CA Reparations Task Force leader responds to Legislative Black Caucus decision to block bills

Three days after California’s Legislative Black Caucus blocked the California Assembly from voting on two reparations proposals, the leader of the state’s Reparations Task Force is speaking out against the group’s actions. “I think what happened on Saturday was unconscionable,” said Kamilah Moore, the chair of California’s Reparations Task Force, which spent two years studying the impacts of slavery and racial discrimination on African Americans in California. KCRA 3 also reached out to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who wrote the state law that created the task force. She declined to do an interview on the situation Tuesday. The Black Caucus announced on the final night of the legislative session on Saturday that it would not bring the two reparations proposals up for final votes in the Assembly, including SB 1403 to establish a reparations state agency and SB 1331 to establish a reparations fund. Tension among members of the caucus flared into late Saturday night, with the caucus divided over the last-minute decision. Democratic State Senator Steven Bradford, who wrote the bills, claimed the caucus was scared of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s veto after Bradford refused to accept changes to SB 1403 proposed by the governor’s office. Caucus leader,...