California Reparations Report Should Disappoint Black Residents and Everybody Else

People listen to the California reparations task force, a nine-member committee studying restitution proposals for African Americans, at a meeting at Lesser Hall in Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, Calif., on May 6, 2023. Sophie Austin/AP Photo

Commentary

What a missed opportunity. On Saturday, the California Reparations Task Force issued its final recommendations (pdf) for “any form of compensation to African Americans, with a special consideration for African Americans who are descendants of persons enslaved in the United States.” Those are the words from Assembly Bill 3121, the 2020 law establishing the Task Force. Even though California never was a slave state.