California Reparations

[Fenris]

I mean this is just plain crazy. Estimated price tag at $640 billion, which means its much higher. How can this even be legal? Payout by race? Where the individuals can claim no specific harm?

Member of California Reparations Task Force tells residents to prepare for 'breathtaking' proposals

Story by Brady Knox

A member of the California Reparations Task Force told residents to prepare for its "breathtaking" recommendations.

The task force, established in 2020 by the state government amid the riots surrounding the death of George Floyd, was tasked with coming up with recommendations for the official issuing of reparations to black Americans. Though its final report is due on July 1, the group has publicly announced prototypes of the recommendations. The reparation figure was $223,329 for each eligible black person, but it was raised to $360,000 per person in early March.

Task force member Lisa Holder's statement that Californians should prepare themselves for the group's "breathtaking" recommendations is a sign that that figure is likely to increase even further by July 1.

"It’s important that Californians understand that in order to match the scale of America’s greatest injustice, we must be prepared for remedies on a scale approaching the Great Society programs of Medicare and Medicaid," she wrote in an opinion piece for Cal Matters.

Aside from the monetary aspect, Holder framed the program as a revolutionary project aiming to change the fabric of society.

"Reparations will include programs that disrupt racism within our major institutions. These programs will be in housing, criminal-legal systems, education, health and medicine, and financial wealth and asset-building infrastructure. Fixing systemic racism and rehabilitating institutions will require major changes to these sectors," she wrote.

She added that reparations will "likely include monetary compensation," noting it would not only be for the descendants of slaves but "persecuted black Americans" as well. She described the monetary aspect as a "critical component" of reparations.

Holder also dismissed the notion that California was added to the union as a free state and claimed its wealth came from anti-black policies.

"The task force delivered a 500-page interim report establishing that California was, in practice, a pro-slavery state, a Jim Crow state and a post-civil rights apartheid state," she claimed. "It’s appropriate that California became the first state to convene a reparations task force because the real story is that the wealthiest state in the union and the fifth-largest economy in the world was one of the principal purveyors and beneficiaries of anti-Black policies and narratives."

"With specific and tangible reparations initiatives, California is on the brink of a historic and seismic shift towards finally delivering justice for Black Americans. The task force recommendations will be breathtaking. They must be nothing less," she concluded.

The last public proposal, calling for $360,000 per eligible black resident, was estimated to cost California over $640 billion. The state is set to have a budget deficit of $22.5 billion in the next fiscal year. The final proposal will likely include other caveats that will send the true total much higher. Those include debt forgiveness and subsidized housing, recommended by the separate San Francisco Reparations Task Force, which demanded $5 million per eligible black resident.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) may face pressure from his progressive base to implement the suggestions, even if the state legislature votes against it.

[RabbiKnife]

My momma always said, "Stupid is as stupid does."


The left has indeed lost what little mind it ever had.
Actually, this is the result of evil.

But, I vote that anyone that gets reparations from the great state of California -- and their heirs in perpetuity -- must thereafter and forever shut their pie hole(s) about anything related to race, ethnicity, nation of origin, or the color of one's skin, and any violation of the pie hole shutting is punishable by a fine of $100,000.
Oh, and they can never leave the borders of California.  Ankle bracelets and mine field.

With that kind of a deal, I might be persuaded to make a small contribution to the cause.

[Sojourner]

I saw this in the news earlier, and I'm still speechless. I'm surprised they aren't calculating interest retroactively for the past 158 years. Most people are not responsible enough to handle a huge windfall, and I feel certain when this crap finally hits the fan, it will do much more harm than good. Until then, we all know Cali it has more fruits and nuts than any other state, so nothing that happens there should come as a surprise.

[Cloudwalker]

This just confirms my conviction that when someone gets into government (any government, it doesn't matter who's government) they have their common sense surgically removed.

[Fenris]

People who were never slaves will get paid by people who were never slaveowners in a state that never allowed slavery.

[RabbiKnife]

People who were never slaves will get paid by people who were never slaveowners in a state that never allowed slavery.

Welcome to the United States of Amerika.

You forgot "to be paid from the public funds of a state that is billions of dollars in debt"

[RevLogos]

Not sure I support the idea of reparations for events so long ago.

But, if reparations are to be paid, they should be paid be the political party that supported slavery.

So, which party supported and promoted slavery? Which party created and promoted Jim Crow laws? Which party supported the KKK, which lynched not only blacks, but whites of the opposing political party? Which party filibustered the 1964 civil rights act?

Then make them pay the bill.

[Sojourner]

Even if that were possible, John Q. Public would still foot the bill. But to your point, Americans today, particularly young people haven't a clue regarding the history of the political parties. Democrats are viewed today as the party of the poor and downtrodden, while Republicans are portrayed as hateful bigots who only care about the rich. I would wager that one out of a thousand young people know Democrats were the pro-slavery party, and that the GOP was actually formed in opposition to the expansion of slavery.

[Fenris]

Even if that were possible, John Q. Public would still foot the bill.

Most Americans aren't even descended from people who were slaveowners. For example, my family was dodging attacks from the Cossacks while slavery was an institution here.

[Athanasius]

All those Finns in America? Russia or Sweden, your pick.

[Sojourner]

The whole premise is ridiculous. But nothing that happens in this country surprises me anymore.

[Rebecca]

Reparations is nothing more then using someone else money to buy  the plantation and power.
Not unlike LBJ

[Sojourner]

Democrats portray themselves as the party that cares for the poor and marginalized, while depicting Republicans as apathetic racists. I'd wager that one in ten young people are aware that Democrats were the pro-slavery party while Republicans opposed it. Moreover, LBJ was a vile racist, despite signing the politically expedient Civil Rights Act.

On the plantations of the Old South, black people worked without being paid, and wore chains of iron. Today, in exchange for voting to keep Democrats in power, many are paid without working, and wear invisible chains of economic dependency. The symbiotic relationship represents a different form of subservience on a new kind of plantation.

[tango]

Oooh! Oooh! Pick me! I identify as a black Californian. My name is Latifa.

[RabbiKnife]

Even if that were possible, John Q. Public would still foot the bill.

Most Americans aren't even descended from people who were slaveowners. For example, my family was dodging attacks from the Cossacks while slavery was an institution here.

I’m the grandson of poor white sharecroppers