Reparations Bill Passed by California Assembly

The California Assembly passed a new bill which creates an eight-member task force to study the process of implementing reparations statewide, as touching Black Lives Matter protests that have been ongoing across the nation from time past to now. The bill was passed on a 60-14 votes with bipartisan support.

The new task force in charge of studying the feasibility of reparations will determine how the reparations could be awarded, as well as who will be eligible to receive them. All in an attempt to correct the wrongs of slavery in the United States.

Though the bill has passed the California Assembly, it still needs to pass the State Senate and passed into law by the Governor, Gavin Newsom. If this happens as expected, California will become the first state to officially create a task force for studying the issue.  

The Black Lives Matter Movement started in 2014 with the plan of ending a long-lasting history of slavery and systemic racism in the United States. Since the movement began, many politicians and lawmakers have begun to take reparations seriously. In 2019, a federal bill that established a commission to study the matter was introduced. House Democrats are hopeful that Congress will vote on this legislation later in the year, according to a CNN report. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden also spoke in support of reparations after neglecting them for years.

“The discriminatory practices of the past echo into the everyday lives of today’s Californian,” Assemblywoman and author of the bill Shirley Weber said. “We seem to recognize that justice requires that those who have been treated unjustly need the means to make themselves whole again.”

For the first time in over a decade, Congress held a hearing about a bill to study reparations, in June. The purpose was to provide compensation and make atonement for the wrongs done to African-Americans during the era of slave trade.

In 1988 during the World War II, the U.S paid reparations of $20,000 to each survivor of Japanese internment camps, 120,000 of them.

The year 2020 has been one of the most dramatic yet significant year over the past decade. The series of events that have occurred since the beginning of the year, starting from the coronavirus outbreak to Black Lives Matter protests, have all led to creating a new history for the United States and the African-American community.

Following the death of George Floyd and the BLM protests across the nation, many corporations, organizations, individuals, and the government have taken huge steps to support Black businesses and communities across the US. Some organizations have offered financial or monetary support, while others have offered services worth hundreds of billions of dollars to Black businesses and organizations that support the Black community.