California will have to dig deep in its pockets, and perhaps under the sofa cushions, to come up with the money experts estimate the state owes in reparations to eligible Black residents.
Economists came up with a figure of at least $800 billion to fairly compensate Black Californians for generations of systemic racial discrimination, over-policing and disproportionate incarceration that have disadvantaged the descendants of enslaved Black Americans, the Associated Press reports.
That figure, however, doesn’t include a recommended $1 million per older Black resident for health disparities, compensation for property unjustly taken by the government and other discriminatory practices.
It’s unclear, at this point, exactly how much reparations would cost California and where the money would come from, since the minimum estimate of $800 billion is 2.5 times the state’s annual $300 billion budget.
In 2020, Gov. Gavin Newsom enacted legislation that created a two-year reparations task force to study the institution of slavery and its harms and to educate the public about its findings. The state’s reparations commission has a July 1 deadline to submit a report of its recommendations, which the state legislature will consider.
The huge $800 billion compensation figure is, in a way, symbolic of the tremendous harm inflicted on Black Americans – from slavery to Jim Crow and the ongoing legacy.
“All forms of discrimination should be considered in reparations. The task force should feel free to go beyond our loss estimates, and determine what the right amount would be,” Thomas Craemer, a University of Connecticut public policy professor told a panel of task force members at a March 29 hearing, according to the AP.
To arrive at the $800 billion estimate, economists included $246 billion for aggressive policing in California’s Black neighborhoods and prosecutions that led to the disproportionate prison warehousing of Black men. The estimate also includes $569 billion to redress redlining, the discriminatory practice of systematically preventing people from buying homes in certain areas, based on their race, ethnicity or religion.
Kamilah Moore, chairperson of the reparations task force, said at the meeting that her committee isn’t taking a position on the compensation amount. That’s up to state lawmakers.
“The task force is pretty much done regarding the compensation component,” Moore told the AP. “Our task was to create a methodology for calculation for various forms of compensation that correspond with our findings.”
Meanwhile, a reparations committee in San Francisco has recommended packages that include a $5 million lump sum payment to each qualified Black resident. The committee’s recommendations include guaranteed income of at least $97,000 and personal debt forgiveness.
Direct cash payments to African American descendants of slaves is controversial. But compensation can take different forms, including academic scholarships, health care benefits and tax breaks.
Evanston, Ill., a Chicago suburb, in 2021 became the first city to make reparations available to Black residents. There are no direct cash payments involved. Compensation for slavery includes funding housing programs for certain residents of the city.
Eligibility is another thorny issue. Last year, the California reparations commission voted 5-4 to limit compensation to the descendants of free and enslaved Black people living in the United States in the 19th century. That means Black immigrants and their descendents would be ineligible to receive reparations.
