California panel approves recommendations to provide reparation payments to black residents

A California task force on Saturday approved recommendations that could direct billions of dollars in reparations to black residents, moving the issue now to the state’s Legislature.

The nine-member Reparations Task Force was created by a law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in the aftermath of the George Floyd killing and protests.

It voted out its recommendations after spending nearly two years studying ideas and listening to testimony on how to create renumeration.

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., who is cosponsoring a bill in Congress to study restitution proposals for black Americans, said nationwide reparations “are not only morally justifiable, but they have the potential to address longstanding racial disparities and inequalities,” according to The Associated Press.

The approved recommendations range from the creation of a new agency to provide services to slave descendants to calculations on compensation.

The panels’s work is being closely followed by political leaders across the country and historians, though it still faces a significant hurdle, including how to pay for reparations.