After two years of deliberations, California’s Reparations Task Force will send its final report and recommendations Thursday to the state capitol, where Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers will ultimately decide how the state should reconcile slavery.

“We all need to remind ourselves that the final report is not the end of the job. It’s just the beginning,” said Sen. Steven Bradford (D-

Gardenia Gardenia

), who was part of the task force, at the last meeting. “It’s now up to the legislature, of which I’m a part, and the governor to implement it.”

The state’s governor and legislature began the historic process in 2020 with the goal of charting a path to reparations that could serve as a model for the nation.

The completion of the task force’s work puts political pressure on Democrats to finally deliver on their support for reparations on an issue that polls say most Americans view unfavorably

of

long

–

expected cash payments and major policy changes for descendants of

African black

Americans enslaved in the United States to right the wrongs of the past.

The success or failure of the reparations proposal in one of the country’s most liberal statehouses will serve as a benchmark beyond California and could have political ramifications for the Democratic party.

in the 2024 elections.

“If it fails in California, that bodes well for the movement and that it’s not really going to pick up steam in a lot of other states,” said Tatishe M. Nteta, a professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and director of the UMass Poll. . “But if it succeeds, it has this symbolic and substantive impact that will be very important for this movement going forward.”

Nteta and UMass surveyed Americans about their stance on reparations. The results of his June poll were not great for reparations advocates.

Only 35% of respondents said they supported cash payments for the descendants of slaves, and 65% opposed. Support for a formal apology to descendants was higher at 57%, but only 43% supported the idea of ​​providing housing assistance.

The most cited reason for opposing reparations, according to the results of a January poll, was not the cost or the complicated nature of figuring out how to compensate individuals. It came down to a perception that

African black

Americans don’t deserve remedies, he said.

“There is a belief that the descendants of slaves deserve nothing, not just cash payments, but education systems, housing

,

or even an apology and that if there was any kind of debt, if any, which must be paid to slaves, the last slave is long gone, and so the debt died with them,” Nteta said.

The task force has spent the past two years hearing testimony from academics, economists and other experts to collect evidence of the effects of slavery and to prove the ways government-sanctioned policies continued to discriminate against black people long after slavery was abolished.

The remedies in the report for lawmakers go far beyond cash payments and include policies to end the death penalty, pay a fair market value for prison and prison labor, restore the right to vote to all former and current inmates, apply rent caps to historic red outlined

zipper zipper

codes

that disadvantage black residents and offer free tuition to those eligible for reparations, among dozens of other suggestions.

“For those comments that say slavery is old news

,

and the time for reparations has run out, well, you know what, I’ve been a civil rights attorney for 20 years and I say show me the statute of limitations on mass genocide,” Lisa Holder, a member of the task force, said at Thursday’s meeting “Let me get the statute of limitations on the world’s greatest crime against humanity and show me the statute of limitations on liability for original sin.

There’s no better political landscape than California in which to consider remedies, Nteta said.

The state has a vast majority of Democrats in the legislature and a progressive Democratic governor in Newsom

,

who enjoys leading the way on national issues, such as his support for same-sex marriage nearly two decades ago as mayor of San Francisco.

Bradford and

Member of Assembly Member of Assembly

Reggie Jones Sawyer (D-Los Angeles), who also served on the task force, plans to direct reparations through the state legislature, where the proposal is likely to be debated publicly next year as lawmakers debate which policy must be approved.

“Our biggest challenge is convincing individuals who are not African American that this damage continues even today,” Jones Sawyer said.

Bradford expects opposition from Republicans and some Democrats.

“I’m not delusional at all in thinking this is going to be a slam dunk and people are going to get on board and generally accept it,” Bradford said. “I think even many of our allies will have problems with some of the recommendations and also with funding for this program.”

Cash payments are already controversial.

For health disparities, the task force recommends $13,619 for each year of residence in California, a figure derived by the life expectancy among black non-

Hispanic Latino

and white non-

Hispanic Latino

Californians. To compensate for mass incarceration and overpolicing of

African black

Americans, the task force recommends that eligible descendants receive $2,352 for each year they reside in California during the war on drugs

//use quotes around “war on drugs”?//

from 1971 to 2020. Housing discrimination compensation totaled $3,378 for each year between 1933 and 1977 that a descendant lived in California.

An Emerson College Polling/Inside California Politics poll conducted in early June found that 50% of California respondents opposed paying as much as $1.2 million to the descendants of slaves, a maximum amount set by the task force that much

people will

are not eligible for and legislators may change. Just over a quarter of those surveyed supported the payments.

Asked about his position on the proposal in May, Newsom said reparations are more than just cash payments. Fox News host Sean Hannity reiterated his stance on reparations during an interview in mid-June.

The governor said he had not yet read the recommendations and reiterated the idea that reparations come in many forms. He said the state “needs to set a level” and explained that his original statement implied “a deeper rationalization of what is feasible, what is reasonable and what is right and that is the balance we will try to promote.”

California’s $31.5 billion budget deficit also adds to the complexity of approving payments, though proponents argue the state could allocate a percentage of the budget each year or find other ways to make reparations in the finance over time.

During public commentary on

the

last meeting of the task force in Sacramento, speakers pleaded with the governor

for his support to support reparations,

proverb

Newsom huh

would need

the black people of the black community

back later.

i

n an interview, Aimee Allison,

the

founder and president of an advocacy group pushing for more women of color to hold elected office, said black Californians are watching the governor’s moves.

Allison’s organization, She The People, supported Congresswoman Barbara Lee for the U.S. Senate. Newsom previously said that if U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein did not complete her term, he would nominate a black woman to her position. Newsom has so far not supported anyone in the Senate race, despite being pressured to support Lee.

Allison said there is no middle ground for the governor when it comes to his relationship with black leadership, racial healing and economic justice. Allison said Newsom should not dismiss the economic claims of black Californians and by proxy black people nationally in a country that has never officially atoned for slavery.

“This is as important a moment for Gavin Newsom as his early embrace and advocacy of same-sex marriage,” said Allison. “By demanding reparations, he reaffirms his national leadership for Black Americans in California and beyond.”

Bradford and Jones Sawyer want to get as much done as possible before they step down in 2024. The timing could require Newsom to sign or veto a reparations bill before the presidential election.

Nteta said President Biden has “shunned reparations,” aware that the policy could be used against him by his GOP opponents in his re-election race.

“If it passes in California, I have no doubt that DeSantis or Trump, or any of the Republican nominees, would say this is what happens when you put Democrats in power,” Nteta said. “It’s an easy policy, because it’s so extremely unpopular, to mobilize people who are still undecided about who to support.”