Supporting the Reparations Fight: Six Questions for the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California

By Antonio Ray Harvey | California Black Media Chris Lodgson  (CBM) – The Coalition for a Just and Equitable California (CJEC) is a statewide organization comprised of various associations, community groups and individuals united by a commitment to fight for reparations and reparative justice for the descendants of enslaved Black American men and women. In 2020, CJEC worked alongside California Secretary of State, Dr. Shirley Weber, when she was an Assemblymember representing the 79th District in San Diego, to author and enact Assembly Bill (AB) 3121. That bill, now state law, created America’s first-in-the-nation Task Force to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans. CJEC was one of seven “anchor organizations” sanctioned by the Reparations Task Force and the California Department of Justice (DOJ) to host a series of “listening sessions” designed to ensure certain communities in the state provided their thoughts and concerns about the work the task force was doing. In addition, CJEC helped the task force evaluate California’s role in slavery and Jim Crow discrimination – and followed that work up with developing resolutions to compensate African Americans for past and ongoing race-based injustices. During one of CJEC’s signature “listening sessions,” the organization introduced Marian and...