Black leaders provide roadmap to reparations in California

Stay up-to-date with free briefings on topics that matter to all Californians. Subscribe to CalMatters today for nonprofit news in your inbox. Acknowledgement, apology and atonement are the three keys to reparations, said California Assemblymember Corey Jackson during a panel at the CalMatters Ideas Festival on June 6. The panelists discussed how to solve ongoing issues within the Black community, such as housing, health care and mass incarceration. Joining Jackson on stage were California Black Power Network Policy Manager Kristin Nimmers, and CEO of the San Francisco Foundation Fred Blackwell. A 1,000-page report released last year by a statewide task force is about far more than just giving out cash to the descendants of enslaved people, Blackwell said. It’s about correcting a system of racism and discrimination. “The focus on cash payments and the way that it is being framed, is clickbait. It is to get eyes on payments and eyes on screens,” Blackwell said. Turning the more than 200 recommendations from the reparation report into law would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of the reparations task force, Blackwell said. To start, state legislators in the Black Caucus are introducing a 14-bill package, Jackson said. “There...