California‘s controversial Reparations Task Force has called on the state legislature to end child support debt for black residents claiming that the nation’s laws have hindered their growth and have torn African American families apart.
The task force released their final report last week that laid out a series of calculations that could amount to hundreds of billions of dollars in payment.
The 1,100-page document revealed that the state’s black residents represent a larger percentage of those who owe child support debt than their proportion of the state’s population.
The task force alleged that ‘discriminatory’ laws ‘have torn African American families apart,’ and that one effect of that is the ‘harms’ caused by ‘the disproportionate amount of African Americans who are burdened with child support debt.’
The report claims that the 10 percent interest that the state charges on back child support has hampered black residents to find employment, maintain a home, and further their education due to the legal consequences of not paying such debt.
Morris Griffin, of Los Angeles, speaks during the public comment portion of the Reparations Task Force meeting in Sacramento, California
Long-time resident, Walter Foster, age 80, holds up a sign as the Reparations Task Force meets to hear public input on reparations at the California Science Center in Los Angeles
State Senator Steven Bradford, Secretary of State Shirley Weber, task force member Lisa Holder and Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer hold up a final report of the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans during a hearing in Sacramento, California on Thursday
‘The Task Force recommends that the Legislature enact legislation to terminate all interest accrued on back child support, requiring only the payment of the principal owed,’ as per the report.
;At a minimum, the proposal recommends that the Legislature eliminate the prospective accrual of interest on child support debt for low-income parents,’ the report said.
‘The Task Force further recommends that the Legislature amend Family Code section 17560, the ‘offers in compromise’ provision, to allow for offers in compromise and forgiveness of child support debt based solely on a parent’s financial (sic) circumstances and ability to pay,’ it added.
The report is a culmination of two years of research done by the task force into what it says is the historical discrimination faced by black Californians and their ancestors in the state.
It also offers a broad account of the ways it accuses the state of wronging descendants of black slaves.
The state legislature will now determine what aspects of the report, including monetary compensation for black residents, it will approve or deny.
The report is a culmination of two years of research done by the task force into what it says is the historical discrimination faced by black Californians and their ancestors in the state.
Kamilah Moore (pictured) an intellectual property and entertainment lawyer who led the task force, called the last two years a whirlwind
A crowd listens to speakers at a reparations rally outside of City Hall in San Francisco in March
The historic report, which has been two years in the making, was presented to state lawmakers after a fiery meeting in Sacramento where members of the task force said the document was a ‘book of truth’.
But the report will arouse further controversy among opponents of reparations, after it repeated eyewatering estimates for the cash value of inequalities faced by black people in California.
An executive summary of the 1,200-page report said the ‘mass incarceration and over-policing of African Americans’ was equivalent to $228billion.
The group did not put an overall figure on reparations in the document, but previously touted as much as $800billion to be handed to black people.
Lisa Holder, a civil rights attorney and task force member, said the report was a ‘book of truth’ which ‘will be a legacy, will be a testament to the full story’.
‘Anyone who says that we are colorblind, that we have solved the problem of anti-black racism, I challenge you to read this document,’ she said.
Kamilah Moore, an intellectual property and entertainment lawyer who led the task force, called the last two years a whirlwind.
‘It’s been very work intensive, but also very cathartic and very emotional,’ she said. ‘We’re standing in the shoes of our ancestors to finish, essentially, this sacred project.’
In total, the panel proposed more than 100 policies and also called for a formal apology for ‘the perpetration of gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity on African slaves and their descendants’.
The state reparations panel is the first of its kind in America. But its recommendations are far from becoming reality.
State lawmakers and Governor Gavin Newsom must agree for any money to be paid or for any policy changes to be adopted.
The California panel did not recommend a fixed dollar amount for financial redress, but endorsed controversial economic methodologies to calculate what is owed for decades of overpolicing, disproportionate incarceration and housing discrimination.
Initial calculations pegged California’s potential cost at more than $800 billion — more than 2.5 times the state’s annual budget.
The estimated cost was cut to $500 billion in a later report, though no explanation was made about the change.
The panel has recommended prioritizing elders for financial compensation.
Economists recommended nearly $1 million for a 71-year-old Black person who lived all their life in California – or $13,600 per year – for health disparities that shorten the average life span.
Black people subjected to aggressive policing and prosecution in the ‘war on drugs’ from 1971 to 2020 could each receive $115,000 if they lived in California throughout that period, or more than $2,300 for each year, under the calculations.
More than 200 people gathered at the meeting in Sacramento, with an overflow crowd outside the room. Inside, many stood at one point and began a call-and-response to demand action.
‘What do we want?’ someone shouted. ‘Reparations,’ the crowd responded.
‘When do we want them?’ he asked. ‘Now!’
The nine-member reparations panel convened in June 2021, the year after Newsom signed legislation creating the group. Newsom and legislative leaders picked the members, including lawyers, educators, elected officials and civil rights leaders descended from enslaved people.
Federal reparations efforts have stalled for decades, but cities, counties, school districts and universities have taken up the cause.
An advisory group in San Francisco recommended that qualifying Black adults receive a $5 million lump-sum, guaranteed annual income of at least $97,000 and personal debt forgiveness.
San Francisco supervisors are supposed to take up the proposals later this year. But the currently is currently battling a separate set of problems, including an exodus of businesses in the downtown area amid crime, homelessness and drug abuse.
New York may soon follow in California by creating a commission to examine the state’s involvement in slavery and consider addressing present-day economic and educational disparities experienced by Black people.
