California Issues Apology Over Slavery, But No Reparations

California has offered an official apology for its role in slavery and past discriminatory policies toward Black people, but the US state is not planning to offer reparations to the descendants of enslaved people. Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed into law Thursday a formal declaration to be preserved in the western state’s archives. The text states that California “accepts responsibility for the role we played in promoting, facilitating and permitting the institution of slavery, as well as its enduring legacy of racial discrimination. “California is now taking another important step forward in recognizing the grave injustices of the past — and making amends for the harms caused.” The declaration was the chief recommendation of a task force created in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement and anti-racism demonstrations following the death, at police hands, of George Floyd in 2020. Black activists welcomed the apology but some said the state should offer financial compensation. “Apologies alone aren’t enough — they must include material reparations,” Kamilah Moore, an attorney and former chair of the task force, said on X. If combined with money, Moore said, “an apology can lead to communal reckoning and repair.” California never joined with the...