California Gov. Newsom Signs Bill Paving Way To Study Slavery Reparations

As the radical left prepares for a Biden presidency and possible takeover of the U.S. House and Senate by laying the groundwork for their Marxist socio-economic policies at the state level, California has signed a new bill consider paying reparations to descendants of slavery. 

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 3121 into law on Wednesday. The bill allows the state government to form a nine-member task force to develop a detailed plan for reparations and who would be eligible to receive them.

“This is not just about California, this is about making an impact, and a dent, across the rest of the country,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said moments after signing the bill. 

“California’s rich diversity is our greatest asset, and we won’t turn away from this moment to make right the discrimination and disadvantages that Black Californians and people of color still face,” Newsom said.

CA just became the first state in the nation to mandate the study and development of proposals for reparations.

Our past is one of slavery, racism, and injustice. Our systems were built to oppress people of color.

It’s past time we acknowledge that. https://t.co/sY8UWffqzt

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 30, 2020

The recommendations of the task force are non-binding and would be submitted in a report to the state legislature one year after the first meeting. 

Readers may recall reparations became a popular subject after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in late May. 

In June, Robert Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television (BET), called for trillions of dollars in reparations for slavery. He said the government should pay out $14 trillion in reparations, for “damages that are owed.” 

The Brookings Institution suggested in their April 2020 report that reparations could take the form of student loan forgiveness, free college education, and down payment grants for homeowners. 

Direct transfer payments under the guise of reparations appear to be not about compensating those who are descendants of slavery but instead increasing funding for social programs. To make it more clear, reparations will dramatically expand the “welfare state.” 

California’s new law doesn’t say reparations must be cash payments, as other options for payouts could include forgiving student loans, job training, and or payment for public works projects. 

Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, a Democrat from San Diego who authored the bill, said California “has come to terms with many of these issues, but it has yet to come to terms with its role in slavery.” 

The task force’s capabilities, under the new law (read the full text of 3121 here): 

• Hold hearings and sit and act at any time and location in California.

• Request the attendance and testimony of witnesses.

• Request the production of books, records, correspondence, memoranda, papers, and documents.

• Seek an order from a Superior Court compelling testimony or compliance with a subpoena.

• Any subcommittee or member of the Task Force may, if authorized by the Task Force, take any action that the Task Force is authorized to take pursuant to this section.

Do we assume California needs no further federal bailout dollars if it’s so willingly investigating such a massive program of redistribution?

The nine-member task force created to study exactly how African-Americans should be compensated has until the middle of 2023 to present its findings and potential solutions to the governor.

It’s no wonder people are fleeing the state at record rates.