California is setting aside $12 million in its next budget to provide reparations to Black residents. While this could potentially be the largest reparation deal that has ever been implemented, activists were still hoping for a larger deal, the Washington Post reported.
“Obviously, it’s not enough,” Chris Lodgson, an advocate for reparation, told the Washington Post “But this is the first time ever that reparations for Black people will be a line item in a state budget.”
A reparations task force established in California in 2023 proposed billions in reparations. The proposal included $1.2 million for longtime Black residents who are at least 50 years old. California senator Steven Bradford applauded the state for allocating a reparation budget despite the state’s difficult financial situation.
“In this tough economic climate, for us to find this money for reparations sends a signal not only to the state but to the nation that California is committed to addressing the harms that are the result of slavery in this country,” Bradford told The Post.
California has emerged as one of the leading advocates for reparations while lawmakers around the country make plans to provide compensation for Black Americans who are descendants of enslaved people. In the District of Columbia, lawmakers have proposed a 2025 budget deal that includes $1.5 million to implement a commission to study reparations. Chicago also joined the nationwide effort when mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order to create a reparations task force in the city.
While advocates continue to fight for reparations, critics are still aiming to spoil the effort. One of the major setbacks for the movement happened recently when the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled against survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, who filed a lawsuit in an effort to get reparations.
Trevor Smith, executive director of the BLIS Collective, a nonprofit focused on bringing reparations for Black and Native Americans, applauds California for taking the lead in the effort.
“In the wake of the Tulsa decision and the Evanston lawsuit, folks have been asking: ‘Is the reparations movement really going anywhere?’” Smith told The Post. “So the fact that California continues to lead the way is really important.”
