California wasn’t a slave state, but its legacy shaped our laws. An apology is a crucial step for healing

Guest Commentary written by Reggie Jones-Sawyer Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer, a Los Angeles Democrat, represents California’s 57th District. He served on the California Reparations Task Force. OPINION (CALMATTERS) – California has a rich and complex history. With that, comes a responsibility to acknowledge and address the painful legacy of slavery. Even though California was accepted into the union as a free state, it had a significant role in perpetuating racial discrimination and inequality. The way we treated Black Californians over the ensuing decades was derived directly from Jim Crow laws and slave-holding southern states. For those that argue the absurd dogma that California was not a slave state, it was in many ways. California didn’t need plantations to institute discriminatory laws and practices targeting Black Californians. It denied basic rights and opportunities to entire generations. These racist laws persisted long after slavery officially ended, as is evident by the segregation, exclusion and violence endured by Black California since the state’s inception in 1850. The evidence is laid out in the California Reparations Task Force’s historic final report, which was written by serious academics and scholars, and whose use of historical and empirical data outlined the case for reparations. This must first...