Most of the state’s residents probably don’t know our dark history of enslavement.
In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom apologized to Native Americans for the state’s role in nearly obliterating them. It’s time for California to acknowledge the harms it did to its Black residents. An August poll by UC Berkeley found that most Californians oppose paying cash reparations to the descendants of the enslaved.
But the history of African Americans in California is not widely taught. And that is influencing public policy. California not only neglected to enforce the state’s slavery ban, it also passed harsh laws curtailing the rights of African Americans. The first governor of the state tried to ban African Americans from settling here. California’s version of the Fugitive Slave Act was more onerous than the national law.
A main reason for the opposition is “it’s unfair to ask today’s taxpayers to pay for wrongs committed in the past.” The task force recommends numerous remedies, not just cash payments, to repair this harm, such as easy access to home loans, free education, and community-based health and cultural centers. None of these options were mentioned in the poll.
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