says, even if they can’t prove they suffered a specific harm. 

“The State of California created laws and policies discriminating against and subjugating free and enslaved African Americans and their descendants,” the report says. “In doing so, these discriminatory policies made no distinctions between these individuals; the compensatory remedy must do the same.” 

The final report, much like the task force’s previous interim report, lays out the history of systemic racism and ongoing injustices in California.

Costs of racial damage

The latest batch of documents also urges that eligible people be compensated in cash, sooner rather than later. The records instruct the Legislature to begin with “down payments” rather than waiting for full loss calculations. 

The final report suggests dollar figures for certain categories of racial damage: 

  • For mass incarceration and the over-policing of Black communities, it estimates a loss per person of $115,260, or $2,352 for each year they lived in California from 1971 to 2020, corresponding to the national War on Drugs.
  • For housing discrimination, it offers two methods of loss calculation. One method based on gaps between Black and white “housing wealth” would peg losses at $145,847 per person. The other method, based on governments’ “redlining” history, including discriminatory lending and zoning, would calculate Black residents’ losses at $148,099 per person — or $3,366 for each year they lived in California from 1933 to 1977.
  • For injustices and discrimination in health, it estimates $13,619 per person for each year lived in California, or $966,921 total for someone living about 71 years — the average life expectancy of Black residents in California in 2021. 

The reparations program would be overseen by a new state agency that would determine eligibility and distribute funds, the report says. The agency also would be responsible for helping individuals document and provide evidence for specific injustices. 

Eligible Black residents should not expect cash payments anytime soon. The state Legislature and Newsom will decide whether any reparations are paid, and it’s unclear what they will do with the task force recommendations. 

“This is the time where we really need the voice of the public,” said Khansa T. Jones-Muhammad, also known as Friday Jones, a member of Los Angeles’ reparations advisory commission. “This is the time to get your churches together. This is the time to get your school boards together.” 

Jones made the comments during the listening session in San Diego.

Non-cash reparations

Some task force members have been dismayed at the amount of attention paid to the  dollar figures under discussion. The final report provides dozens of policy recommendations aimed at preventing further discrimination and harm against Black residents. 

“The biggest fight is implementation of all these recommendations, “ Montgomery Steppe said. “After the task force issues its final report, those recommendations need strong support in California’s Legislature and the government. It will take all hands on deck to ensure we push for a policy change from our state legislature.” 

The task force is scheduled to meet again at 9 a.m. Saturday at Lisser Hall at Northeastern University, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., in Oakland. The meeting will be live streamed

Click here to read the full article in CalMatters

LAPD Serves Search Warrants in City Hall Racism Investigation, Report Says

The Los Angeles Police Department has served search warrants in its investigation into the leaked conversation that led to the City Hall racism scandal to determine if the conversation was recorded illegally, the Los Angeles Times reported on Tuesday, Nov 29.

The Times, citing sources who spoke anonymously, reported that the warrants were for several social-media accounts, including the Reddit account on which the audio was originally posted.

No specific targets were identified.

More warrants were expected to be served, the sources told the Times. The warrants seek communications over the last few weeks.

Police Chief Michel Moore said last month that the Major Crimes Division launched the investigation at the request of “individuals that were present at that meeting,” which included former Council President Nury Martinez, the former president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, Ron Herrera, and Councilmen Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo. A spokesperson for de León has said he did not request an investigation.

It remains unknown who recorded the year-old, racism-filled conversation that took place at the offices of the L.A. County Federation of Labor, and who leaked it — triggering a series of events that led Martinez to step down as City Council president and then quit the council altogether, and de León and Cedillo to face relentless calls for them to resign as well.

In California all parties participating in a conversation are supposed to give their approvals for any recording. Violators could face civil and criminal penalties.

In the recorded conversation, Martinez belittled Councilman Mike Bonin, who is white and has a Black son, and criticized the child for his behavior at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade — saying Bonin’s son was misbehaving on a float, which might have tipped over if she and the other women on the float didn’t step in to “parent this kid.”

“They’re raising him like a little White kid,” Martinez said. “I was like, ‘This kid needs a beatdown. Let me take him around the corner and then I’ll bring him back.”‘

Martinez also called the child “ese changuito,” Spanish for “that little monkey.”

De León also criticized Bonin, saying “Mike Bonin won’t (expletive) ever say peep about Latinos. He’ll never say a (expletive) word about us.”

De León also compared Bonin’s handling of his son at the MLK Parade to “when Nury brings her little yard bag or the Louis Vuitton bag.”

Click here to read the full article in the LA Daily News

When Will CA’s Elected Leaders Call for Resignations of LA Council Members over Racist Discussion?

These racist statements are far more than thoughtless words from people who constantly talk about the virtues of equity, diversity

Righteous indignation over the racist remarks and derisive statements made by three Latino members of the Los Angeles City Council and a labor official in a conversation October 2021 about their council colleagues is certainly warranted. However, elected Democrat lawmakers and candidates in California should be calling on LA Council President Nury Martinez, council members Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León to resign immediatel

Instead, this morning, Council President Nury Martinez resigned as President of the Council, and not from elected office. And her apology was hollow.

Instead we are hearing the media report that there are “calls for resignation,” and we see a lot of finger wagging, Twitter posturing, and social media rant statements – or conspicuous silence.

“We don’t want your thoughts and prayers, we want action,” people on the right are told when they offer condolences and solace after a high profile tragedy. Okay. So where are the calls for action by California’s elected leaders given the vile and hateful remarks by Martinez, Cedillo and de León?

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti? Anything?

How about the 24 elected Assembly members of Los Angeles County? Thoughts?

Have any of the 15 elected State Senators of Los Angeles County suggested immediate resignation of the LA Council members?

These racist statements are far more than careless or thoughtless words – from people who constantly talk about the virtues of equity, diversity, people of color, dignity of communities. Just imagine if it was Republican council members who got caught on this recording making racist remarks about a council colleagues’ adopted child of color. The Globe reported:

“Bonin thinks he’s f—ing black,” Martinez says in the audio. “He handled his young Black son as though he were an accessory. They’re raising him like a little White kid. I was like, this kid needs a beatdown. Let me take him around the corner and then I’ll bring him back.”

Martinez then proceeded to use slurs against the eight-year-old child, saying in Spanish “Parece changuito” or in English, “He’s like a monkey.”

Councilman de León added, “Bonin handles the toddler like when Nury brings her little yard bag or the Louis Vuitton bag. Su negrito, like on the side.”

The Los Angeles City Council has been quite odious for some time now. Three members are under indictment.

Mark Ridley-Thomas was indicted on corruption charges.

José Huizar and Mitch Englander, were both implicated in an FBI probe of corruption at City Hall.

Now three more council members are embroiled in this latest racist screed, and could be forced out.

When is enough going to be enough? The Globe doesn’t believe for a nanosecond that the voters of Los Angeles thought they were voting for corrupt or racist representatives. But short of elected “leaders” discovering some testicular fortitude and calling for the latest three to resign, it will be up to the people of Los Angeles.

And what about the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera on the same audio recording?

California Labor Federation leader Lorena Gonzalez had this to say about the racist remarks of the council members:

Righteous indignation over the racist remarks and derisive statements made by three Latino members of the Los Angeles City Council and a labor official in a conversation October 2021 about their council colleagues is certainly warranted. However, elected Democrat lawmakers and candidates in California should be calling on LA Council President Nury Martinez, council members Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León to resign immediately.

Instead, this morning, Council President Nury Martinez resigned as President of the Council, and not from elected office. And her apology was hollow.

Instead we are hearing the media report that there are “calls for resignation,” and we see a lot of finger wagging, Twitter posturing, and social media rant statements – or conspicuous silence.

“We don’t want your thoughts and prayers, we want action,” people on the right are told when they offer condolences and solace after a high profile tragedy. Okay. So where are the calls for action by California’s elected leaders given the vile and hateful remarks by Martinez, Cedillo and de León?

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti? Anything?

How about the 24 elected Assembly members of Los Angeles County? Thoughts?

Have any of the 15 elected State Senators of Los Angeles County suggested immediate resignation of the LA Council members?

These racist statements are far more than careless or thoughtless words – from people who constantly talk about the virtues of equity, diversity, people of color, dignity of communities. Just imagine if it was Republican council members who got caught on this recording making racist remarks about a council colleagues’ adopted child of color. The Globe reported:

“Bonin thinks he’s f—ing black,” Martinez says in the audio. “He handled his young Black son as though he were an accessory. They’re raising him like a little White kid. I was like, this kid needs a beatdown. Let me take him around the corner and then I’ll bring him back.”

Martinez then proceeded to use slurs against the eight-year-old child, saying in Spanish “Parece changuito” or in English, “He’s like a monkey.”

Councilman de León added, “Bonin handles the toddler like when Nury brings her little yard bag or the Louis Vuitton bag. Su negrito, like on the side.”

The Los Angeles City Council has been quite odious for some time now. Three members are under indictment.

Mark Ridley-Thomas was indicted on corruption charges.

José Huizar and Mitch Englander, were both implicated in an FBI probe of corruption at City Hall.

Now three more council members are embroiled in this latest racist screed, and could be forced out.

When is enough going to be enough? The Globe doesn’t believe for a nanosecond that the voters of Los Angeles thought they were voting for corrupt or racist representatives. But short of elected “leaders” discovering some testicular fortitude and calling for the latest three to resign, it will be up to the people of Los Angeles.

And what about the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera on the same audio recording?

California Labor Federation leader Lorena Gonzalez had this to say about the racist remarks of the council members:

Click here to read the full article at the California Globe