On this edition of Your Call, we discuss reparations for Black communities in California.
In late June, the California Reparations Task Force presented a proposal to the state Legislature with recommendations on how California can redress over a century of injustice towards African Americans.
The report, which was delivered after two years of work, summarizes the harms caused by slavery and the lingering negative effects of the institution of slavery on descendants of those enslaved in the US, provides examples of prior international and domestic efforts to provide reparations for human rights violations, recommends how the State of California should offer a formal apology, and recommends remedies, including compensation to African Americans, with a special consideration for those who are descendants of persons enslaved in the United States.
Guests:
Kavon Ward, founder of Where is My Land
William Darity, Professor of Public Policy, African and African American Studies, and Economics and the director of the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University, and co-author of From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century
Don Tamaki, member of the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, and co-founder of Stop Repeating History
Web Resources:
Smithsonian Magazine: In 1870, Henrietta Wood Sued for Reparations—and Won
CalMatters: California is the first state to tackle reparations for Black residents. What that really means
AP: California’s historic work on possible Black reparations moves to the Legislature
