(Headline USA) The California Reparations Task Force unveiled its list of policy proposals this month, and among them is a demand that the state legislature repeal a constitutional amendment banning racial discrimination.
The amendment in question is Proposition 209, which California voters approved in 1996. The measure amended the state Constitution to note that, “The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.”
The reparations task force urged the state legislature to repeal this measure, claiming it created more racial discrimination.
“Since its passage, Proposition 209 has had far-reaching impact on efforts to remediate entrenched systemic anti-Black bias and discrimination,” the task force wrote. “In recognition of the systemic discrimination faced by the African American community and the barriers to justice and repair imposed by Proposition 209, the task force recommends that the legislature take steps within its authority to seek the repeal [of] Proposition 209. This effort must continue until California’s constitution has been cleansed of this or any other measure rooted in racism.”
It is unclear how repealing a measure that bans racial discrimination would decrease racial discrimination.
Some of the task force’s other proposals include massive cash payments to every black resident in the state, including payments of up to $1.2 million.
The task force also demanded a formal apology from the state legislature for the “censure of the gravest barbarities carried out on behalf of the state by its representative officers, governing bodies, and the people,” highlighting several examples in a “non-exhaustive list.”
California never allowed slavery in its history.
Gov. Gavin Newsom refused to commit to any one of the task force’s proposals this week, arguing that reparations is about “more than cash payments.”
“This has been an important process, and we should continue to work as a nation to reconcile our original sin of slavery and understand how that history has shaped our country,” Newsom said in a statement.
