California is determined to lead the way in reparations for Black Americans.
Late last year, for example, the California Reparations Task Force, created by Gov. Gavin Newsom after the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, suggested that California should pay descendants of former slaves and free Black people “living in the U.S. prior to the end of the 19th century” $223,000 each, ostensibly for past housing discrimination.
Not to be outdone, San Francisco’s Human Rights Commission drafted a plan for the city’s African American Reparations Advisory Committee calling on the city to pay Black residents meeting very elastic eligibility requirements $5 million each. The plan also proposes that for the next 250 years, low-income Black households should receive an annual income of at least $97,000 (though it’s unclear how recipients of $5 million qualify as low-income).
