Reparations Roundup

Lawmakers across the country are proposing reparations to black Americans for slavery and America’s history of racial discrimination. Proposals have included direct cash payments, grants, formal apologies from the government, and government programs with race-based eligibility. There are those who believe, as Ibram X. Kendi wrote, that “the remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination.” But Pacific Legal Foundation agrees with Chief Justice John Roberts, who said in the 2007 Parents Involved decision, “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” Because reparations proposals would inevitably advantage and disadvantage individuals based on their race and ancestry—in violation of the Constitution—PLF is tracking the development of these policies at state and local levels. Here is what has happened this past month: California’s reparations proposals advance Earlier this year, the state’s Legislative Black Caucus introduced a variety of bills implementing several recommendations of the California Reparations Task Force. Last month, the State Senate passed several of them for the Assembly to consider: SB 1403 – Establishes the California American Freedmen Affairs Agency to implement the recommendations of the Reparations Task Force and oversee other state agencies tasked with implementation. SB 1050...