Activists Tell California Reparations Committee That $5 Million Per Person Is Not Enough

Activists are telling the California reparations committee that the $5 million per person is not enough.

On Wednesday, they demanded that the state of California pay millions of dollars to each Black resident in reparations as a way to make amends for slavery and subsequent discrimination.

They dismissed the idea of payments of $5 million per person as “nothing” and “too little.”

Fox News reports: The demands were made at an in-person meeting of the California Reparations Task Force, which was created by state legislation signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2020. The committee was hearing comments from the public as it considers final recommendations to submit to the California Legislature, which will then decide whether to implement the measures and send them to Newsom’s desk to be signed into law.

The task force is considering a proposal to give just under $360,000 per person to approximately 1.8 million Black Californians who had an ancestor enslaved in the U.S., putting the total cost of the program at about $640 billion.

Meanwhile, the city of San Francisco is weighing its own reparations proposals at the local level. Earlier this month, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors expressed “unanimous” support for a draft plan of more than 100 reparations recommendations for the city, including a proposal to dole out $5 million each to qualifying Black residents. The proposal would cost non-Black families in the city at least $600,000, according to Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.

Both ideas are skimping on what’s necessary to pay Black Californians, according to activists who spoke at the gathering.

“I believe that 5 million in reparations is too little for the work that foundational Black Americans have done for this country and as well for other countries,” one speaker said. “I believe that 7.6 million [dollars] is a number that can be used very wisely in our foundational Black American communities.”

Foundational Black Americans are descendants of Black people who were enslaved in the U.S. According to the speaker, reparations are overdue for all foundational Black Americans both for the suffering they endured and for helping “every culture get on their feet.” He also called for various other reparations measures, such as giving 40 acres and a tractor and colleges agreeing not raise tuition prices for foundational Black American families.