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Chair of California Reparations Committee clarifies reports claiming $225K will be given to every Black person

Kamilah V Moore said the task force's program applied to all people, and not just Black people, impacted by housing discrimination between 1933 and 1977

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA: The head of California’s committee to study reparation proposals for African Americans recently responded to reports claiming that the organization intended to hand over $225,000 to each applicant for the program. In an interview on Tuesday, December 13, Kamilah V Moore reportedly said that an economic research team provided a figure to the committee, which presented the state of California's "maximum culpability" for housing discrimination.

Moore clarified that the program proposed by the task force applied to people who were impacted by housing discrimination between 1933 and 1977, and not just Black people. "In reality, that number would be minimized when you take into account the fact that the task force decided in March that the community of eligibility would be lineage based rather than race-based," Moore said, according to Daily Mail, adding, "When you really look at who was really impacted by housing discrimination during that particular time period it most likely won't be all Black folks."

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In a separate interview on Spectrum News, Moore emphasized on the necessity for a "Bureau of African American Affairs" to manage the payments, citing the glowing track record of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in managing comparable concerns for Native Americans. The first-in-the-nation Reparations Task Force was created by California Gov Gavin Newsom's legislation, which he signed in 2020, and is the largest reparation effort in recent history.

Moore made these claims right before the task force’s private meeting on Wednesday, December 14, and final public meeting on Thursday, December 15. During the public meeting, the task force is expected to address questions including when prospective the recipients' "harm" started, and how the "form of payment" can properly align with the "estimates of damage." The group will talk also about whether there could be additional eligibility requirements and what time frame the reparations could hinge on. The unveiling of the official agenda comes just after estimates suggested that Californians, who are descendants of slaves or who have experienced racial discrimination, might get as much as $220,000 per person. According to a figure mentioned by New York Times, payments might be made to as many as 2.5 million Black Californians.

The nine-person California reparations committee currently comprises Chair Kamilah Moore, Vice-Chair Dr Amos C. Brown, San Diego Council Member Monica Montgomery Steppe, California State Senator Steven Bradford, Dr Cheryl Grills, Lisa Holder, Donald K Tamaki, Jovan Scott Lewis and Reginald Jones-Sawyer. The committee’s objective is to look into how the state may make up to Black citizens, who experienced "racial fear" and "the economic impacts" of slavery and racism. Moore stated that she intended to play a "radical" role on the task force while determining how much to distribute and who would receive the money.

The meetings to be held will also witness discussions on "enslavement, the wealth gap, political disenfranchisement, mass incarceration and housing discrimination." Plans proposed in previous meetings indicate the group is hoping to have the state adopt a mandatory curriculum for all teachers to take anti-bias training, raise the minimum wage in predominantly Black industries and implement policies to close the racial wealth gap in California, among other major changes.