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"content": "\u003cp>California’s Reparations Task Force is about two months away from submitting its recommendations to the state Legislature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the deadline nears, some task force members and observers are expressing concern about whether the body’s research is reaching people. And the recommendations will require broad public support to survive the intense scrutiny they will likely receive — from members of the Legislature and the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Monday, the task force released \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-agenda10-ch17-draft-05062023.pdf\">a draft of its recommendations (PDF)\u003c/a>, including calculations for up to $1.2 million in compensation for qualifying residents. The task force is expected to finalize recommendations at its next meeting on \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/ab3121/meetings\">Saturday in Oakland\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the last task force meeting in late March, callers during public comment spoke in opposition of reparations for the first time. In a few instances, the comments included racist stereotypes about Black people, revealing an ignorance of the state’s systemic discrimination against Black residents since its founding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Dr. Cheryl Grills, member, California Reparations Task Force\"]‘People don’t know all the behind-the-scenes things that actually contributed to us being where we’re at with communications. They’re just looking at the surface.’[/pullquote]“The fight for public opinion is now,” Chris Lodgson, a community organizer with the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California, said at that meeting in Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lodgson’s organization has been holding listening sessions throughout the state for two years to raise awareness in Black communities about the task force. He said he had hoped the task force would take on more of the work building public understanding of the state’s reparations endeavor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task force named public engagement as a central goal at its first meeting in June 2021. Then it backed it up with money: In November 2021, the task force entered into a nearly $1 million contract with the UCLA Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies to develop a series of public listening sessions across the state, and bring in a communications firm to support the sessions and publicize the task force’s findings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given the controversial nature of reparations in the United States, task force members emphasized that clear communication with the public and wide buy-in would be essential to the ultimate success of their recommendations. But a year and a half later, the publicity work has been delayed by infighting and complications with communication firms. The first three communications firms quit, and a fourth, Charles Communications Group, only started in September.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are at the 11th hour, and the average Black person in California has no clue that this task force has been operating for the last two years,” said one unidentified caller during the late March meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11948414\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55306_023_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11948414\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55306_023_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A Black woman holds a face mask to the side in a building with a laptop in front of her and an American flag in the background inside a building.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55306_023_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55306_023_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55306_023_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55306_023_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55306_023_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Task force member Dr. Cheryl Grills speaks during the second day of the in-person California Reparations Task Force meeting at Third Baptist Church in San Francisco on April 14, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Dr. Cheryl Grills, the task force member initially selected to lead the community engagement effort, acknowledged that the revolving door of communications firms had created confusion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It cost the task force a semblance of credibility,” Grills, director of the Psychology Applied Research Center at Loyola Marymount University, told KQED during the March meeting. “People don’t know all the behind-the-scenes things that actually contributed to us being where we’re at with communications. They’re just looking at the surface.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re very late in the game, not because of the capacity or the skills of these communication firms, but because of the behavior of the chair,” Grills continued, referring to Kamilah Moore, the task force chair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first three firms left because of disagreements with Moore, according to Grills and the Bunche Center. The initial two, New York-based A—B and Los Angeles-based Young Communications, were hired together. A—B was to manage a national communications strategy while Young Communications would handle the statewide messaging. But by the winter of 2021, the relationship between Moore and the firms had soured.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='The Latest on California Reparations' tag='california-reparations']In a recent interview with KQED, Moore said that she was skeptical of A—B because of the CEO’s comments critical of the African Descendants of Slaves movement. Moore is a strong supporter of lineage-based reparations for residents with ancestral connections to people enslaved in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grills has spoken in favor of race-based reparations, which would have widened the eligibility pool to include anyone in the state who identifies as Black, regardless of a familial connection to an enslaved person. Experts testifying before the task force suggested this approach would likely face greater legal challenges because of state and federal laws prohibiting policies that favor or discriminate based on race and gender. In March 2022, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11909471/unpacking-reparations-eligibility-in-california\">the task force decided to make its reparations plan lineage-based\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Support of lineage-based reparations is central to the ADOS movement, and Moore felt the CEO’s criticism of ADOS implied A—B would not effectively promote the task force after it committed to a developing lineage-based reparations plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the April 2022 meeting, Grills reported that both firms felt their efforts were being questioned unfairly and in an offensive way by Moore. The firms said work with the task force had become toxic. Both firms resigned by the end of the month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young Communications did not respond to multiple requests for comment. In an emailed statement, A—B said that it had ended its “engagement with the task force amicably,” but did not expand further.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last summer, the Bunche Center and Grills hired Fenton Communications, one of the largest public interest communications firms in the country. According to Grills, Fenton’s previous relationship with UCLA allowed the Bunche Center to avoid a lengthy on-boarding process which, she said, was important considering the task force was already a year into its work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moore, who was elected to help Grills direct the task force’s communications in April 2022, said she was excluded from the decision to hire Fenton. When she learned of the hiring, she said she asked for a meeting with the firm. Fenton quit during the meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11948415\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55334_044_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11948415\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55334_044_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A Black woman wearing glasses, a navy blue jacket and yellow and black designed shirt, shakes hands with a Black woman wearing a patterned hat and black shirt in a building with other people in the background.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55334_044_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55334_044_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55334_044_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55334_044_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55334_044_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Task force chair Kamilah Moore speaks with attendees during the second day of an in-person meeting of the California Reparations Task Force at Third Baptist Church in San Francisco on April 14, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Moore said she raised concerns about Fenton that were similar to those she had about A—B.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I pointed out that many of their clients are fervent advocates of race-based reparations, which is fine, but also on top of that have also been very critical of lineage-based reparations,” Moore, an attorney and reparatory justice scholar, said. “I was asking these kinds of questions about potential conflicts and then the person who was running Fenton got really mad.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grills said that professional communications firms are capable of representing clients with opposing views without taking sides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The way she was expressing her concerns about some of these other clients that Fenton had felt like an unprofessional attack on their clients,” she added. “And they said, ‘We will not accept that. We will not tolerate that. We’re gonna quit before we even get started. We’re done.’ Literally within an hour.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fenton Communications did not respond to multiple requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Charles Communications Group, directed by Shawna Charles, was hired with just 10 months left in the task force’s work. In the time between the departure of Young Communications and A—B, and Charles’ start in September, the task force released its \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-reparations-interim-report-2022.pdf\">preliminary report (PDF)\u003c/a>, the first government publication detailing the history and impact of anti-Black policies over more than 50 years. Its release received no communications support and, perhaps consequently, little fanfare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Charles was recommended to the Bunche Center by task force and Assembly member Reggie Jones-Sawyer. Within three months, Charles said, her interactions with Moore made her ready to quit, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moore said Charles was producing low-quality work. Moore said she spent hours editing spelling and grammatical errors in press releases and social media posts Charles sent her, and that she was candid about her disapproval.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Charles said the mistakes were included in drafts, and that she expected editing to be part of the relationship between her firm and the task force. The errors, she said, were things that could be fixed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What’s a big deal to some people, isn’t a big deal to other people,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moore disagreed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just feels like people think that Black Americans, particularly who descend from slaves, should be OK with third-rate services, like, ‘Oh, this is normal, you should be glad that there’s people who even wanna help with this type of thing,’” she said. “It doesn’t sit well with me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Charles told KQED that she sent an email to Moore and other task force members in December that said Moore’s criticism had become overwhelming and distracting from the work she was hired to do. “We expect you [Moore] to assume responsibility for the task force not having the support it needs,” she wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At that point, if they had fired me that would have been fine with me,” said Charles, reflecting on the email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the task force meeting in December, Grills read an email from the director of the Bunche Center to the audience, which said Charles’ errors in the drafts were editable. The email faulted Moore for driving away firms and stymying the task force’s efforts to engage the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That day, the task force voted to remove Grills and Moore from their roles supervising communications. Two other members, Jovan Scott Lewis, a UC Berkeley professor and chair of the school’s Department of Geography, and state Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena), were selected to take their place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Charles said that with Moore no longer managing communications, things have gotten easier. “Now I’m not worried about every period, every comma,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But Grills said delays have cost the task force attention. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I think we would be in better shape if we had had a communications firm in place consistently pushing out the messaging and engaging the media,” she said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“The fight for public opinion is now,” Chris Lodgson, a community organizer with the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California, said at that meeting in Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lodgson’s organization has been holding listening sessions throughout the state for two years to raise awareness in Black communities about the task force. He said he had hoped the task force would take on more of the work building public understanding of the state’s reparations endeavor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task force named public engagement as a central goal at its first meeting in June 2021. Then it backed it up with money: In November 2021, the task force entered into a nearly $1 million contract with the UCLA Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies to develop a series of public listening sessions across the state, and bring in a communications firm to support the sessions and publicize the task force’s findings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given the controversial nature of reparations in the United States, task force members emphasized that clear communication with the public and wide buy-in would be essential to the ultimate success of their recommendations. But a year and a half later, the publicity work has been delayed by infighting and complications with communication firms. The first three communications firms quit, and a fourth, Charles Communications Group, only started in September.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are at the 11th hour, and the average Black person in California has no clue that this task force has been operating for the last two years,” said one unidentified caller during the late March meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11948414\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55306_023_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11948414\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55306_023_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A Black woman holds a face mask to the side in a building with a laptop in front of her and an American flag in the background inside a building.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55306_023_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55306_023_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55306_023_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55306_023_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55306_023_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Task force member Dr. Cheryl Grills speaks during the second day of the in-person California Reparations Task Force meeting at Third Baptist Church in San Francisco on April 14, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Dr. Cheryl Grills, the task force member initially selected to lead the community engagement effort, acknowledged that the revolving door of communications firms had created confusion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It cost the task force a semblance of credibility,” Grills, director of the Psychology Applied Research Center at Loyola Marymount University, told KQED during the March meeting. “People don’t know all the behind-the-scenes things that actually contributed to us being where we’re at with communications. They’re just looking at the surface.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re very late in the game, not because of the capacity or the skills of these communication firms, but because of the behavior of the chair,” Grills continued, referring to Kamilah Moore, the task force chair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first three firms left because of disagreements with Moore, according to Grills and the Bunche Center. The initial two, New York-based A—B and Los Angeles-based Young Communications, were hired together. A—B was to manage a national communications strategy while Young Communications would handle the statewide messaging. But by the winter of 2021, the relationship between Moore and the firms had soured.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In a recent interview with KQED, Moore said that she was skeptical of A—B because of the CEO’s comments critical of the African Descendants of Slaves movement. Moore is a strong supporter of lineage-based reparations for residents with ancestral connections to people enslaved in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grills has spoken in favor of race-based reparations, which would have widened the eligibility pool to include anyone in the state who identifies as Black, regardless of a familial connection to an enslaved person. Experts testifying before the task force suggested this approach would likely face greater legal challenges because of state and federal laws prohibiting policies that favor or discriminate based on race and gender. In March 2022, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11909471/unpacking-reparations-eligibility-in-california\">the task force decided to make its reparations plan lineage-based\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Support of lineage-based reparations is central to the ADOS movement, and Moore felt the CEO’s criticism of ADOS implied A—B would not effectively promote the task force after it committed to a developing lineage-based reparations plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the April 2022 meeting, Grills reported that both firms felt their efforts were being questioned unfairly and in an offensive way by Moore. The firms said work with the task force had become toxic. Both firms resigned by the end of the month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young Communications did not respond to multiple requests for comment. In an emailed statement, A—B said that it had ended its “engagement with the task force amicably,” but did not expand further.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last summer, the Bunche Center and Grills hired Fenton Communications, one of the largest public interest communications firms in the country. According to Grills, Fenton’s previous relationship with UCLA allowed the Bunche Center to avoid a lengthy on-boarding process which, she said, was important considering the task force was already a year into its work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moore, who was elected to help Grills direct the task force’s communications in April 2022, said she was excluded from the decision to hire Fenton. When she learned of the hiring, she said she asked for a meeting with the firm. Fenton quit during the meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11948415\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55334_044_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11948415\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55334_044_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A Black woman wearing glasses, a navy blue jacket and yellow and black designed shirt, shakes hands with a Black woman wearing a patterned hat and black shirt in a building with other people in the background.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55334_044_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55334_044_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55334_044_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55334_044_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS55334_044_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Task force chair Kamilah Moore speaks with attendees during the second day of an in-person meeting of the California Reparations Task Force at Third Baptist Church in San Francisco on April 14, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Moore said she raised concerns about Fenton that were similar to those she had about A—B.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I pointed out that many of their clients are fervent advocates of race-based reparations, which is fine, but also on top of that have also been very critical of lineage-based reparations,” Moore, an attorney and reparatory justice scholar, said. “I was asking these kinds of questions about potential conflicts and then the person who was running Fenton got really mad.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grills said that professional communications firms are capable of representing clients with opposing views without taking sides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The way she was expressing her concerns about some of these other clients that Fenton had felt like an unprofessional attack on their clients,” she added. “And they said, ‘We will not accept that. We will not tolerate that. We’re gonna quit before we even get started. We’re done.’ Literally within an hour.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fenton Communications did not respond to multiple requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Charles Communications Group, directed by Shawna Charles, was hired with just 10 months left in the task force’s work. In the time between the departure of Young Communications and A—B, and Charles’ start in September, the task force released its \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-reparations-interim-report-2022.pdf\">preliminary report (PDF)\u003c/a>, the first government publication detailing the history and impact of anti-Black policies over more than 50 years. Its release received no communications support and, perhaps consequently, little fanfare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Charles was recommended to the Bunche Center by task force and Assembly member Reggie Jones-Sawyer. Within three months, Charles said, her interactions with Moore made her ready to quit, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moore said Charles was producing low-quality work. Moore said she spent hours editing spelling and grammatical errors in press releases and social media posts Charles sent her, and that she was candid about her disapproval.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Charles said the mistakes were included in drafts, and that she expected editing to be part of the relationship between her firm and the task force. The errors, she said, were things that could be fixed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What’s a big deal to some people, isn’t a big deal to other people,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moore disagreed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just feels like people think that Black Americans, particularly who descend from slaves, should be OK with third-rate services, like, ‘Oh, this is normal, you should be glad that there’s people who even wanna help with this type of thing,’” she said. “It doesn’t sit well with me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Charles told KQED that she sent an email to Moore and other task force members in December that said Moore’s criticism had become overwhelming and distracting from the work she was hired to do. “We expect you [Moore] to assume responsibility for the task force not having the support it needs,” she wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At that point, if they had fired me that would have been fine with me,” said Charles, reflecting on the email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the task force meeting in December, Grills read an email from the director of the Bunche Center to the audience, which said Charles’ errors in the drafts were editable. The email faulted Moore for driving away firms and stymying the task force’s efforts to engage the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That day, the task force voted to remove Grills and Moore from their roles supervising communications. Two other members, Jovan Scott Lewis, a UC Berkeley professor and chair of the school’s Department of Geography, and state Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena), were selected to take their place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Charles said that with Moore no longer managing communications, things have gotten easier. “Now I’m not worried about every period, every comma,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But Grills said delays have cost the task force attention. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I think we would be in better shape if we had had a communications firm in place consistently pushing out the messaging and engaging the media,” she said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Reggie Jones-Sawyer was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. That year, a defining moment in the march to integrate America’s public schools, carved an indelible mark on his family tree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jefferson Thomas, Jones-Sawyer’s uncle, was one of the Little Rock Nine — the nine Black students who dared to walk a perilous path to desegregate Little Rock Central High School 66 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than six decades later, Jones-Sawyer, a state Assembly member representing parts of the Los Angeles area, is walking an uncharted path of his own as a member of the California Reparations Task Force. For the second episode of our reparations video series, my colleague Manjula Varghese produced a mini-documentary on the people laying the foundation for lasting reparative justice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In July, the task force will present recommendations to the Legislature. On Monday, the task force \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-agenda10-ch17-draft-05062023.pdf\">released formulas and calculations\u003c/a> for remuneration. The proposal includes $115,260 — or $2,352 for each year of residency between 1971 and 2020 — as compensation for mass incarceration and discriminatory policing and sentencing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s more. To remedy health disparities, economists working with the task force suggest $966,921 per Black Californian for “total loss in value of life due to racial discrimination.” The calculation is based on the average life expectancy for Black Californians — 71 years — multiplied by $13,619 for each year lived in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task force is expected to finalize recommendations Saturday at Mills College.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT_KXUR-zls\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the draft of the final report, the task force considers California’s “unwillingness to address occupational discrimination, as documented by its ban on affirmative action in public education and employment” as a health harm. Education — about state and American history, as well as the eradication of school segregation — is essential to achieving equity. Varghese’s short film provides a sense of what led the nine members — yeah, that number again — to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations\">examine the historic harms of slavery and anti-Black racism in California\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve had no problems with my education because of the sacrifices that those nine brave Black kids did to get into high school,” Jones-Sawyer says in the episode. “In a lot of ways, my past experience has led me to this work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before I continue, here’s a brief history lesson: In 1954, the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education codified the unconstitutionality of segregated schools. Three years later, on Sept. 3, 1957, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus summoned the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the Little Rock Nine from entering the school. President Dwight D. Eisenhower intervened, and three weeks later Thomas and the other students — Ernest Green, Elizabeth Eckford, Terrence Roberts, Carlotta Walls LaNier, Minnijean Brown, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Thelma Mothershed and Melba Pattillo Beals — walked to their first classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They were escorted by guards, which didn’t stop the verbal and physical assaults from their white classmates. The few white students who befriended their new Black classmates received hate mail. In 1958, the public high schools in Little Rock were closed to prevent further desegregation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost seven decades after Brown v. Board of Education, California is still pushing for school desegregation. In 2019, the Sausalito Marin City School District was \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/09/us/sausalito-school-segregation.html\">forced to desegregate\u003c/a> by the state Justice Department. I’ve been reporting on racism in local schools for seven years which, unfortunately, could be a full-time job because \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/soccer-sports-violence-california-race-and-ethnicity-6951267c256153bc2803c612ef5c854c\">racism\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11913501/at-a-sonoma-county-high-school-students-of-color-demand-an-end-to-racist-harassment\">in\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.aclunc.org/campaign/support-black-students-fighting-racism-central-valley-schools\">California\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-01-27/racism-orange-county-high-schools\">schools\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://ktla.com/news/local-news/parents-outraged-after-black-student-receives-racist-drawings-from-classmate-at-upland-elementary-school/\">is\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-educations-office-civil-rights-reaches-settlement-victor-valley-union-high-school-district-california\">astonishingly\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.dailynews.com/2023/02/17/parents-protest-violent-fights-racist-incidents-at-culver-city-schools/\">common\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Reparations in California\" link1=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations,Explore why California launched the first-in-the-nation task force to study reparations for Black people\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/2022/02/RiCLandingPageGraphic-1020x574.png\"]California isn’t as \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/otisrtaylorjr/article/Californians-reject-affirmative-action-despite-15711308.php\">progressive as its national reputation suggests\u003c/a>. In 1996, California became the first state in the nation to ban affirmative action when Proposition 209, a measure that barred preferential treatment on the basis of race, sex and ethnicity, was passed. In 2020 affirmative action was back on the ballot, but Proposition 16, which intended to address racial and gender disparities in government hiring and contracting and public university admissions, was easily defeated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Denying Black people access to opportunity is a cornerstone of America. In our film, some of the task force members share their personal experiences. Monica Montgomery Steppe, a San Diego City Council member, calls herself a “Prop. 209 baby.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My parents were running a proficient, professional construction business and then Prop. 209 was passed,” she says. “My father started to struggle in his business, so that’s part of why I’m so passionate about reparations and just equity and making sure that we’re fair, especially here in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dr. Cheryl Grills is from Charleston, the harbor city in South Carolina where, experts believe, about 40% of the enslaved Africans imported to America between 1670 and 1808 were auctioned. South Carolina is a state where the Confederacy is revered. The Confederate flag flies at the state capitol on May 10, Confederate Memorial Day. The flag flew on top of the capitol dome until 2015. It was taken down on June 27, 2015, because a white supremacist shot and killed nine — yeah, that number again — Black people studying the Bible at Mother Emanuel, a church in Charleston.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The effects of enslavement and post-enslavement, Jim Crow, lack of civil rights — the impact of all of those things on the Black psyche are multifold,” says Grills, director of the Psychology Applied Research Center at Loyola Marymount University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rev. Amos Brown, pastor at Third Baptist Church in San Francisco, says he first became conscious of the deleterious effects of racism in 1955, when he saw the photo of Emmett Till’s ravaged body in \u003cem>Jet\u003c/em> magazine. Till, a Black boy from Chicago, had been visiting relatives in Mississippi when he stopped at Bryant’s Grocery and Meat Market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A white woman, Carolyn Bryant, said Till accosted her. Four days later, two white men — Bryant’s husband and his half-brother — kidnapped Till from a relative’s house. They beat him. They shot him. They wrapped his body in barbed wire and tied a 75-pound cotton gin fan around his neck. Then they dumped him in the Tallahatchie River. The white men were acquitted of murder by an all-white jury.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bryant, who died last week, lived to be 88. Till was 14 when he was lynched.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown was shaken by Till’s photo. Medgar Evers, the first field director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Mississippi, calmed him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He said to me, ‘Amos, I understand how hurt you are, but don’t just be angry. Let’s be smart so that you will be able to fight this evil of race and injustice,’” Brown says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Evers, a World War II veteran, was murdered by a white supremacist in 1963.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was the case of the Central Park Five that spurred the activism of Lisa Holder, a civil rights attorney. You might remember the five Black and Latino boys who were wrongly convicted for the 1989 rape of a jogger in New York’s Central Park. They were exonerated after serving lengthy prison sentences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The disparities and outcomes that we’re seeing in terms of wealth, health, education [and] access are not about anything that Black people did wrong, but it’s about a system that has actually been designed to keep Black people at the bottom,” Holder says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Donald Tamaki, whose parents were among the estimated 82,000 Japanese Americans who received reparations more than three decades ago for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11906015/how-japanese-americans-in-the-bay-area-are-carrying-forward-the-legacy-of-reparations\">mass incarceration of people of Japanese ancestry during World War II\u003c/a>, says the task force set out to do three things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One was to document the harm of enslavement, Jim Crow exclusion and connect the dots between that and today’s consequences,” says Tamaki, senior counsel at Minami Tamaki. “The second thing is to find ways to educate the American public over this history that’s really been erased. The third requirement is to make recommendations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tamaki, who worked to overturn the conviction of Fred Korematsu, a Japanese American man from Oakland who had resisted incarceration, says that “Black people and their struggle really opened the door for women, Asian Americans, Latino Americans and all other historically disfavored groups.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only four of the Little Rock Nine graduated from Little Rock Central High School, including Thomas, who earned a degree from Los Angeles State College and was a Vietnam War veteran. After serving his country, he had several jobs, including as an accounting clerk with the Department of Defense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last summer, the \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-reparations-interim-report-2022.pdf\">task force released a preliminary report \u003c/a>detailing California’s history of enslavement and its many decades of discriminatory policies — in education, housing, health care, criminal justice and other areas — that established the systemic racism that persists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re really a study group to come up with recommendations to give to the Legislature,” Jones-Sawyer says in our film. “Hopefully, the governor will sign it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yeah, hopefully.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "We meet the nine members of California’s historic Reparations Task Force, who share personal stories of experiencing the systemic racism they are trying to address. In July, the task force will present recommendations for addressing the harms that have been identified through their work.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Reggie Jones-Sawyer was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. That year, a defining moment in the march to integrate America’s public schools, carved an indelible mark on his family tree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jefferson Thomas, Jones-Sawyer’s uncle, was one of the Little Rock Nine — the nine Black students who dared to walk a perilous path to desegregate Little Rock Central High School 66 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than six decades later, Jones-Sawyer, a state Assembly member representing parts of the Los Angeles area, is walking an uncharted path of his own as a member of the California Reparations Task Force. For the second episode of our reparations video series, my colleague Manjula Varghese produced a mini-documentary on the people laying the foundation for lasting reparative justice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In July, the task force will present recommendations to the Legislature. On Monday, the task force \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-agenda10-ch17-draft-05062023.pdf\">released formulas and calculations\u003c/a> for remuneration. The proposal includes $115,260 — or $2,352 for each year of residency between 1971 and 2020 — as compensation for mass incarceration and discriminatory policing and sentencing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s more. To remedy health disparities, economists working with the task force suggest $966,921 per Black Californian for “total loss in value of life due to racial discrimination.” The calculation is based on the average life expectancy for Black Californians — 71 years — multiplied by $13,619 for each year lived in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task force is expected to finalize recommendations Saturday at Mills College.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/TT_KXUR-zls'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/TT_KXUR-zls'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>According to the draft of the final report, the task force considers California’s “unwillingness to address occupational discrimination, as documented by its ban on affirmative action in public education and employment” as a health harm. Education — about state and American history, as well as the eradication of school segregation — is essential to achieving equity. Varghese’s short film provides a sense of what led the nine members — yeah, that number again — to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations\">examine the historic harms of slavery and anti-Black racism in California\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve had no problems with my education because of the sacrifices that those nine brave Black kids did to get into high school,” Jones-Sawyer says in the episode. “In a lot of ways, my past experience has led me to this work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before I continue, here’s a brief history lesson: In 1954, the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education codified the unconstitutionality of segregated schools. Three years later, on Sept. 3, 1957, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus summoned the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the Little Rock Nine from entering the school. President Dwight D. Eisenhower intervened, and three weeks later Thomas and the other students — Ernest Green, Elizabeth Eckford, Terrence Roberts, Carlotta Walls LaNier, Minnijean Brown, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Thelma Mothershed and Melba Pattillo Beals — walked to their first classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They were escorted by guards, which didn’t stop the verbal and physical assaults from their white classmates. The few white students who befriended their new Black classmates received hate mail. In 1958, the public high schools in Little Rock were closed to prevent further desegregation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost seven decades after Brown v. Board of Education, California is still pushing for school desegregation. In 2019, the Sausalito Marin City School District was \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/09/us/sausalito-school-segregation.html\">forced to desegregate\u003c/a> by the state Justice Department. I’ve been reporting on racism in local schools for seven years which, unfortunately, could be a full-time job because \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/soccer-sports-violence-california-race-and-ethnicity-6951267c256153bc2803c612ef5c854c\">racism\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11913501/at-a-sonoma-county-high-school-students-of-color-demand-an-end-to-racist-harassment\">in\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.aclunc.org/campaign/support-black-students-fighting-racism-central-valley-schools\">California\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-01-27/racism-orange-county-high-schools\">schools\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://ktla.com/news/local-news/parents-outraged-after-black-student-receives-racist-drawings-from-classmate-at-upland-elementary-school/\">is\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-educations-office-civil-rights-reaches-settlement-victor-valley-union-high-school-district-california\">astonishingly\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.dailynews.com/2023/02/17/parents-protest-violent-fights-racist-incidents-at-culver-city-schools/\">common\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>California isn’t as \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/otisrtaylorjr/article/Californians-reject-affirmative-action-despite-15711308.php\">progressive as its national reputation suggests\u003c/a>. In 1996, California became the first state in the nation to ban affirmative action when Proposition 209, a measure that barred preferential treatment on the basis of race, sex and ethnicity, was passed. In 2020 affirmative action was back on the ballot, but Proposition 16, which intended to address racial and gender disparities in government hiring and contracting and public university admissions, was easily defeated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Denying Black people access to opportunity is a cornerstone of America. In our film, some of the task force members share their personal experiences. Monica Montgomery Steppe, a San Diego City Council member, calls herself a “Prop. 209 baby.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My parents were running a proficient, professional construction business and then Prop. 209 was passed,” she says. “My father started to struggle in his business, so that’s part of why I’m so passionate about reparations and just equity and making sure that we’re fair, especially here in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dr. Cheryl Grills is from Charleston, the harbor city in South Carolina where, experts believe, about 40% of the enslaved Africans imported to America between 1670 and 1808 were auctioned. South Carolina is a state where the Confederacy is revered. The Confederate flag flies at the state capitol on May 10, Confederate Memorial Day. The flag flew on top of the capitol dome until 2015. It was taken down on June 27, 2015, because a white supremacist shot and killed nine — yeah, that number again — Black people studying the Bible at Mother Emanuel, a church in Charleston.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The effects of enslavement and post-enslavement, Jim Crow, lack of civil rights — the impact of all of those things on the Black psyche are multifold,” says Grills, director of the Psychology Applied Research Center at Loyola Marymount University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rev. Amos Brown, pastor at Third Baptist Church in San Francisco, says he first became conscious of the deleterious effects of racism in 1955, when he saw the photo of Emmett Till’s ravaged body in \u003cem>Jet\u003c/em> magazine. Till, a Black boy from Chicago, had been visiting relatives in Mississippi when he stopped at Bryant’s Grocery and Meat Market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A white woman, Carolyn Bryant, said Till accosted her. Four days later, two white men — Bryant’s husband and his half-brother — kidnapped Till from a relative’s house. They beat him. They shot him. They wrapped his body in barbed wire and tied a 75-pound cotton gin fan around his neck. Then they dumped him in the Tallahatchie River. The white men were acquitted of murder by an all-white jury.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bryant, who died last week, lived to be 88. Till was 14 when he was lynched.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown was shaken by Till’s photo. Medgar Evers, the first field director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Mississippi, calmed him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He said to me, ‘Amos, I understand how hurt you are, but don’t just be angry. Let’s be smart so that you will be able to fight this evil of race and injustice,’” Brown says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Evers, a World War II veteran, was murdered by a white supremacist in 1963.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was the case of the Central Park Five that spurred the activism of Lisa Holder, a civil rights attorney. You might remember the five Black and Latino boys who were wrongly convicted for the 1989 rape of a jogger in New York’s Central Park. They were exonerated after serving lengthy prison sentences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The disparities and outcomes that we’re seeing in terms of wealth, health, education [and] access are not about anything that Black people did wrong, but it’s about a system that has actually been designed to keep Black people at the bottom,” Holder says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Donald Tamaki, whose parents were among the estimated 82,000 Japanese Americans who received reparations more than three decades ago for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11906015/how-japanese-americans-in-the-bay-area-are-carrying-forward-the-legacy-of-reparations\">mass incarceration of people of Japanese ancestry during World War II\u003c/a>, says the task force set out to do three things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One was to document the harm of enslavement, Jim Crow exclusion and connect the dots between that and today’s consequences,” says Tamaki, senior counsel at Minami Tamaki. “The second thing is to find ways to educate the American public over this history that’s really been erased. The third requirement is to make recommendations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tamaki, who worked to overturn the conviction of Fred Korematsu, a Japanese American man from Oakland who had resisted incarceration, says that “Black people and their struggle really opened the door for women, Asian Americans, Latino Americans and all other historically disfavored groups.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only four of the Little Rock Nine graduated from Little Rock Central High School, including Thomas, who earned a degree from Los Angeles State College and was a Vietnam War veteran. After serving his country, he had several jobs, including as an accounting clerk with the Department of Defense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last summer, the \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-reparations-interim-report-2022.pdf\">task force released a preliminary report \u003c/a>detailing California’s history of enslavement and its many decades of discriminatory policies — in education, housing, health care, criminal justice and other areas — that established the systemic racism that persists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re really a study group to come up with recommendations to give to the Legislature,” Jones-Sawyer says in our film. “Hopefully, the governor will sign it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yeah, hopefully.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "California’s Reparations Task Force OK’s Method to Calculate Lost Wealth. What’s Next?",
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"headTitle": "California’s Reparations Task Force OK’s Method to Calculate Lost Wealth. What’s Next? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Imagine the year is 2033. The California American Freedmen Affairs Agency (CAFAA), an independent body created at the recommendation of California’s Reparations Task Force, has existed for nearly a decade. The agency is funded by an inheritance estate tax on the state’s wealthiest 1%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='The Latest on California Reparations' tag='california-reparations']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/task-force-agenda19-21-policy-032023.pdf\">the initial concept recommended in 2023 (PDF)\u003c/a>, this agency works diligently to identify and compensate descendants of formerly enslaved Black Californians. Staff genealogists assist people in tracing their ancestry. Claims for elders are expedited. Community figures like \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11873838/how-some-elders-are-working-to-preserve-the-legacy-of-the-black-panther-party-in-oakland\">former Black Panther elder Buffalo Sojourn\u003c/a> are now able to afford housing with the money paid out by CAFAA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Freedman’s Bank serves the descendants of the enslaved, and a dedicated media team continues to educate the public on the legacy and impact of slavery in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back to the current moment. The task force held meetings on March 29–30, and members continued to debate reparations recommendations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Should there be a residency requirement? How should compensation be determined? How will the task force ensure the Legislature understands the methodology of the recommendations?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task force, the first statewide body to study historic harms endured by Black people, has been working for almost two years to create a comprehensive plan to repair that harm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At these meetings, California’s Reparations Task Force studied and developed reparation proposals for African Americans, and the body approved methods for calculating how much anti-Black racism embedded in state policy has cost Black residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945869\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11945869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS63311_003_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Rows of men and women sit in attendance listening intently to speakers during a California Reparations Task Force meeting. Many video cameras on tripods can be seen in the background.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS63311_003_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS63311_003_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS63311_003_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS63311_003_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS63311_003_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A crowd listens during opening remarks at a California Reparations Task Force meeting in Sacramento on March 3, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The task force has been advised by a team of five economists to calculate the lost wealth. The most recent meetings garnered international media attention because of the unofficial draft calculations that totaled $800 billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Justin Hansford, professor, Howard University School of Law\"]‘California’s program is path-breaking. It’s important for the public to read the reports and to digest the information.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California’s program is path-breaking,” said Justin Hansford, a Howard University School of Law professor and a member of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, in an interview with KQED. “It’s important for the public to read the reports and to digest the information.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He thinks that in 10 years, half of the states in the country will have a reparations commission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California task force could provide a blueprint for other states to follow. It could also publish a well-researched report that gets put on a shelf to collect dust.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What are these calculations, and how do they work?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://economicservicesolutions.com/about/\">Kaycea Campbell\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://publicpolicy.uconn.edu/person/thomas-craemer/\">Thomas Craemer\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://scholars.duke.edu/person/william.darity\">William A. Darity Jr.\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://uncpress.org/author/11616-a-kirsten-mullen/\">A. Kirsten Mullen\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://aflcio.org/policy-experts/william-e-spriggs\">William E. Spriggs\u003c/a> are a team of economists, lecturers and college professors with different background specializations who came up with the calculations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Reparations in California\" link1=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations,Explore why California launched the first-in-the-nation task force to study reparations for Black people\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/2022/02/RiCLandingPageGraphic-1020x574.png\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we are estimating is not reparations,” Craemer said during his presentation last month. “What we are estimating is losses to the African American descendants of the enslaved in the United States.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the calculations can be used to come up with determinations of reparations, but they are not necessarily identical. “The task force can go above and beyond because some losses are frankly very difficult to estimate,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The draft recommendations also note that the calculations are not exhaustive, nor are they a final estimate of losses. Rather, they are “a very cautious initial assessment of what losses, at a minimum, for which the State of California is responsible,” states the report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report also “recommends that the Legislature make a ‘down payment’ on reparations with an immediate disbursement of a meaningful amount of funds to each member of the eligible class.” The draft then states the initial down payment is “the beginning of a conversation about historical injustices, not the end of it.” It does not specify what would constitute a meaningful amount.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What did the task force approve?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The task force approved a way to calculate how much wealth has been denied to California’s Black residents because of anti-Black policies. It also authorized a methodology for calculating those losses by focusing on five specific harms:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>1. Health harms\u003cbr>\n2. Disproportionate Black mass incarceration and over-policing\u003cbr>\n3. Housing discrimination\u003cbr>\n4. Unjust property takings by eminent domain\u003cbr>\n5. Devaluation of Black businesses\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the first three categories — health harms, Black mass incarceration and over-policing, and housing discrimination — the task force and the team of economic experts identified full calculations along with draft numbers. For the remaining categories, they were only able to establish a method for calculating losses. The draft report notes that the data needed to conduct calculations in time for publication was not readily available.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945887\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11945887\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS63349_041_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A woman with long, black braids and eyeglasses wear a yellow, floral blouse and black vest. She stands in front of a podium with a skinny microphone in the front of her face as she speaks.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS63349_041_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS63349_041_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS63349_041_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS63349_041_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS63349_041_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Economist Kaycea Campbell gives expert analysis during a California Reparations Task Force meeting in Sacramento on March 3, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One example, disproportionate incarceration, is when a racial group is incarcerated for certain crimes at a rate higher than their percentage of the population. The task force decided to look specifically at drug arrests from 1970 to 2020. Studies have shown that people use and sell illegal drugs at essentially the same rates across racial groups. But during the 50-year period, Black Californians were arrested and charged with drug crimes more than any other racial group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The five-part equation goes like this: The number of people who are incarcerated who are above the percentage of the population, times the length of the average felony drug sentence, times the average state income of a state employee, plus a certain amount of money to repay people’s loss of freedom. Then, all of that is divided by the Black population of California in 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using the formula, the estimate of losses the team of economic experts came up with for disproportionate incarceration is approximately $125,000 per California Black resident in 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This breaks down to about $2,500 per year of living in California. This means that someone who can trace their lineage as an African American descendant of a chattel-enslaved person or as the descendant of a free Black person living in the United States prior to the end of the 19th century could qualify — if the person lives in California. It should be noted that the residency requirements were not finalized or approved during the last meeting, and the task force could leave it up to the Legislature to determine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The full math behind the calculations and rationale can be found in the expert team summary, economic report and draft report:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Expert team summary presentation (\u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-agenda7-expert-teampres-summary-03292023-03302023.pdf\">9-page PDF\u003c/a>)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Draft economic expert report (\u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-agenda7-draft-economic-expert-rpt-03292023-03302023.pdf\">38-page PDF\u003c/a>)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Draft report section (\u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-agenda7-draft-ch17-03292023-03302023.pdf\">40-page PDF\u003c/a>)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>What happens next?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The next task force meeting is May 6. The final meeting will be on June 30.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The final report and recommendations will be sent to the state Legislature, but Reggie Jones-Sawyer, one of the two state legislators on the task force, said deliberations won’t start until next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945888\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11945888\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1243475670-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A man in a nice, gray suit and pink tie sits at a dais with his arms crossed. He has eyeglasses. His face is serious.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1243475670-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1243475670-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1243475670-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1243475670-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1243475670-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1243475670-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1243475670-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Reginald Jones-Sawyer, a member of the California Reparations Task Force, listens to public input on reparations at the California Science Center in Los Angeles on Sept. 22, 2022. \u003ccite>(Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Legislation could go into effect as early as 2025, according to Jones-Sawyer. But ironing out all the details of how the recommendations would be enacted will not be an easy task.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is no such thing as an easy bill or an easy budget request,” he said. “You don’t know until you start talking to each individual legislator.”[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer, member, California Reparations Task Force\"]‘The most important part of what we have to do is education. There should be reparations. We need to let people know why there should be reparations.’[/pullquote]For any of the task force’s recommendations to be instituted, state lawmakers will have to introduce and approve legislation. Then the governor will have to sign it into law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Justice, at the recommendation of the task force, is in the process of hiring curriculum experts to turn the research into lessons that can be used in classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The most important part of what we have to do is education,” Jones-Sawyer said. “There should be reparations. We need to let people know why there should be reparations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/afinney\">Annelise Finney\u003c/a> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "California’s Reparations Task Force OK’s Method to Calculate Lost Wealth. What’s Next? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Imagine the year is 2033. The California American Freedmen Affairs Agency (CAFAA), an independent body created at the recommendation of California’s Reparations Task Force, has existed for nearly a decade. The agency is funded by an inheritance estate tax on the state’s wealthiest 1%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/task-force-agenda19-21-policy-032023.pdf\">the initial concept recommended in 2023 (PDF)\u003c/a>, this agency works diligently to identify and compensate descendants of formerly enslaved Black Californians. Staff genealogists assist people in tracing their ancestry. Claims for elders are expedited. Community figures like \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11873838/how-some-elders-are-working-to-preserve-the-legacy-of-the-black-panther-party-in-oakland\">former Black Panther elder Buffalo Sojourn\u003c/a> are now able to afford housing with the money paid out by CAFAA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Freedman’s Bank serves the descendants of the enslaved, and a dedicated media team continues to educate the public on the legacy and impact of slavery in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back to the current moment. The task force held meetings on March 29–30, and members continued to debate reparations recommendations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Should there be a residency requirement? How should compensation be determined? How will the task force ensure the Legislature understands the methodology of the recommendations?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task force, the first statewide body to study historic harms endured by Black people, has been working for almost two years to create a comprehensive plan to repair that harm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At these meetings, California’s Reparations Task Force studied and developed reparation proposals for African Americans, and the body approved methods for calculating how much anti-Black racism embedded in state policy has cost Black residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945869\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11945869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS63311_003_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Rows of men and women sit in attendance listening intently to speakers during a California Reparations Task Force meeting. Many video cameras on tripods can be seen in the background.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS63311_003_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS63311_003_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS63311_003_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS63311_003_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS63311_003_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A crowd listens during opening remarks at a California Reparations Task Force meeting in Sacramento on March 3, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The task force has been advised by a team of five economists to calculate the lost wealth. The most recent meetings garnered international media attention because of the unofficial draft calculations that totaled $800 billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘California’s program is path-breaking. It’s important for the public to read the reports and to digest the information.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California’s program is path-breaking,” said Justin Hansford, a Howard University School of Law professor and a member of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, in an interview with KQED. “It’s important for the public to read the reports and to digest the information.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He thinks that in 10 years, half of the states in the country will have a reparations commission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California task force could provide a blueprint for other states to follow. It could also publish a well-researched report that gets put on a shelf to collect dust.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What are these calculations, and how do they work?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://economicservicesolutions.com/about/\">Kaycea Campbell\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://publicpolicy.uconn.edu/person/thomas-craemer/\">Thomas Craemer\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://scholars.duke.edu/person/william.darity\">William A. Darity Jr.\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://uncpress.org/author/11616-a-kirsten-mullen/\">A. Kirsten Mullen\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://aflcio.org/policy-experts/william-e-spriggs\">William E. Spriggs\u003c/a> are a team of economists, lecturers and college professors with different background specializations who came up with the calculations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"link1": "https://www.kqed.org/reparations,Explore why California launched the first-in-the-nation task force to study reparations for Black people",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we are estimating is not reparations,” Craemer said during his presentation last month. “What we are estimating is losses to the African American descendants of the enslaved in the United States.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the calculations can be used to come up with determinations of reparations, but they are not necessarily identical. “The task force can go above and beyond because some losses are frankly very difficult to estimate,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The draft recommendations also note that the calculations are not exhaustive, nor are they a final estimate of losses. Rather, they are “a very cautious initial assessment of what losses, at a minimum, for which the State of California is responsible,” states the report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report also “recommends that the Legislature make a ‘down payment’ on reparations with an immediate disbursement of a meaningful amount of funds to each member of the eligible class.” The draft then states the initial down payment is “the beginning of a conversation about historical injustices, not the end of it.” It does not specify what would constitute a meaningful amount.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What did the task force approve?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The task force approved a way to calculate how much wealth has been denied to California’s Black residents because of anti-Black policies. It also authorized a methodology for calculating those losses by focusing on five specific harms:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>1. Health harms\u003cbr>\n2. Disproportionate Black mass incarceration and over-policing\u003cbr>\n3. Housing discrimination\u003cbr>\n4. Unjust property takings by eminent domain\u003cbr>\n5. Devaluation of Black businesses\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the first three categories — health harms, Black mass incarceration and over-policing, and housing discrimination — the task force and the team of economic experts identified full calculations along with draft numbers. For the remaining categories, they were only able to establish a method for calculating losses. The draft report notes that the data needed to conduct calculations in time for publication was not readily available.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945887\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11945887\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS63349_041_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A woman with long, black braids and eyeglasses wear a yellow, floral blouse and black vest. She stands in front of a podium with a skinny microphone in the front of her face as she speaks.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS63349_041_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS63349_041_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS63349_041_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS63349_041_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS63349_041_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Economist Kaycea Campbell gives expert analysis during a California Reparations Task Force meeting in Sacramento on March 3, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One example, disproportionate incarceration, is when a racial group is incarcerated for certain crimes at a rate higher than their percentage of the population. The task force decided to look specifically at drug arrests from 1970 to 2020. Studies have shown that people use and sell illegal drugs at essentially the same rates across racial groups. But during the 50-year period, Black Californians were arrested and charged with drug crimes more than any other racial group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The five-part equation goes like this: The number of people who are incarcerated who are above the percentage of the population, times the length of the average felony drug sentence, times the average state income of a state employee, plus a certain amount of money to repay people’s loss of freedom. Then, all of that is divided by the Black population of California in 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using the formula, the estimate of losses the team of economic experts came up with for disproportionate incarceration is approximately $125,000 per California Black resident in 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This breaks down to about $2,500 per year of living in California. This means that someone who can trace their lineage as an African American descendant of a chattel-enslaved person or as the descendant of a free Black person living in the United States prior to the end of the 19th century could qualify — if the person lives in California. It should be noted that the residency requirements were not finalized or approved during the last meeting, and the task force could leave it up to the Legislature to determine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The full math behind the calculations and rationale can be found in the expert team summary, economic report and draft report:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Expert team summary presentation (\u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-agenda7-expert-teampres-summary-03292023-03302023.pdf\">9-page PDF\u003c/a>)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Draft economic expert report (\u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-agenda7-draft-economic-expert-rpt-03292023-03302023.pdf\">38-page PDF\u003c/a>)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Draft report section (\u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-agenda7-draft-ch17-03292023-03302023.pdf\">40-page PDF\u003c/a>)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>What happens next?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The next task force meeting is May 6. The final meeting will be on June 30.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The final report and recommendations will be sent to the state Legislature, but Reggie Jones-Sawyer, one of the two state legislators on the task force, said deliberations won’t start until next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945888\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11945888\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1243475670-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A man in a nice, gray suit and pink tie sits at a dais with his arms crossed. He has eyeglasses. His face is serious.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1243475670-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1243475670-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1243475670-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1243475670-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1243475670-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1243475670-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1243475670-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Reginald Jones-Sawyer, a member of the California Reparations Task Force, listens to public input on reparations at the California Science Center in Los Angeles on Sept. 22, 2022. \u003ccite>(Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Legislation could go into effect as early as 2025, according to Jones-Sawyer. But ironing out all the details of how the recommendations would be enacted will not be an easy task.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is no such thing as an easy bill or an easy budget request,” he said. “You don’t know until you start talking to each individual legislator.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>For any of the task force’s recommendations to be instituted, state lawmakers will have to introduce and approve legislation. Then the governor will have to sign it into law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Justice, at the recommendation of the task force, is in the process of hiring curriculum experts to turn the research into lessons that can be used in classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The most important part of what we have to do is education,” Jones-Sawyer said. “There should be reparations. We need to let people know why there should be reparations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/afinney\">Annelise Finney\u003c/a> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Proving Lineage for Reparations? Concerns Loom Over Feasibility, Emotional Toll for Black Californians",
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"headTitle": "Proving Lineage for Reparations? Concerns Loom Over Feasibility, Emotional Toll for Black Californians | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]A[/dropcap]lison Ford grew up on Parker Street in South Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her mother was a postal worker — everything from a mail sorter to a window clerk. When she had weekend shifts, she’d take Ford and her younger sister, Sabrina, across the Bay Bridge to their great-grandmother’s house in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Winfrey Broadnax Ford, known as Granny Ford to the family, had Ford and Sabrina help tend the small garden in the backyard of the Marina-style home she owned in the Bayview neighborhood, a section of San Francisco where Black people once were a majority of the residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945032\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11945032 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63487_012_KQED_AlisonFordBerkeley_03022023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A Black woman wearing a jean, long-sleeved shirt and black T-shirt underneath sits on a couch inside a living room with her father to the right. He wears a gray, hooded sweatshirt. The two smile as they look down at a photo album together.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63487_012_KQED_AlisonFordBerkeley_03022023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63487_012_KQED_AlisonFordBerkeley_03022023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63487_012_KQED_AlisonFordBerkeley_03022023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63487_012_KQED_AlisonFordBerkeley_03022023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63487_012_KQED_AlisonFordBerkeley_03022023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alison Ford and her father, Algiin Ford, look through a family photo album in Berkeley on March 2, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ford was always interested in her family’s history, but it wasn’t until Granny Ford, her father’s grandmother, died in 2015 — at age 102 — that she really began seeking out information about the distant relatives she only knew vaguely from Granny Ford’s stories. She wanted more context about who she was.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Alison Ford\"]‘Growing up, I knew that I was only a couple generations removed from slavery.’[/pullquote]Ford ultimately traced her lineage to generations of enslaved ancestors, all the way back to her great-great-great-great-grandfather, Isaac.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[He] was probably a slave until he was my age,” said Ford, 44. “That is mind-blowing to me. And he then went on to sharecrop and have kids that did the same. But his grandkids were literate and landowners.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve always felt connected to that part of my family history, because I spent so much time with my great-grandmother,” she continued. “Growing up, I knew that I was only a couple generations removed from slavery.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s Reparations Task Force is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations\">examining the historic harms of slavery and anti-Black racism in California\u003c/a>. Last summer, the \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-reparations-interim-report-2022.pdf\">task force released a preliminary report (PDF)\u003c/a> detailing California’s history of enslavement and its many decades of discriminatory policies — in housing, education, health care, criminal justice and other areas — that established the systemic racism that persists today. This summer, the task force will present recommendations on how Black residents should be compensated for this enduring oppression.[aside label=\"Reparations in California\" link1=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations,Explore why California launched the first-in-the-nation task force to study reparations for Black people\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/2022/02/RiCLandingPageGraphic-1020x574.png\"]If the task force’s recommendations are adopted by the state Legislature, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/03/30/1089629383/california-group-votes-to-limit-reparations-to-slave-descendants\">many Black Californians will have to prove their eligibility for reparations\u003c/a>. To help with this, the preliminary report proposed establishing a California African American Freedmen Affairs Agency to “support potential claimants with genealogical research to confirm eligibility.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a 5–4 vote in March 2022, the task force voted in favor of lineage-based reparations that would be “determined by an individual being an African American descendant of a chattel enslaved person or the descendant of a free Black person living in the U.S. prior to the end of the 19th century.” But there’s still a lot yet to be finalized about what kind of specific documentation would be required to prove eligibility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eligibility has loomed over the first-in-the-nation statewide task force since it began meeting in June 2021. There’s a wide spectrum of opinion on how feasible it will be to document eligibility — and considerable concern about the emotional toll Black Californians will have to pay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task force will continue the debate on eligibility Wednesday and Thursday in Sacramento, including defining the parameters of a residency requirement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ford allowed me to observe a session with a genealogy consultant, offering a window into the process of documenting ancestry. Having a deeper understanding of what her ancestors endured brought the weight of their existence into sharper focus.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Alison Ford\"]‘Such a huge net of people had to go through so many traumatic things for me to be here having this conversation.’[/pullquote]“Such a huge net of people had to go through so many traumatic things for me to be here having this conversation,” she told KQED. “I don’t think that there’s an amount of money that would make it right, but I think that it serves to show that there has just been generational trauma that has very directly led to the financial disenfranchisement of African Americans in this country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If a person can track their ancestry back to the 1870 census, and their relative was living in a state that practiced enslavement, some genealogists feel it is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the ancestor likely was enslaved. The census tracked additional components, like whether a person could read and write; that could lend support to the likelihood the person was enslaved since enslavers often \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/hgse/status/1227940488579174400?lang=en\">forbid the people they held captive from becoming literate\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.archives.gov/files/research/census/african-american/census-1790-1930.pdf\">Black people were not counted as part of the country’s population until the 1870 census (PDF)\u003c/a>, the first undertaken after the Civil War. That’s because, until then, enslaved people were considered property, said Sharon Morgan, who runs \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/groups/13488807931/about/\">Our Black Ancestry\u003c/a>, a Facebook genealogy group with more than 36,000 members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For people who were enslaved, we were not considered people,” said Morgan, a genealogist in Macon, Mississippi, who has served as a consultant for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.aahgs.org/\">Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society\u003c/a>. “You find them in property records.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many genealogists, including Morgan, said they were only able to access some records by sifting through physical archives. Morgan originally traveled to Mississippi, where the vestiges of enslavement show in glaring racial disparities, to do research on a distant relative who, she said, had 17 children fathered by the nephew of her enslaver. “I came to Mississippi to write a book about it, and I ended up staying. And my book still isn’t finished,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You have to be lucky enough to find a will, a deed or some other family papers, farm records — something else that will identify your ancestor,” Morgan continued. “But there’s another problem, because those lists are generally only by first name.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kellie Farrish, a genealogist based in the East Bay, said the scavenger hunt described by Morgan is mostly a thing of the past because of the digitization of records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945036\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11945036\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS56257_005_KQED_OaklandReparationsListeningSession_05282022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A woman with shoulder-length dark hair and a navy business suit speaks with a microphone in hand at the California Ballroom in Oakland.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS56257_005_KQED_OaklandReparationsListeningSession_05282022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS56257_005_KQED_OaklandReparationsListeningSession_05282022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS56257_005_KQED_OaklandReparationsListeningSession_05282022-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS56257_005_KQED_OaklandReparationsListeningSession_05282022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS56257_005_KQED_OaklandReparationsListeningSession_05282022-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kellie Farrish speaks about tracing genealogy and locating enslaved ancestors during a California Reparations Task Force listening session at the California Ballroom in Oakland on May 28, 2022. The session was sponsored by the task force and hosted by the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It used to be a lot of traveling,” said Farrish, who \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JybSOSrlj9k\">presented at a task force meeting in March 2022\u003c/a>. “And [the records are] in boxes, if they’re even maintained at all. That world just doesn’t exist anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farrish, who owns \u003ca href=\"https://www.reparativegenealogy.com/\">Reparative Genealogy\u003c/a>, which helps Black people trace their lineage to the earliest ancestor documented in the United States, has been working in genealogy for more than 15 years. The first time we talked on the phone, she told me to think about navigating genealogy like navigating geography: Drivers used a road atlas before printing out MapQuest directions; now they use Google Maps on their phones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s the same with genealogy,” she said. “This is what ancestry has become. And the group that needs to realize that the most is African Americans. As we build out everyone’s [family] tree, this work becomes easier and easier and easier.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As we dug into the past, details about Granny Ford’s life, like her leaving Arkansas as a young mother to escape what she’d described as an unhealthy marriage, are reflected in government records. Harry Broadnax, Granny Ford’s grandfather, was recorded in the 1870 census, though his surname was misspelled as “Brodinax.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945024\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 3575px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11945024\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Farrish-Ford-Genealogy-Session.png\" alt=\"A computer screen shot of a Zoom conversation between three women. On the screen, a census record of Harry Broadnax from 1870. Broadnax was the enslaved ancestor of Alison Ford.\" width=\"3575\" height=\"1889\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Farrish-Ford-Genealogy-Session.png 3575w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Farrish-Ford-Genealogy-Session-800x423.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Farrish-Ford-Genealogy-Session-1020x539.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Farrish-Ford-Genealogy-Session-160x85.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Farrish-Ford-Genealogy-Session-1536x812.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Farrish-Ford-Genealogy-Session-2048x1082.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Farrish-Ford-Genealogy-Session-1920x1015.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 3575px) 100vw, 3575px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kellie Farrish (top) goes over the 1870 census record of Harry Broadnax (misspelled as ‘Brodinax’), the enslaved ancestor of Alison Ford (bottom), as reporter Mary Franklin Harvin (center) observes. To be eligible for lineage-based reparations, Black Californians will have to prove they are descended from a chattel enslaved person or from a free Black person living in the US prior to the end of the 19th century. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Alison Ford)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Broadnax, who was Isaac’s son, was born in 1846 in Arkansas 15 years before the start of the Civil War. In 1860, a year before the war began, about a quarter of the state’s population was enslaved. “He got to experience a lot of life [after slavery], but then he also experienced a lot of life being a slave,” Farrish said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1870, Broadnax was a 24-year-old farm laborer in Union County, Arkansas, most likely sharecropping on the land where his ancestors had been enslaved. Broadnax was illiterate, but records show the children he raised with his wife, Cloie, could read and write at a young age.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Broadnax] doesn’t have time to go to school, but they’re going to make sure that John and Wallace and Fred and M.H. and Clara go to school,” Farrish said as she scrolled through the records for the Broadnax children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I asked Ford how she felt after combing through census records, draft cards and more.[aside postID=news_11942302 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/blackminer.jpg']“I keep going back to the literacy,” said Ford, who lives in Los Angeles and works in the finance industry. “My family is really big on words. My grandmother was, up until her last few weeks on Earth, [she’d] wake up in the morning and ask for her eyeglasses and the newspaper. And I would say, ‘Let me read it to you, Granny.’ And she’s like, ‘As long as these eyes work, I have to do it myself.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cheryl Grills, director of the Psychology Applied Research Center at Loyola Marymount University and a task force member, voted against lineage-based reparations because of the trauma associated with searching for enslaved ancestors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not every Black person wants to do this genealogy thing. It could be triggering,” Grills said. “It could be retraumatizing because [of] what the family had to go through, what the family suffered and endured.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to free and low-cost online genealogy community forums like Our Black Ancestry, Ancestry.com has an agreement with many public libraries that allows users to access the site for free. \u003ca href=\"https://www.familysearch.org/en/\">FamilySearch.org\u003c/a>, which is funded by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is also free. The Bay Area has more than a dozen physical \u003ca href=\"https://www.familysearch.org/centers/locations/\">FamilySearch centers\u003c/a>, with many more throughout the state; the centers offer Zoom support groups that \u003ca href=\"https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Oakland_California_FamilySearch_Library/Classes_and_Workshops\">specialize in African American genealogy\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some might be hesitant to use genealogical services offered by \u003ca href=\"https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/09/22/mormon-church-lds-black-racism\">the Mormon church, which has a documented history of racism\u003c/a>. But Farrish points out that there are few industries in the country that haven’t been buttressed by slavery or racism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s your ancestry information, and they are holding it whether or not you seek it from them,” she said.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Cheryl Grills, director, Psychology Applied Research Center, Loyola Marymount University\"]‘I think it’s going to be very important that we have alternatives for folks who legitimately just cannot establish the lineage criteria.’[/pullquote]Hiring a professional like Farrish to do individualized genealogical research can be costly. According to the Association of Professional Genealogists, hourly rates for \u003ca href=\"https://www.apgen.org/cpages/how-to-hire-a-professional-genealogist\">genealogical consultations typically start around $30 an hour and climb to over $200 per hour\u003c/a>, depending on the experience level of the genealogist. A basic Ancestry.com subscription costs $25 per month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grills said some people will have a difficult time tracing family lines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it’s going to be very important that we have alternatives for folks who legitimately just cannot establish the lineage criteria,” she said. “We don’t want to further injure the African American community because we made a decision that seemed to be right at the time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before settling in California, Granny Ford lived in Texas. A single mother, she raised four children in the home she bought on Athens Street in San Francisco. For generations, Ford’s ancestors owned land and homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945037\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 663px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11945037\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63878_Winfrey-Ford-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A grandmotherly figure with curly, gray hair sits in a wooden arm chair smiling for the camera. Her hands delicately placed on her knees as she smiles for the camera.\" width=\"663\" height=\"953\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63878_Winfrey-Ford-qut.jpg 663w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63878_Winfrey-Ford-qut-160x230.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 663px) 100vw, 663px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Winfrey Broadnax Ford, known as Granny Ford to her family. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Alison Ford)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ford, who recalled the tomatoes and herbs Granny Ford grew in her backyard and at a community garden in the neighborhood, can’t afford to buy a house where she lives and works. According to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data by the Public Policy Institute of California, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/californias-housing-divide/\">Black homeownership rate in the state is 36.8%\u003c/a>, about 26% lower than the rate for white households. “To a large extent, the racial homeownership gap reflects persistent income inequalities,” the analysts note, while pointing out that the median income for white households in the state is 65% higher than Black households.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do believe that the fact that I have not yet bought a home is tied to my choice to remain in California,” said Ford, who once considered moving to Georgia, a state where the \u003ca href=\"https://www.urban.org/policy-centers/housing-finance-policy-center/projects/forecasting-state-and-national-trends-household-formation-and-homeownership/georgia\">homeownership rate for Black people is 47.6%\u003c/a>, according to the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research organization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve chosen to remain in California, primarily, because this is where my family is,” Ford continued. “Sometimes I regret not leaving, but I wouldn’t want to be terribly far from my parents.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">A\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>lison Ford grew up on Parker Street in South Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her mother was a postal worker — everything from a mail sorter to a window clerk. When she had weekend shifts, she’d take Ford and her younger sister, Sabrina, across the Bay Bridge to their great-grandmother’s house in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Winfrey Broadnax Ford, known as Granny Ford to the family, had Ford and Sabrina help tend the small garden in the backyard of the Marina-style home she owned in the Bayview neighborhood, a section of San Francisco where Black people once were a majority of the residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945032\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11945032 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63487_012_KQED_AlisonFordBerkeley_03022023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A Black woman wearing a jean, long-sleeved shirt and black T-shirt underneath sits on a couch inside a living room with her father to the right. He wears a gray, hooded sweatshirt. The two smile as they look down at a photo album together.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63487_012_KQED_AlisonFordBerkeley_03022023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63487_012_KQED_AlisonFordBerkeley_03022023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63487_012_KQED_AlisonFordBerkeley_03022023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63487_012_KQED_AlisonFordBerkeley_03022023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63487_012_KQED_AlisonFordBerkeley_03022023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alison Ford and her father, Algiin Ford, look through a family photo album in Berkeley on March 2, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ford was always interested in her family’s history, but it wasn’t until Granny Ford, her father’s grandmother, died in 2015 — at age 102 — that she really began seeking out information about the distant relatives she only knew vaguely from Granny Ford’s stories. She wanted more context about who she was.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Ford ultimately traced her lineage to generations of enslaved ancestors, all the way back to her great-great-great-great-grandfather, Isaac.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[He] was probably a slave until he was my age,” said Ford, 44. “That is mind-blowing to me. And he then went on to sharecrop and have kids that did the same. But his grandkids were literate and landowners.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve always felt connected to that part of my family history, because I spent so much time with my great-grandmother,” she continued. “Growing up, I knew that I was only a couple generations removed from slavery.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s Reparations Task Force is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations\">examining the historic harms of slavery and anti-Black racism in California\u003c/a>. Last summer, the \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-reparations-interim-report-2022.pdf\">task force released a preliminary report (PDF)\u003c/a> detailing California’s history of enslavement and its many decades of discriminatory policies — in housing, education, health care, criminal justice and other areas — that established the systemic racism that persists today. This summer, the task force will present recommendations on how Black residents should be compensated for this enduring oppression.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>If the task force’s recommendations are adopted by the state Legislature, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/03/30/1089629383/california-group-votes-to-limit-reparations-to-slave-descendants\">many Black Californians will have to prove their eligibility for reparations\u003c/a>. To help with this, the preliminary report proposed establishing a California African American Freedmen Affairs Agency to “support potential claimants with genealogical research to confirm eligibility.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a 5–4 vote in March 2022, the task force voted in favor of lineage-based reparations that would be “determined by an individual being an African American descendant of a chattel enslaved person or the descendant of a free Black person living in the U.S. prior to the end of the 19th century.” But there’s still a lot yet to be finalized about what kind of specific documentation would be required to prove eligibility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eligibility has loomed over the first-in-the-nation statewide task force since it began meeting in June 2021. There’s a wide spectrum of opinion on how feasible it will be to document eligibility — and considerable concern about the emotional toll Black Californians will have to pay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task force will continue the debate on eligibility Wednesday and Thursday in Sacramento, including defining the parameters of a residency requirement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ford allowed me to observe a session with a genealogy consultant, offering a window into the process of documenting ancestry. Having a deeper understanding of what her ancestors endured brought the weight of their existence into sharper focus.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Such a huge net of people had to go through so many traumatic things for me to be here having this conversation.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Such a huge net of people had to go through so many traumatic things for me to be here having this conversation,” she told KQED. “I don’t think that there’s an amount of money that would make it right, but I think that it serves to show that there has just been generational trauma that has very directly led to the financial disenfranchisement of African Americans in this country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If a person can track their ancestry back to the 1870 census, and their relative was living in a state that practiced enslavement, some genealogists feel it is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the ancestor likely was enslaved. The census tracked additional components, like whether a person could read and write; that could lend support to the likelihood the person was enslaved since enslavers often \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/hgse/status/1227940488579174400?lang=en\">forbid the people they held captive from becoming literate\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.archives.gov/files/research/census/african-american/census-1790-1930.pdf\">Black people were not counted as part of the country’s population until the 1870 census (PDF)\u003c/a>, the first undertaken after the Civil War. That’s because, until then, enslaved people were considered property, said Sharon Morgan, who runs \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/groups/13488807931/about/\">Our Black Ancestry\u003c/a>, a Facebook genealogy group with more than 36,000 members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For people who were enslaved, we were not considered people,” said Morgan, a genealogist in Macon, Mississippi, who has served as a consultant for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.aahgs.org/\">Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society\u003c/a>. “You find them in property records.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many genealogists, including Morgan, said they were only able to access some records by sifting through physical archives. Morgan originally traveled to Mississippi, where the vestiges of enslavement show in glaring racial disparities, to do research on a distant relative who, she said, had 17 children fathered by the nephew of her enslaver. “I came to Mississippi to write a book about it, and I ended up staying. And my book still isn’t finished,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You have to be lucky enough to find a will, a deed or some other family papers, farm records — something else that will identify your ancestor,” Morgan continued. “But there’s another problem, because those lists are generally only by first name.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kellie Farrish, a genealogist based in the East Bay, said the scavenger hunt described by Morgan is mostly a thing of the past because of the digitization of records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945036\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11945036\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS56257_005_KQED_OaklandReparationsListeningSession_05282022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A woman with shoulder-length dark hair and a navy business suit speaks with a microphone in hand at the California Ballroom in Oakland.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS56257_005_KQED_OaklandReparationsListeningSession_05282022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS56257_005_KQED_OaklandReparationsListeningSession_05282022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS56257_005_KQED_OaklandReparationsListeningSession_05282022-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS56257_005_KQED_OaklandReparationsListeningSession_05282022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS56257_005_KQED_OaklandReparationsListeningSession_05282022-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kellie Farrish speaks about tracing genealogy and locating enslaved ancestors during a California Reparations Task Force listening session at the California Ballroom in Oakland on May 28, 2022. The session was sponsored by the task force and hosted by the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It used to be a lot of traveling,” said Farrish, who \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JybSOSrlj9k\">presented at a task force meeting in March 2022\u003c/a>. “And [the records are] in boxes, if they’re even maintained at all. That world just doesn’t exist anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farrish, who owns \u003ca href=\"https://www.reparativegenealogy.com/\">Reparative Genealogy\u003c/a>, which helps Black people trace their lineage to the earliest ancestor documented in the United States, has been working in genealogy for more than 15 years. The first time we talked on the phone, she told me to think about navigating genealogy like navigating geography: Drivers used a road atlas before printing out MapQuest directions; now they use Google Maps on their phones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s the same with genealogy,” she said. “This is what ancestry has become. And the group that needs to realize that the most is African Americans. As we build out everyone’s [family] tree, this work becomes easier and easier and easier.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As we dug into the past, details about Granny Ford’s life, like her leaving Arkansas as a young mother to escape what she’d described as an unhealthy marriage, are reflected in government records. Harry Broadnax, Granny Ford’s grandfather, was recorded in the 1870 census, though his surname was misspelled as “Brodinax.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945024\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 3575px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11945024\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Farrish-Ford-Genealogy-Session.png\" alt=\"A computer screen shot of a Zoom conversation between three women. On the screen, a census record of Harry Broadnax from 1870. Broadnax was the enslaved ancestor of Alison Ford.\" width=\"3575\" height=\"1889\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Farrish-Ford-Genealogy-Session.png 3575w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Farrish-Ford-Genealogy-Session-800x423.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Farrish-Ford-Genealogy-Session-1020x539.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Farrish-Ford-Genealogy-Session-160x85.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Farrish-Ford-Genealogy-Session-1536x812.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Farrish-Ford-Genealogy-Session-2048x1082.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Farrish-Ford-Genealogy-Session-1920x1015.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 3575px) 100vw, 3575px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kellie Farrish (top) goes over the 1870 census record of Harry Broadnax (misspelled as ‘Brodinax’), the enslaved ancestor of Alison Ford (bottom), as reporter Mary Franklin Harvin (center) observes. To be eligible for lineage-based reparations, Black Californians will have to prove they are descended from a chattel enslaved person or from a free Black person living in the US prior to the end of the 19th century. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Alison Ford)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Broadnax, who was Isaac’s son, was born in 1846 in Arkansas 15 years before the start of the Civil War. In 1860, a year before the war began, about a quarter of the state’s population was enslaved. “He got to experience a lot of life [after slavery], but then he also experienced a lot of life being a slave,” Farrish said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1870, Broadnax was a 24-year-old farm laborer in Union County, Arkansas, most likely sharecropping on the land where his ancestors had been enslaved. Broadnax was illiterate, but records show the children he raised with his wife, Cloie, could read and write at a young age.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Broadnax] doesn’t have time to go to school, but they’re going to make sure that John and Wallace and Fred and M.H. and Clara go to school,” Farrish said as she scrolled through the records for the Broadnax children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I asked Ford how she felt after combing through census records, draft cards and more.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“I keep going back to the literacy,” said Ford, who lives in Los Angeles and works in the finance industry. “My family is really big on words. My grandmother was, up until her last few weeks on Earth, [she’d] wake up in the morning and ask for her eyeglasses and the newspaper. And I would say, ‘Let me read it to you, Granny.’ And she’s like, ‘As long as these eyes work, I have to do it myself.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cheryl Grills, director of the Psychology Applied Research Center at Loyola Marymount University and a task force member, voted against lineage-based reparations because of the trauma associated with searching for enslaved ancestors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not every Black person wants to do this genealogy thing. It could be triggering,” Grills said. “It could be retraumatizing because [of] what the family had to go through, what the family suffered and endured.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to free and low-cost online genealogy community forums like Our Black Ancestry, Ancestry.com has an agreement with many public libraries that allows users to access the site for free. \u003ca href=\"https://www.familysearch.org/en/\">FamilySearch.org\u003c/a>, which is funded by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is also free. The Bay Area has more than a dozen physical \u003ca href=\"https://www.familysearch.org/centers/locations/\">FamilySearch centers\u003c/a>, with many more throughout the state; the centers offer Zoom support groups that \u003ca href=\"https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Oakland_California_FamilySearch_Library/Classes_and_Workshops\">specialize in African American genealogy\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some might be hesitant to use genealogical services offered by \u003ca href=\"https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/09/22/mormon-church-lds-black-racism\">the Mormon church, which has a documented history of racism\u003c/a>. But Farrish points out that there are few industries in the country that haven’t been buttressed by slavery or racism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s your ancestry information, and they are holding it whether or not you seek it from them,” she said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘I think it’s going to be very important that we have alternatives for folks who legitimately just cannot establish the lineage criteria.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Hiring a professional like Farrish to do individualized genealogical research can be costly. According to the Association of Professional Genealogists, hourly rates for \u003ca href=\"https://www.apgen.org/cpages/how-to-hire-a-professional-genealogist\">genealogical consultations typically start around $30 an hour and climb to over $200 per hour\u003c/a>, depending on the experience level of the genealogist. A basic Ancestry.com subscription costs $25 per month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grills said some people will have a difficult time tracing family lines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it’s going to be very important that we have alternatives for folks who legitimately just cannot establish the lineage criteria,” she said. “We don’t want to further injure the African American community because we made a decision that seemed to be right at the time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before settling in California, Granny Ford lived in Texas. A single mother, she raised four children in the home she bought on Athens Street in San Francisco. For generations, Ford’s ancestors owned land and homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945037\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 663px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11945037\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63878_Winfrey-Ford-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A grandmotherly figure with curly, gray hair sits in a wooden arm chair smiling for the camera. Her hands delicately placed on her knees as she smiles for the camera.\" width=\"663\" height=\"953\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63878_Winfrey-Ford-qut.jpg 663w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63878_Winfrey-Ford-qut-160x230.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 663px) 100vw, 663px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Winfrey Broadnax Ford, known as Granny Ford to her family. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Alison Ford)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ford, who recalled the tomatoes and herbs Granny Ford grew in her backyard and at a community garden in the neighborhood, can’t afford to buy a house where she lives and works. According to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data by the Public Policy Institute of California, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/californias-housing-divide/\">Black homeownership rate in the state is 36.8%\u003c/a>, about 26% lower than the rate for white households. “To a large extent, the racial homeownership gap reflects persistent income inequalities,” the analysts note, while pointing out that the median income for white households in the state is 65% higher than Black households.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do believe that the fact that I have not yet bought a home is tied to my choice to remain in California,” said Ford, who once considered moving to Georgia, a state where the \u003ca href=\"https://www.urban.org/policy-centers/housing-finance-policy-center/projects/forecasting-state-and-national-trends-household-formation-and-homeownership/georgia\">homeownership rate for Black people is 47.6%\u003c/a>, according to the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research organization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve chosen to remain in California, primarily, because this is where my family is,” Ford continued. “Sometimes I regret not leaving, but I wouldn’t want to be terribly far from my parents.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Tremé is widely considered the oldest Black neighborhood in America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the 18th and 19th centuries, according to historians, free Black people were steered to Tremé, a neighborhood in New Orleans that abuts the French Quarter, because they could purchase property on land that was once a plantation. A thriving, racially diverse community steeped in Creole culture emerged. Often, Tremé is referred to as the oldest-surviving Black neighborhood in America, a distinction that drives home the ruinous legacy of racism in this country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Reparations in California\" link1=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations,Explore why California launched the first-in-the-nation task force to study reparations for Black people\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/2022/02/RiCLandingPageGraphic-1020x574.png\"]Claiborne Avenue in Tremé was once the economic and cultural center of Black New Orleans, a bustling road lined by oak trees, theaters, bars, restaurants, other businesses and homes. Back when the city’s annual parade and carnival before the Christian fasting of Lent was segregated, Black Mardi Gras was celebrated on the Claiborne Avenue corridor. The revelry crashed to a halt in the mid-1960s when the oak trees were felled to make room for an elevated portion of Interstate 10.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right \u003cem>through\u003c/em> Tremé,” New Orleans resident Lloyd Kelly told me. “The interstate goes right through the thriving business district of the Black community, the heart of the Black community. They put the I-10 right through it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I met Kelly, who is Black, at the California Reparations Task Force meeting earlier this month in Sacramento. The task force is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations\">examining the historic harms of enslavement and anti-Black racism in the state\u003c/a>. In July, the task force will present its recommendations for dismantling the roadblocks to progress. Kelly was there to talk about reparations eligibility, an issue that has vexed the task force.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before I continue, here’s a brief lesson in American history: In 1956, the Federal-Aid Highway Act paved the way for the nation’s interstate system. But ribbon-cutting politicians weren’t interested in making drivers take the scenic route. The projects plowed through areas where Black people flourished, accelerating America’s hostility toward the descendants of the enslaved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11943270\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11943270\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/051_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A middle-aged African American man with a cap and white and blue plaid long-sleeve shirt seen from the waist up looks out a window with buildings outside the window.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/051_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/051_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/051_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/051_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/051_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lloyd Kelly, from New Orleans, sits outside the room where the California Reparations Task Force met in Sacramento on March 3, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As the country marched toward abolishing racial segregation, the targeted destruction of Black communities wasn’t an accident. Private property was seized by eminent domain. Hundreds of neighborhoods across the country were demolished. More than 1 million people were displaced, according to U.S. Department of Transportation estimates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Six decades ago, the open road was a symbol of American ingenuity. Now, America’s aging highway system serves as a monument to environmental racism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The interstates were built around Black and brown neighborhoods, cementing racial divides and isolating people of color. Some interstates bisected neighborhoods. The expressways connected predominantly white commuters, who sought homogeneity in the suburbs, to offices in the cities they had fled. The massive migration is colloquially known as “white flight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, gas-guzzling cars and trucks clogging freeways pollute the air in neighborhoods, leading to asthma and other respiratory issues — and a shorter life expectancy. But cities are considering a remedy: highway removal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My colleagues at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/education/collection/above-the-noise\">Above the Noise\u003c/a>, KQED’s YouTube series that investigates controversial subjects, broke down the history of this country’s obsession with highways — and how cities are attempting to repair decades of environmental racism — in a recent video.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/ow5NMC5Cqck\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the case of freeways, they didn’t really care about the people that they were affecting on the ground in these communities, largely for racist reasons, to put it bluntly,” Chris Sensenig, an urban designer and founder of \u003ca href=\"http://www.connectoakland.org/\">ConnectOakland\u003c/a>, told Myles Bess, host of Above the Noise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>ConnectOakland has been working to reimagine Interstate 980, the 2-mile stretch that connects Interstate 580 and State Route 24 to Interstate 880.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Interstate 980 disconnected West Oakland’s Black residents from downtown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March 2021, \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/03/31/fact-sheet-the-american-jobs-plan/\">President Joe Biden released The American Jobs Plan\u003c/a>, which included $20 billion to “redress historic inequities and build the future of transportation infrastructure.” As Bess says in the video, it’s “a PC way of saying ‘reparations.’” The plan, which uses the expressway that runs through the heart of Tremé in New Orleans as an example of a historic inequity, passed in November, narrowly avoiding legislative gridlock caused by the tunnel vision of a Republican-controlled Congress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last summer, the state reparations task force published an exhaustive interim report. To repair the racial discrimination in past policy decisions, the task force \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-interim-report-preliminary-recommendations-2022.pdf\">preliminarily recommended the state \u003c/a>“identify and address the impact of environmental racism on predominantly Black communities including, but not limited to, unequal exposure to pollutants associated with roadway and heavy truck traffic,” among other proposals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The harm to Black people has been multilayered, comprehensive and constant for centuries, so the repair has to be multilayered, comprehensive and constant,” Lisa Holder, a racial justice scholar and a task force member, told me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11943272\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11943272\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS55316_026_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"An African American woman smiles during a conversation with an African American man in a suit with empty seats in a conference hall in the background.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS55316_026_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS55316_026_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS55316_026_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS55316_026_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS55316_026_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sen. Steven Bradford, D-Gardena, and Lisa Holder speak during the second day of an in-person meeting of the California Reparations Task Force at the Third Baptist Church in San Francisco on April 14, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We need to analyze the data and quantify it and come up with a comprehensive way to pay people back for what they lost because of these highway building projects,” Holder continued. “All the equity that they lost in the property that they built and also the cultural genocide — we need to come up with a qualitative response and to quantify that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There were supposed to be two highway projects in New Orleans, but local officials were able to stop the one that would’ve rolled through the French Quarter. The people who protested the project in Tremé were ignored like backseat drivers. Kelly supports California’s effort, but he believes reparations won’t have a generational impact without being considered on the federal level. He’s right. According to \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7716878/#:~:text=The%20results%20highlight%20the%20importance,410%20billion%20hours%20of%20labor.\">research and data published in 2020 by the U.S. National Institutes of Health\u003c/a>, approximately 10 million enslaved people across the country “contributed 410 billion hours of labor” — free labor — to build wealth for others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I will never ask for one penny for the atrocities of slavery,” Kelly said. “I’m not going to ask you to pay me for the lashes you put on my back. I’m not going to ask you to repay me for the women who were raped. The second I do that, I have put a price on myself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I will ask you for the payment that is owed to me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Highways like the I-980 in Oakland have divided and sickened Black neighborhoods across the U.S. Reparations need to take that into account.",
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"description": "Highways like the I-980 in Oakland have divided and sickened Black neighborhoods across the U.S. Reparations need to take that into account.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Tremé is widely considered the oldest Black neighborhood in America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the 18th and 19th centuries, according to historians, free Black people were steered to Tremé, a neighborhood in New Orleans that abuts the French Quarter, because they could purchase property on land that was once a plantation. A thriving, racially diverse community steeped in Creole culture emerged. Often, Tremé is referred to as the oldest-surviving Black neighborhood in America, a distinction that drives home the ruinous legacy of racism in this country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Claiborne Avenue in Tremé was once the economic and cultural center of Black New Orleans, a bustling road lined by oak trees, theaters, bars, restaurants, other businesses and homes. Back when the city’s annual parade and carnival before the Christian fasting of Lent was segregated, Black Mardi Gras was celebrated on the Claiborne Avenue corridor. The revelry crashed to a halt in the mid-1960s when the oak trees were felled to make room for an elevated portion of Interstate 10.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right \u003cem>through\u003c/em> Tremé,” New Orleans resident Lloyd Kelly told me. “The interstate goes right through the thriving business district of the Black community, the heart of the Black community. They put the I-10 right through it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I met Kelly, who is Black, at the California Reparations Task Force meeting earlier this month in Sacramento. The task force is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations\">examining the historic harms of enslavement and anti-Black racism in the state\u003c/a>. In July, the task force will present its recommendations for dismantling the roadblocks to progress. Kelly was there to talk about reparations eligibility, an issue that has vexed the task force.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before I continue, here’s a brief lesson in American history: In 1956, the Federal-Aid Highway Act paved the way for the nation’s interstate system. But ribbon-cutting politicians weren’t interested in making drivers take the scenic route. The projects plowed through areas where Black people flourished, accelerating America’s hostility toward the descendants of the enslaved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11943270\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11943270\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/051_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A middle-aged African American man with a cap and white and blue plaid long-sleeve shirt seen from the waist up looks out a window with buildings outside the window.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/051_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/051_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/051_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/051_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/051_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lloyd Kelly, from New Orleans, sits outside the room where the California Reparations Task Force met in Sacramento on March 3, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As the country marched toward abolishing racial segregation, the targeted destruction of Black communities wasn’t an accident. Private property was seized by eminent domain. Hundreds of neighborhoods across the country were demolished. More than 1 million people were displaced, according to U.S. Department of Transportation estimates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Six decades ago, the open road was a symbol of American ingenuity. Now, America’s aging highway system serves as a monument to environmental racism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The interstates were built around Black and brown neighborhoods, cementing racial divides and isolating people of color. Some interstates bisected neighborhoods. The expressways connected predominantly white commuters, who sought homogeneity in the suburbs, to offices in the cities they had fled. The massive migration is colloquially known as “white flight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, gas-guzzling cars and trucks clogging freeways pollute the air in neighborhoods, leading to asthma and other respiratory issues — and a shorter life expectancy. But cities are considering a remedy: highway removal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My colleagues at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/education/collection/above-the-noise\">Above the Noise\u003c/a>, KQED’s YouTube series that investigates controversial subjects, broke down the history of this country’s obsession with highways — and how cities are attempting to repair decades of environmental racism — in a recent video.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/ow5NMC5Cqck'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/ow5NMC5Cqck'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the case of freeways, they didn’t really care about the people that they were affecting on the ground in these communities, largely for racist reasons, to put it bluntly,” Chris Sensenig, an urban designer and founder of \u003ca href=\"http://www.connectoakland.org/\">ConnectOakland\u003c/a>, told Myles Bess, host of Above the Noise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>ConnectOakland has been working to reimagine Interstate 980, the 2-mile stretch that connects Interstate 580 and State Route 24 to Interstate 880.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Interstate 980 disconnected West Oakland’s Black residents from downtown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March 2021, \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/03/31/fact-sheet-the-american-jobs-plan/\">President Joe Biden released The American Jobs Plan\u003c/a>, which included $20 billion to “redress historic inequities and build the future of transportation infrastructure.” As Bess says in the video, it’s “a PC way of saying ‘reparations.’” The plan, which uses the expressway that runs through the heart of Tremé in New Orleans as an example of a historic inequity, passed in November, narrowly avoiding legislative gridlock caused by the tunnel vision of a Republican-controlled Congress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last summer, the state reparations task force published an exhaustive interim report. To repair the racial discrimination in past policy decisions, the task force \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-interim-report-preliminary-recommendations-2022.pdf\">preliminarily recommended the state \u003c/a>“identify and address the impact of environmental racism on predominantly Black communities including, but not limited to, unequal exposure to pollutants associated with roadway and heavy truck traffic,” among other proposals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The harm to Black people has been multilayered, comprehensive and constant for centuries, so the repair has to be multilayered, comprehensive and constant,” Lisa Holder, a racial justice scholar and a task force member, told me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11943272\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11943272\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS55316_026_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"An African American woman smiles during a conversation with an African American man in a suit with empty seats in a conference hall in the background.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS55316_026_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS55316_026_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS55316_026_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS55316_026_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS55316_026_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForce_04142022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sen. Steven Bradford, D-Gardena, and Lisa Holder speak during the second day of an in-person meeting of the California Reparations Task Force at the Third Baptist Church in San Francisco on April 14, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We need to analyze the data and quantify it and come up with a comprehensive way to pay people back for what they lost because of these highway building projects,” Holder continued. “All the equity that they lost in the property that they built and also the cultural genocide — we need to come up with a qualitative response and to quantify that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There were supposed to be two highway projects in New Orleans, but local officials were able to stop the one that would’ve rolled through the French Quarter. The people who protested the project in Tremé were ignored like backseat drivers. Kelly supports California’s effort, but he believes reparations won’t have a generational impact without being considered on the federal level. He’s right. According to \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7716878/#:~:text=The%20results%20highlight%20the%20importance,410%20billion%20hours%20of%20labor.\">research and data published in 2020 by the U.S. National Institutes of Health\u003c/a>, approximately 10 million enslaved people across the country “contributed 410 billion hours of labor” — free labor — to build wealth for others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I will never ask for one penny for the atrocities of slavery,” Kelly said. “I’m not going to ask you to pay me for the lashes you put on my back. I’m not going to ask you to repay me for the women who were raped. The second I do that, I have put a price on myself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I will ask you for the payment that is owed to me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "California's Reparations Task Force Met in Sacramento. Here's What You Need to Know",
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"headTitle": "California’s Reparations Task Force Met in Sacramento. Here’s What You Need to Know | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>California’s \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/ab3121\">Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans\u003c/a> met in Sacramento for two days this weekend, bringing it one step closer to finalizing recommendations for the nation’s first-ever statewide plan for reparations for Black people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s Annelise Finney, who was in Sacramento, shared what was talked about and what’s next for the task force in an interview with KQED’s Rachael Vasquez.[aside label=\"Reparations in California\" link1=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations,Explore why California launched the first-in-the-nation task force to study reparations for Black people\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/2022/02/RiCLandingPageGraphic-1020x574.png\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rachael Vasquez:\u003c/strong> \u003cstrong>Can you remind us what the task force has been up to in the last year and a half?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Annelise Finney:\u003c/strong> This task force is now about three quarters of the way through its work. During the first year, its big focus was on documenting the history and impact of anti-Black racist policies in California. They produced a 500-page report, and it’s one of the most comprehensive government documents studying the impact of anti-Black policies. It’s pretty amazing, and \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-reparations-interim-report-2022.pdf\">it’s available on the Department of Justice website (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, in the second year, they’ve been digging into what reparations for these harms should really look like. And they’re supposed to produce recommendations in four months, by July 1 — a quickly approaching deadline.[aside postID=news_11941469 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/The-Road-to-Reparations_Thumbnail_1_v16-e1677009994307-1020x574.png']The first area of reparations that they’re looking at is compensation. That’s direct payments to people who are the descendants of people who were enslaved in the U.S. and who now live in California. They don’t have an exact number for how many people would be receiving this money or how much it would be, but they’re still working on it. One proposal they are considering is to create a new state agency that would be called the Freedmen Affairs Agency that would, among other things, handle doling out these payments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other form of reparations that they’re primarily looking at are ways to stop harm moving forward, and the way they’re hoping to do that is by changing state policy. They have dozens of policy recommendations on the table right now. One is to repeal or amend Proposition 209 — a California law that prohibits policies that benefit or discriminate against a specific racial group. It was originally passed in 1996 and was reaffirmed by voters in 2020. Task force member Donald Tamaki laid out the simple contradiction that Prop. 209 presents when it comes to addressing racial inequality at the meeting on Saturday, saying, “Obviously this thing was created by hate and racism, and now you can’t consider race to fix it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942552\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11942552\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/019_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-800x533.jpg\" alt='A older African American man in a black suit with a top hat holds a sign in a conference hall surrounded by people. The sign reads \"CA Reparations Now 2023.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/019_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/019_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/019_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/019_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/019_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Morris Griffin, also known as Big Money Griff, a community activist, speaks during public comment at a California Reparations Task Force meeting in Sacramento on March 3, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>This weekend the task force has been talking about how to get its recommendations turned into law. Tell us what that process would look like. \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each recommendation that the task force makes would have to be taken up by individual lawmakers. Some of the recommendations might be pretty broad, so lawmakers will have to refine down the proposals and work out details the task force wasn’t able to get to. Bills will then have to be written, lobbied for and passed through the [state] Legislature in order for the reparations proposals to become a reality for people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Task force member Rev. Amos Brown emphasized during the meeting yesterday that these recommendations still have a long way to go. He said, “We still have miles to go and promises to keep before we fall asleep, if anything’s gonna become a reality, and for meaningful, significant change in the lives of Black folk in the state of California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942557\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942557 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63320_011_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A panel of people with screens behind them face a seated crowd of people in a conference hall. In the aisle, in the right of the frame, people line up to address the panel.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63320_011_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63320_011_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63320_011_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63320_011_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63320_011_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California Reparations Task Force members listen to public comments during a meeting in Sacramento on March 3, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>I’m guessing a fair amount of public support would be needed to pass these pieces of legislation. What is the task force doing to encourage public support for their recommendations?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One big thing they’re doing is working on public education programs. That means taking all of the information that was in that report and making sure people in California actually know the history. One way they’re doing that is by trying to develop a curriculum that would get this information into schools. They’ve also talked about creating a grant program that would support documentaries and public art projects. But all of that hasn’t happened yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942556\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942556 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/027_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A line of people, all African American, in a conference hall look toward the podium. The woman closest to the camera is older with long gray braids; the woman behind her is much younger, with long black braids, an orange beanie, and an orange sweatshirt. Three men stand behind her, from left to right: One man is middle-aged, wearing a black and red sweatshirt and dark sunglasses; the next is older and wearing a brown fedora with a black ribbon; and the third is tallest, with shoulder-length gray locs, dark sunglasses, and a bright red zip-up winter coat.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/027_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/027_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/027_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/027_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/027_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People line up to speak during public comment at a California Reparations Task Force meeting in Sacramento on March 3, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One big thing that’s been coming up in public comments during the meeting yesterday and today is the lack of a real public awareness about what the task force is doing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One public commenter this morning who identified himself as John Mud spoke to this feeling, saying, “I talk to people every day about reparations, and I bring up this task force, and no one knows about it.” Ultimately, whether these recommendations are passed will come down to whether Californians support them. A lot of people feel like there’s still a lot of work to be done to make sure people know that the task force exists, that they know about the work that it’s doing, and that they are also on board to support these proposals as they move through the Legislature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942559\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942559 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63328_018_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A middle-aged African American woman, wearing black-framed glasses and a shoulder-length black bob, a white blouse under a beige cardigan, and a gold and beaded necklace, gestures with both hands as she speaks into a small microphone at a dais. People wait in line behind her, to speak next.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63328_018_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63328_018_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63328_018_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63328_018_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63328_018_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gloria Pierrot-Dyer speaks about her family from Allensworth during public comment at a California Reparations Task Force meeting in Sacramento on March 3, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What’s next for this task force?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They have a few more in-person meetings before the deadline in June. There’ll be one in March, another in May, and then a final meeting in June when the recommendations are finalized. There’s also \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB490\">a bill\u003c/a> in the Legislature right now to extend the work of the task force for an additional year. That wouldn’t change any of the deadlines. The final recommendations would still be due in June, but it would give the task force members more time to work together in order to shepherd these proposals through the state Legislature, and potentially into law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942566\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942566 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63355_048_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt='Three older African American men stand having a conversation. The man on the far left, with a neat gray beard, wears a black baseball cap with colorful splotches of pink, yellow and green, watching the other two men speak. The man in the middle, mostly bald, wears a gray suit of a very light plaid, an ochre pocket handkerchief, and an ochre-and-navy-striped tie. He faces the last man, on the far right, who is speaking and seems to be resting his right hand on the back of the man in the suit. He is the tallest, bald and with a white goatee and glasses, and a black hoodie with an outline of California in white that says \"CA Reparations Now 2023,\" and a sticker name tag on his chest.' width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63355_048_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63355_048_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63355_048_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63355_048_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63355_048_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">State Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena) speaks with attendees during a California Reparations Task Force meeting in Sacramento on March 3, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s Annelise Finney, Rachael Vasquez, Beth LaBerge and Attila Pelit contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The California Reparations Task Force dug into what reparations for descendants of people who were enslaved in California should look like. The group is aiming to finalize its recommendations within the next four months.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California’s \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/ab3121\">Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans\u003c/a> met in Sacramento for two days this weekend, bringing it one step closer to finalizing recommendations for the nation’s first-ever statewide plan for reparations for Black people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s Annelise Finney, who was in Sacramento, shared what was talked about and what’s next for the task force in an interview with KQED’s Rachael Vasquez.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rachael Vasquez:\u003c/strong> \u003cstrong>Can you remind us what the task force has been up to in the last year and a half?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Annelise Finney:\u003c/strong> This task force is now about three quarters of the way through its work. During the first year, its big focus was on documenting the history and impact of anti-Black racist policies in California. They produced a 500-page report, and it’s one of the most comprehensive government documents studying the impact of anti-Black policies. It’s pretty amazing, and \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-reparations-interim-report-2022.pdf\">it’s available on the Department of Justice website (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, in the second year, they’ve been digging into what reparations for these harms should really look like. And they’re supposed to produce recommendations in four months, by July 1 — a quickly approaching deadline.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The first area of reparations that they’re looking at is compensation. That’s direct payments to people who are the descendants of people who were enslaved in the U.S. and who now live in California. They don’t have an exact number for how many people would be receiving this money or how much it would be, but they’re still working on it. One proposal they are considering is to create a new state agency that would be called the Freedmen Affairs Agency that would, among other things, handle doling out these payments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other form of reparations that they’re primarily looking at are ways to stop harm moving forward, and the way they’re hoping to do that is by changing state policy. They have dozens of policy recommendations on the table right now. One is to repeal or amend Proposition 209 — a California law that prohibits policies that benefit or discriminate against a specific racial group. It was originally passed in 1996 and was reaffirmed by voters in 2020. Task force member Donald Tamaki laid out the simple contradiction that Prop. 209 presents when it comes to addressing racial inequality at the meeting on Saturday, saying, “Obviously this thing was created by hate and racism, and now you can’t consider race to fix it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942552\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11942552\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/019_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-800x533.jpg\" alt='A older African American man in a black suit with a top hat holds a sign in a conference hall surrounded by people. The sign reads \"CA Reparations Now 2023.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/019_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/019_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/019_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/019_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/019_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Morris Griffin, also known as Big Money Griff, a community activist, speaks during public comment at a California Reparations Task Force meeting in Sacramento on March 3, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>This weekend the task force has been talking about how to get its recommendations turned into law. Tell us what that process would look like. \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each recommendation that the task force makes would have to be taken up by individual lawmakers. Some of the recommendations might be pretty broad, so lawmakers will have to refine down the proposals and work out details the task force wasn’t able to get to. Bills will then have to be written, lobbied for and passed through the [state] Legislature in order for the reparations proposals to become a reality for people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Task force member Rev. Amos Brown emphasized during the meeting yesterday that these recommendations still have a long way to go. He said, “We still have miles to go and promises to keep before we fall asleep, if anything’s gonna become a reality, and for meaningful, significant change in the lives of Black folk in the state of California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942557\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942557 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63320_011_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A panel of people with screens behind them face a seated crowd of people in a conference hall. In the aisle, in the right of the frame, people line up to address the panel.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63320_011_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63320_011_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63320_011_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63320_011_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63320_011_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California Reparations Task Force members listen to public comments during a meeting in Sacramento on March 3, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>I’m guessing a fair amount of public support would be needed to pass these pieces of legislation. What is the task force doing to encourage public support for their recommendations?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One big thing they’re doing is working on public education programs. That means taking all of the information that was in that report and making sure people in California actually know the history. One way they’re doing that is by trying to develop a curriculum that would get this information into schools. They’ve also talked about creating a grant program that would support documentaries and public art projects. But all of that hasn’t happened yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942556\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942556 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/027_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A line of people, all African American, in a conference hall look toward the podium. The woman closest to the camera is older with long gray braids; the woman behind her is much younger, with long black braids, an orange beanie, and an orange sweatshirt. Three men stand behind her, from left to right: One man is middle-aged, wearing a black and red sweatshirt and dark sunglasses; the next is older and wearing a brown fedora with a black ribbon; and the third is tallest, with shoulder-length gray locs, dark sunglasses, and a bright red zip-up winter coat.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/027_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/027_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/027_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/027_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/027_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People line up to speak during public comment at a California Reparations Task Force meeting in Sacramento on March 3, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One big thing that’s been coming up in public comments during the meeting yesterday and today is the lack of a real public awareness about what the task force is doing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One public commenter this morning who identified himself as John Mud spoke to this feeling, saying, “I talk to people every day about reparations, and I bring up this task force, and no one knows about it.” Ultimately, whether these recommendations are passed will come down to whether Californians support them. A lot of people feel like there’s still a lot of work to be done to make sure people know that the task force exists, that they know about the work that it’s doing, and that they are also on board to support these proposals as they move through the Legislature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942559\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942559 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63328_018_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A middle-aged African American woman, wearing black-framed glasses and a shoulder-length black bob, a white blouse under a beige cardigan, and a gold and beaded necklace, gestures with both hands as she speaks into a small microphone at a dais. People wait in line behind her, to speak next.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63328_018_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63328_018_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63328_018_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63328_018_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63328_018_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gloria Pierrot-Dyer speaks about her family from Allensworth during public comment at a California Reparations Task Force meeting in Sacramento on March 3, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What’s next for this task force?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They have a few more in-person meetings before the deadline in June. There’ll be one in March, another in May, and then a final meeting in June when the recommendations are finalized. There’s also \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB490\">a bill\u003c/a> in the Legislature right now to extend the work of the task force for an additional year. That wouldn’t change any of the deadlines. The final recommendations would still be due in June, but it would give the task force members more time to work together in order to shepherd these proposals through the state Legislature, and potentially into law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942566\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942566 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63355_048_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt='Three older African American men stand having a conversation. The man on the far left, with a neat gray beard, wears a black baseball cap with colorful splotches of pink, yellow and green, watching the other two men speak. The man in the middle, mostly bald, wears a gray suit of a very light plaid, an ochre pocket handkerchief, and an ochre-and-navy-striped tie. He faces the last man, on the far right, who is speaking and seems to be resting his right hand on the back of the man in the suit. He is the tallest, bald and with a white goatee and glasses, and a black hoodie with an outline of California in white that says \"CA Reparations Now 2023,\" and a sticker name tag on his chest.' width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63355_048_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63355_048_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63355_048_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63355_048_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63355_048_KQED_CAReparationsTaskForceSac_03032023-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">State Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena) speaks with attendees during a California Reparations Task Force meeting in Sacramento on March 3, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s Annelise Finney, Rachael Vasquez, Beth LaBerge and Attila Pelit contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "californias-legislature-has-roots-in-slavery-are-lawmakers-ready-to-confront-that",
"title": "California's Legislature Has Roots in Slavery. Are Lawmakers Ready to Confront That?",
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"headTitle": "California’s Legislature Has Roots in Slavery. Are Lawmakers Ready to Confront That? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]S[/dropcap]ean Ryan was unaware of the most brutal chapters of American history when he started high school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He spent much of his adolescence in what he described as a religious cult that his mother joined, near Redding. While children his age constructed models of Spanish missions using sugar cubes and popsicle sticks, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-california-mission-models-20170919-story.html\">longtime popular assignment in California’s fourth-grade classrooms\u003c/a>, Ryan was placed in a series of rotating apprenticeships. Starting when he was 8, Ryan chainsawed tree limbs with lumberjacks near Mount Shasta, paved roads in Arizona and went to Reno for a plumbing gig — work organized by his mother’s church.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ryan moved in with his father in San José when he was 14. He enrolled in school in the adjacent suburb of Los Gatos, an upscale community tucked in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. His first class — U.S. history — required reading about the Trail of Tears, the forced displacement of 60,000 Indigenous people from their ancestral homes in the southeastern part of the United States. Thousands died as they were marched to reservations west of the Mississippi River.\u003cu> \u003c/u>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The brutality of American history, like the forced labor of Indigenous people in the 18th and 19th centuries to build the Spanish missions, startled Ryan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just cried in front of the whole class,” Ryan, now 53, recalled. “They were like, ‘What is going on?’ And I was like, ‘I never knew any of this stuff. This is all completely new to me.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What followed was an insatiable desire to learn more about his family’s history. Did his ancestors have a role in the subjugation and forced removal of people? Ryan’s research revealed that he had a direct connection to California’s foundational years, when a veneer of frontier freedom and prosperity concealed an agenda anchored in racist hostility and terror.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942343\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/Sean-Ryan-photo-3.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942343 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/Sean-Ryan-photo-3.jpg\" alt=\"A bearded white man with glasses holds an old photo of another white man, dressed formally in 19th century garb.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1484\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/Sean-Ryan-photo-3.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/Sean-Ryan-photo-3-800x618.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/Sean-Ryan-photo-3-1020x788.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/Sean-Ryan-photo-3-160x124.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/Sean-Ryan-photo-3-1536x1187.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sean Ryan holds a daguerreotype of his great-great-great grandfather, James Madison Estill, an early California legislator who enslaved more than a dozen people as he advanced a scheme to reinstate enslavement in the new state. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Sean Ryan)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It began with a photo. A great-aunt on Ryan’s mother’s side heard about his interest in genealogy, and asked whether a box of records she had would help his hunt. Among the documents included was a picture of his great-great-great grandfather: James Madison Estill, a founder of California’s system of mass incarceration, who was an early California legislator and who enslaved more than a dozen people as he advanced a scheme in the 1850s to reinstate enslavement in the newly formed state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is now going through a similar unearthing of its past. The state’s Reparations Task Force is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations\">examining the historic harms of slavery and anti-Black racism in California\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although California entered the nation as a free state, pro-slavery lawmakers, including enslavers like Estill, held outsize influence in its early Legislature. They enacted laws aiding enslavers, and supported the expansion of human bondage across the country.[aside label=\"Reparations in California\" link1=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations,Explore why California launched the first-in-the-nation task force to study reparations for Black people\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/2022/02/RiCLandingPageGraphic-1020x574.png\"]\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB3121\">The bill creating the Reparations Task Force\u003c/a> was passed with bipartisan support in 2020, in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. It was heralded as a transformative step for racial justice. When Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill that September, he vowed the state would not “turn away from this moment to make right the discrimination and disadvantages that Black Californians and people of color still face.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Friday and Saturday, that task force will meet in Sacramento, the state Capitol where Estill and his allies sought to create a western outpost for the ideals that would galvanize the Confederacy. On the task force agenda: how to potentially provide financial compensation for the descendants of enslaved people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Slavery is an afterthought in the popular California origin story of rugged Gold Rush frontierism. But hundreds of enslaved Black people were involuntarily brought to the state to work in the gold mines by Southerners who hoped to replicate the system of chattel slavery and plantation agriculture on the Pacific Coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last summer, the \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-reparations-interim-report-2022.pdf\">task force released a preliminary report (PDF)\u003c/a> detailing California’s history of enslavement and its many decades of discriminatory policies — in housing, education, health care, criminal justice and other areas — that established the systemic racism that persists. In July, the task force will present recommendations on how Black residents should be compensated for this enduring oppression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942341\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4305.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942341 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4305.jpg\" alt=\"An older bald, Black man wearing a jacket and tie, sitting at a desk, smiling pleasantly at the camera with his hands folded in front of him on a desk.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1371\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4305.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4305-800x571.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4305-1020x728.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4305-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4305-1536x1097.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California state Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena), a member of California’s Reparations Task Force, in his office in Sacramento. \u003ccite>(Guy Marzorati/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But at the state Capitol, the preliminary report has been largely ignored \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11916026/no-the-reparations-task-force-report-isnt-a-watershed-moment-action-will-be\">in the months since its release\u003c/a>, according to state Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena), a member of the task force.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m sad to report not a single one of my colleagues have even mentioned this report, and I doubt very seriously if any of them have really taken time to read it,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They need to read this report, they need to understand what’s there and understand the history instead of the whitewash that we’ve been allowed to perpetuate itself as American history for almost 400 years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘A bit hard to swallow’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Estill, whose surname is also documented in some places as “Estell,” brought his family from Kentucky to Missouri in the 1840s. He sought fortune by starting a military prison, a grain mill and a postal route. When the ventures stalled, Estill journeyed on to California. He left his wife and young children behind, but took his most prized possessions: the people he owned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the census taken on Nov. 20, 1850, just 10 weeks into California’s statehood, Estill was recorded as a farmer in Solano County, with real estate valued at $15,000. Listed beneath his name are 14 men and one woman — with surnames of either Brown or Smith — who ranged in age from 18 to 40.\u003c/p>\n\u003cpre>June Brown\r\nJoe Brown\r\nIsaac Brown\r\nJohn Brown\r\nBill Brown\r\nPeter Brown\r\nThomas Brown\r\nMid Brown\r\nBolin Brown\r\nComins Brown\r\nJoe Smith\r\nHigins Smith\r\nWhitehead Smith\r\nGeneral Smith\r\nMinerva Smith\u003c/pre>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942342\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 463px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/James-Estill-1850-Solano-census-record-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942342\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/James-Estill-1850-Solano-census-record-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A hand-written census ledger, with a list of names.\" width=\"463\" height=\"631\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/James-Estill-1850-Solano-census-record-scaled.jpg 1879w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/James-Estill-1850-Solano-census-record-800x1090.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/James-Estill-1850-Solano-census-record-1020x1390.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/James-Estill-1850-Solano-census-record-160x218.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/James-Estill-1850-Solano-census-record-1127x1536.jpg 1127w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/James-Estill-1850-Solano-census-record-1503x2048.jpg 1503w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/James-Estill-1850-Solano-census-record-1920x2616.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 463px) 100vw, 463px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">On this copy of a page from the 1850 census, James Estill was recorded as a farmer in Solano County. His assets included 14 men and one woman. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Ancestry.com)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The following note is scribbled in the margin next to the list of names: “These men were slaves in Missouri and have contracted to work in this state and then be free after two years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As soon as Estill was elected to the state Senate in 1851, representing Napa and Solano counties, he began to pursue laws that would allow him to keep his human property in California, a “free state,” and advance the institution of chattel slavery. As some of his peers found fortunes mining for gold, Estill charted a path toward a more lucrative American hustle: the construction and management of state prisons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Estill won a contract to run the prison system the year he was elected to the Legislature. He pocketed profits from the forced labor of incarcerated people, who, under his authority, built a monument to mass incarceration: San Quentin State Prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No man has received one tenth the money from the State that General Estill did; and no man made greater profit on what he received,” read a scathing obituary in \u003cem>The Sacramento Bee\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deeper Ryan dug into his great-great-great grandfather’s past, the more he found the man “despicable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a great research project, but at the end of the day, it was kind of a bit hard to swallow,” Ryan said. “It was obvious people hated him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ryan’s research was guided by a trove of records, articles and photographs. The same documents don’t exist for the descendants of enslaved people, like the Browns and the Smiths listed on the 1850 census — a vexing issue for the task force currently grappling with who could become eligible for compensation from the state of California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pursuit of his family history took Ryan around the world. He learned that Estill’s granddaughter was married to an anatomist who moved his family to Bangkok for work. Inspired, Ryan moved with his family to Bangkok and stayed overseas for a decade. Now he lives with his wife and four kids in Oregon, where he works as an oceanographer on devices that collect energy from waves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve definitely made life choices based on some of this stuff,” said Ryan. “To me, finding out about the history of my family was very cathartic, I guess. It filled a lot of holes. I really kind of dug into it and it became very important to me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Fugitives in a ‘free state’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Pro-slavery politicians like Estill were instrumental in California’s formation as a state. The issue of slavery was clearly on the minds of the delegates who gathered in Monterey to write California’s constitution in the fall of 1849. In fact, the slavery debate literally shaped the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Historians of early California history like Franklin Tuthill and Rockwell D. Hunt have detailed how the state’s current eastern boundary was forged through a debate with pro-slavery delegates who wanted to create a massive state that would stretch into present-day Utah. They believed that a state so large would inevitably be broken into two states: one where slavery would be allowed, the other free. Even though the delegates officially banned slavery in California, the meeting at Colton Hall in Monterey was “understood to be under the management, imaginary if not real, of southern men,” according to historian Hubert Howe Bancroft. And men like William Gwin, a Mississippi enslaver who moved to California and became one of its first U.S. senators, would dominate early state politics under the pro-slavery “Chivalry” wing of the Democratic Party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would say in terms of the people who came to California thinking about elected office, rather than just the gold mining, that tended to be Southerners,” said Alex Vassar of the California State Library, who wrote a book on the history of state legislators. “And so they brought their values, they brought the customs of their place and their time to California with them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And some, Vassar said, “actually served in the state Legislature owning slaves.”[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Stacey Smith, history professor, Oregon State University\"]‘Certainly there were specific members of the state Legislature and the congressional delegation who had a direct interest in enslaving people in California and keeping control over them.’[/pullquote]Vassar has documented members such as state Sen. William B. Norman, who brought an enslaved person from Mississippi to California, and Charles S. Fairfax, who traveled west from his family’s Virginia slave plantation and eventually became speaker of the state Assembly. The Marin County town where Fairfax built his manor now bears his name.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the 1850s, enslavers and their allies were part of the legislative majority in California that took two dramatic actions in support of enslavement: passing the state’s fugitive slave law and backing the explosive Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, the federal law allowing the expansion of slavery into the territories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We know that it wasn’t just always a symbolic issue,” said Stacey Smith, associate professor of history at Oregon State University, who is advising California’s Reparations Task Force. “Certainly there were specific members of the state Legislature and the congressional delegation who had a direct interest in enslaving people in California and keeping control over them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal Fugitive Slave Act, which required residents and law enforcement in free states to assist with the capture and return of escaped enslaved people, was included in the agreement that ushered California into the union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the federal law only dealt with enslaved persons escaping across state lines, and California’s enslavers had no legal recourse if their captives escaped within the new, free state. To account for this, pro-slavery lawmakers drafted the state’s own fugitive slave bill, that would give enslavers a one-year window to recapture formerly enslaved people they had brought to California pre-statehood, and forcibly take them out of the state and back to slaveholding states in the South. The legislation, officially “an Act respecting Fugitives from labor, and Slaves brought into this State prior to her admission into the Union,” passed the Assembly in February of 1852.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942340\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4303.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942340 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4303.jpg\" alt=\"A white marble bust of a man, with hair that's a bit long on top and a slight beard, whose chest is draped in a toga.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1371\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4303.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4303-800x571.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4303-1020x728.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4303-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4303-1536x1097.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bust of David Broderick, a California state senator in the 1850s known for his opposition to slavery, on display at the California State Library in Sacramento. Broderick was killed in a duel, purportedly over his anti-slavery stance. \u003ccite>(Guy Marzorati/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the Senate, where the proposal had been defeated the year before, the Chivalry had to overcome opposition from anti-slavery Democrats, most notably San Francisco Sen. David Broderick. The bill was carried in the state Senate by Estill. Lawmakers deliberated the bill for days before a final vote. Opponents hatched a series of roadblocks, desperately trying to weaken the proposal with amendments or at least find a majority willing to adjourn for the night. But Estill and his allies prevailed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Senate Journal for April 13, 1852, shows that after more than a dozen procedural votes, the bill passed 14–9, and was signed by Gov. John Bigler. One-year extensions of the law were subsequently passed in 1853 and 1854. Not included in the record is the fact that Estill was fighting to protect his ownership of the 15 people who toiled without compensation on his Solano County farm, less than 50 miles down the Sacramento River.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He wasn’t just wanting to promote the ‘Southern values’ of protecting slavery and slave property in California,” said Smith, who \u003ca href=\"https://uncpress.org/book/9781469626536/freedoms-frontier/\">chronicled the history of unfree labor in California in her book \u003cem>Freedom’s Frontier\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. “He had a direct, personal economic interest in a fugitive slave law that would allow him to take enslaved people back to the Southern states when he decided that he no longer wanted to have them working in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith found records of dozens of Black Californians arrested under the act, apprehended by law enforcement in a state that promised freedom. Black people, some of whom came to California to escape racial terror, lived with the fear that they could be seized in the middle of the night and extradited.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you had been brought at the height of the Gold Rush, let’s say in early 1849 up through mid-1850 … [then] until March of 1855, so five, six years later, you could be enslaved and returned back to the slave states under California law,” Smith said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Pushing to expand slavery\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The national uproar over the Kansas-Nebraska Act turned the political tide against California’s fugitive slave law and made the support of slavery a losing issue for the state’s Democrats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law allowed new territories to decide whether to permit slavery within their borders, replacing the generation-old Missouri Compromise, which had banned slavery in new territories north of latitude 36° 30’, spanning the northern borders of Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas. The Kansas-Nebraska Act was evidence that Southerners were not only intent on preserving slavery, they wanted to expand it. The law incensed opponents of slavery, scrambled national and state party alliances and, in the words of historian James McPherson, “may have been the most important single event pushing the nation toward war.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite California’s official status as a free state, its representatives in Congress supported the law. And in the weeks leading up to the final vote, the state Legislature passed a resolution supporting “the Nebraska bill,” as it was known at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s show of support for the Kansas-Nebraska Act was nonbinding, but it spoke volumes. The only other legislature in a free state to back the proposal, Smith said, was Illinois — home of the bill’s author, U.S. Sen. Stephen A. Douglas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s fairly unusual for a free state to pass an endorsement of the Kansas-Nebraska Act when a lot of other people in Northern states — free states, especially the Northeast — are just clamoring for the overturn of the [law],” Smith said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Voter backlash in California to the Kansas-Nebraska Act \u003ca href=\"https://www.jstor.org/stable/41170744\">helped launch the California Republican Party\u003c/a>, slowing the momentum for further extensions of the state’s fugitive slave law. Pro-slavery lawmakers retained control in Sacramento until the Civil War, at times resorting to violence to achieve their goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A pro-slavery legislator assaulted an anti-slavery colleague with a cane on the floor of the Senate during debates to extend the fugitive slave law, according to Smith. And in 1859, Broderick, the prominent anti-slavery Democrat, was killed in a duel on the shores of Lake Merced in San Francisco by the Chivalry’s David Terry, a former state Supreme Court justice. As he lay dying, Broderick \u003ca href=\"https://www.nps.gov/goga/learn/historyculture/broderick-terry-duel.htm\">reportedly said his anti-slavery stances were what pushed his political opponents to violence\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Broderick quickly became a martyr for opponents of slavery, and his bust is still on display in the chambers of the state Senate. As the Gold Rush waned, many of the Southerners in California’s government left the state. Some, like Gwin, backed the Confederacy in the Civil War. The decade-long reign of the Chivalry and their enslavers’ agenda became a historical footnote.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Reparations and atonement\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“I think, for the most part, when I say something like ‘slavery in California,’ most people who’ve gone to school in California will say, ‘Oh, the mission system,’” said Smith. “It’s just these other stories, especially about enslaved African Americans, that are a lot less familiar to most Californians.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kamilah Moore, a reparatory justice scholar who chairs the state Reparations Task Force, said confronting the Legislature’s pro-slavery history should start in the state’s K–12 schools. She said the task force would like to see a curriculum that acknowledges and teaches California’s role in maintaining the institution of slavery.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Kamilah Moore, chair, California Reparations Task Force\"]‘I grew up in California, born and raised, and so were my parents. And none of us learned about this history in school.’[/pullquote]“I grew up in California, born and raised, and so were my parents. And none of us learned about this history in school,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the task force presents its financial recommendations to the Legislature this summer, the possibility of monetary compensation for the descendants of 19th-century Black Americans will likely stir up the most interest and debate in Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At KQED’s gubernatorial debate in October, when asked where he stood on the issue of potential payments, Newsom demurred, saying he would first “want to see the recommendations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“By definition, we created the work group to adjudicate the merits of different strategies,” Newsom said. “And so this task force is convening, we’ll see where their recommendations come out and we’ll make a determination after the fact.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moore is interested in atonement by the Legislature. Lawmakers today routinely celebrate its history at the vanguard of environmentalism and protections for labor, abortion and LGBTQ rights. But that history also includes support for the brutality of chattel slavery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Part of our work as the task force is thinking about how we can get the California state Legislature not only to adopt our final recommendations as proposed, but then also for the body itself to take some self-accountability,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Wouldn’t want to live under a rock’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Ryan’s pursuit of his family history introduced him to members of his extended family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Along the way, I’ve been finding a lot of new families that are like first cousins, second cousins, third cousins and then getting to share my information with them, and that’s been a lot of fun getting to meet people,” Ryan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of his relatives found Estill’s story too painful to confront — like the cousin in New York whose first name was Estill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She had seen those pictures of him and knew that he existed but had no idea what his history was or his dealings and stuff,” Ryan said. “And so she was very upset.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other relatives have told Ryan to stop doing his research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of people are very sensitive to it,” he said. “I never would have thought that — although, by finding out all this stuff about Estill I can kind of understand it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added, “But I also wouldn’t want to live under a rock. So you have to kind of learn from history, right? You don’t want to whitewash history.”\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Although California entered the nation as a free state, pro-slavery lawmakers held outsize influence in its early Legislature, enacting laws aiding enslavers, and supporting the expansion of human bondage across the country — a legacy now being reexamined as the state considers reparations.",
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"title": "California's Legislature Has Roots in Slavery. Are Lawmakers Ready to Confront That? | KQED",
"description": "Although California entered the nation as a free state, pro-slavery lawmakers held outsize influence in its early Legislature, enacting laws aiding enslavers, and supporting the expansion of human bondage across the country — a legacy now being reexamined as the state considers reparations.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">S\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>ean Ryan was unaware of the most brutal chapters of American history when he started high school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He spent much of his adolescence in what he described as a religious cult that his mother joined, near Redding. While children his age constructed models of Spanish missions using sugar cubes and popsicle sticks, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-california-mission-models-20170919-story.html\">longtime popular assignment in California’s fourth-grade classrooms\u003c/a>, Ryan was placed in a series of rotating apprenticeships. Starting when he was 8, Ryan chainsawed tree limbs with lumberjacks near Mount Shasta, paved roads in Arizona and went to Reno for a plumbing gig — work organized by his mother’s church.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ryan moved in with his father in San José when he was 14. He enrolled in school in the adjacent suburb of Los Gatos, an upscale community tucked in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. His first class — U.S. history — required reading about the Trail of Tears, the forced displacement of 60,000 Indigenous people from their ancestral homes in the southeastern part of the United States. Thousands died as they were marched to reservations west of the Mississippi River.\u003cu> \u003c/u>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The brutality of American history, like the forced labor of Indigenous people in the 18th and 19th centuries to build the Spanish missions, startled Ryan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just cried in front of the whole class,” Ryan, now 53, recalled. “They were like, ‘What is going on?’ And I was like, ‘I never knew any of this stuff. This is all completely new to me.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What followed was an insatiable desire to learn more about his family’s history. Did his ancestors have a role in the subjugation and forced removal of people? Ryan’s research revealed that he had a direct connection to California’s foundational years, when a veneer of frontier freedom and prosperity concealed an agenda anchored in racist hostility and terror.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942343\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/Sean-Ryan-photo-3.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942343 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/Sean-Ryan-photo-3.jpg\" alt=\"A bearded white man with glasses holds an old photo of another white man, dressed formally in 19th century garb.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1484\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/Sean-Ryan-photo-3.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/Sean-Ryan-photo-3-800x618.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/Sean-Ryan-photo-3-1020x788.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/Sean-Ryan-photo-3-160x124.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/Sean-Ryan-photo-3-1536x1187.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sean Ryan holds a daguerreotype of his great-great-great grandfather, James Madison Estill, an early California legislator who enslaved more than a dozen people as he advanced a scheme to reinstate enslavement in the new state. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Sean Ryan)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It began with a photo. A great-aunt on Ryan’s mother’s side heard about his interest in genealogy, and asked whether a box of records she had would help his hunt. Among the documents included was a picture of his great-great-great grandfather: James Madison Estill, a founder of California’s system of mass incarceration, who was an early California legislator and who enslaved more than a dozen people as he advanced a scheme in the 1850s to reinstate enslavement in the newly formed state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is now going through a similar unearthing of its past. The state’s Reparations Task Force is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations\">examining the historic harms of slavery and anti-Black racism in California\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although California entered the nation as a free state, pro-slavery lawmakers, including enslavers like Estill, held outsize influence in its early Legislature. They enacted laws aiding enslavers, and supported the expansion of human bondage across the country.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB3121\">The bill creating the Reparations Task Force\u003c/a> was passed with bipartisan support in 2020, in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. It was heralded as a transformative step for racial justice. When Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill that September, he vowed the state would not “turn away from this moment to make right the discrimination and disadvantages that Black Californians and people of color still face.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Friday and Saturday, that task force will meet in Sacramento, the state Capitol where Estill and his allies sought to create a western outpost for the ideals that would galvanize the Confederacy. On the task force agenda: how to potentially provide financial compensation for the descendants of enslaved people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Slavery is an afterthought in the popular California origin story of rugged Gold Rush frontierism. But hundreds of enslaved Black people were involuntarily brought to the state to work in the gold mines by Southerners who hoped to replicate the system of chattel slavery and plantation agriculture on the Pacific Coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last summer, the \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-reparations-interim-report-2022.pdf\">task force released a preliminary report (PDF)\u003c/a> detailing California’s history of enslavement and its many decades of discriminatory policies — in housing, education, health care, criminal justice and other areas — that established the systemic racism that persists. In July, the task force will present recommendations on how Black residents should be compensated for this enduring oppression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942341\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4305.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942341 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4305.jpg\" alt=\"An older bald, Black man wearing a jacket and tie, sitting at a desk, smiling pleasantly at the camera with his hands folded in front of him on a desk.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1371\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4305.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4305-800x571.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4305-1020x728.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4305-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4305-1536x1097.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California state Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena), a member of California’s Reparations Task Force, in his office in Sacramento. \u003ccite>(Guy Marzorati/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But at the state Capitol, the preliminary report has been largely ignored \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11916026/no-the-reparations-task-force-report-isnt-a-watershed-moment-action-will-be\">in the months since its release\u003c/a>, according to state Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena), a member of the task force.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m sad to report not a single one of my colleagues have even mentioned this report, and I doubt very seriously if any of them have really taken time to read it,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They need to read this report, they need to understand what’s there and understand the history instead of the whitewash that we’ve been allowed to perpetuate itself as American history for almost 400 years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘A bit hard to swallow’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Estill, whose surname is also documented in some places as “Estell,” brought his family from Kentucky to Missouri in the 1840s. He sought fortune by starting a military prison, a grain mill and a postal route. When the ventures stalled, Estill journeyed on to California. He left his wife and young children behind, but took his most prized possessions: the people he owned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the census taken on Nov. 20, 1850, just 10 weeks into California’s statehood, Estill was recorded as a farmer in Solano County, with real estate valued at $15,000. Listed beneath his name are 14 men and one woman — with surnames of either Brown or Smith — who ranged in age from 18 to 40.\u003c/p>\n\u003cpre>June Brown\r\nJoe Brown\r\nIsaac Brown\r\nJohn Brown\r\nBill Brown\r\nPeter Brown\r\nThomas Brown\r\nMid Brown\r\nBolin Brown\r\nComins Brown\r\nJoe Smith\r\nHigins Smith\r\nWhitehead Smith\r\nGeneral Smith\r\nMinerva Smith\u003c/pre>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942342\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 463px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/James-Estill-1850-Solano-census-record-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942342\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/James-Estill-1850-Solano-census-record-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A hand-written census ledger, with a list of names.\" width=\"463\" height=\"631\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/James-Estill-1850-Solano-census-record-scaled.jpg 1879w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/James-Estill-1850-Solano-census-record-800x1090.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/James-Estill-1850-Solano-census-record-1020x1390.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/James-Estill-1850-Solano-census-record-160x218.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/James-Estill-1850-Solano-census-record-1127x1536.jpg 1127w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/James-Estill-1850-Solano-census-record-1503x2048.jpg 1503w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/James-Estill-1850-Solano-census-record-1920x2616.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 463px) 100vw, 463px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">On this copy of a page from the 1850 census, James Estill was recorded as a farmer in Solano County. His assets included 14 men and one woman. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Ancestry.com)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The following note is scribbled in the margin next to the list of names: “These men were slaves in Missouri and have contracted to work in this state and then be free after two years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As soon as Estill was elected to the state Senate in 1851, representing Napa and Solano counties, he began to pursue laws that would allow him to keep his human property in California, a “free state,” and advance the institution of chattel slavery. As some of his peers found fortunes mining for gold, Estill charted a path toward a more lucrative American hustle: the construction and management of state prisons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Estill won a contract to run the prison system the year he was elected to the Legislature. He pocketed profits from the forced labor of incarcerated people, who, under his authority, built a monument to mass incarceration: San Quentin State Prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No man has received one tenth the money from the State that General Estill did; and no man made greater profit on what he received,” read a scathing obituary in \u003cem>The Sacramento Bee\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deeper Ryan dug into his great-great-great grandfather’s past, the more he found the man “despicable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a great research project, but at the end of the day, it was kind of a bit hard to swallow,” Ryan said. “It was obvious people hated him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ryan’s research was guided by a trove of records, articles and photographs. The same documents don’t exist for the descendants of enslaved people, like the Browns and the Smiths listed on the 1850 census — a vexing issue for the task force currently grappling with who could become eligible for compensation from the state of California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pursuit of his family history took Ryan around the world. He learned that Estill’s granddaughter was married to an anatomist who moved his family to Bangkok for work. Inspired, Ryan moved with his family to Bangkok and stayed overseas for a decade. Now he lives with his wife and four kids in Oregon, where he works as an oceanographer on devices that collect energy from waves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve definitely made life choices based on some of this stuff,” said Ryan. “To me, finding out about the history of my family was very cathartic, I guess. It filled a lot of holes. I really kind of dug into it and it became very important to me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Fugitives in a ‘free state’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Pro-slavery politicians like Estill were instrumental in California’s formation as a state. The issue of slavery was clearly on the minds of the delegates who gathered in Monterey to write California’s constitution in the fall of 1849. In fact, the slavery debate literally shaped the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Historians of early California history like Franklin Tuthill and Rockwell D. Hunt have detailed how the state’s current eastern boundary was forged through a debate with pro-slavery delegates who wanted to create a massive state that would stretch into present-day Utah. They believed that a state so large would inevitably be broken into two states: one where slavery would be allowed, the other free. Even though the delegates officially banned slavery in California, the meeting at Colton Hall in Monterey was “understood to be under the management, imaginary if not real, of southern men,” according to historian Hubert Howe Bancroft. And men like William Gwin, a Mississippi enslaver who moved to California and became one of its first U.S. senators, would dominate early state politics under the pro-slavery “Chivalry” wing of the Democratic Party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would say in terms of the people who came to California thinking about elected office, rather than just the gold mining, that tended to be Southerners,” said Alex Vassar of the California State Library, who wrote a book on the history of state legislators. “And so they brought their values, they brought the customs of their place and their time to California with them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And some, Vassar said, “actually served in the state Legislature owning slaves.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Vassar has documented members such as state Sen. William B. Norman, who brought an enslaved person from Mississippi to California, and Charles S. Fairfax, who traveled west from his family’s Virginia slave plantation and eventually became speaker of the state Assembly. The Marin County town where Fairfax built his manor now bears his name.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the 1850s, enslavers and their allies were part of the legislative majority in California that took two dramatic actions in support of enslavement: passing the state’s fugitive slave law and backing the explosive Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, the federal law allowing the expansion of slavery into the territories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We know that it wasn’t just always a symbolic issue,” said Stacey Smith, associate professor of history at Oregon State University, who is advising California’s Reparations Task Force. “Certainly there were specific members of the state Legislature and the congressional delegation who had a direct interest in enslaving people in California and keeping control over them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal Fugitive Slave Act, which required residents and law enforcement in free states to assist with the capture and return of escaped enslaved people, was included in the agreement that ushered California into the union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the federal law only dealt with enslaved persons escaping across state lines, and California’s enslavers had no legal recourse if their captives escaped within the new, free state. To account for this, pro-slavery lawmakers drafted the state’s own fugitive slave bill, that would give enslavers a one-year window to recapture formerly enslaved people they had brought to California pre-statehood, and forcibly take them out of the state and back to slaveholding states in the South. The legislation, officially “an Act respecting Fugitives from labor, and Slaves brought into this State prior to her admission into the Union,” passed the Assembly in February of 1852.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942340\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4303.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942340 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4303.jpg\" alt=\"A white marble bust of a man, with hair that's a bit long on top and a slight beard, whose chest is draped in a toga.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1371\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4303.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4303-800x571.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4303-1020x728.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4303-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/IMG_4303-1536x1097.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bust of David Broderick, a California state senator in the 1850s known for his opposition to slavery, on display at the California State Library in Sacramento. Broderick was killed in a duel, purportedly over his anti-slavery stance. \u003ccite>(Guy Marzorati/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the Senate, where the proposal had been defeated the year before, the Chivalry had to overcome opposition from anti-slavery Democrats, most notably San Francisco Sen. David Broderick. The bill was carried in the state Senate by Estill. Lawmakers deliberated the bill for days before a final vote. Opponents hatched a series of roadblocks, desperately trying to weaken the proposal with amendments or at least find a majority willing to adjourn for the night. But Estill and his allies prevailed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Senate Journal for April 13, 1852, shows that after more than a dozen procedural votes, the bill passed 14–9, and was signed by Gov. John Bigler. One-year extensions of the law were subsequently passed in 1853 and 1854. Not included in the record is the fact that Estill was fighting to protect his ownership of the 15 people who toiled without compensation on his Solano County farm, less than 50 miles down the Sacramento River.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He wasn’t just wanting to promote the ‘Southern values’ of protecting slavery and slave property in California,” said Smith, who \u003ca href=\"https://uncpress.org/book/9781469626536/freedoms-frontier/\">chronicled the history of unfree labor in California in her book \u003cem>Freedom’s Frontier\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. “He had a direct, personal economic interest in a fugitive slave law that would allow him to take enslaved people back to the Southern states when he decided that he no longer wanted to have them working in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith found records of dozens of Black Californians arrested under the act, apprehended by law enforcement in a state that promised freedom. Black people, some of whom came to California to escape racial terror, lived with the fear that they could be seized in the middle of the night and extradited.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you had been brought at the height of the Gold Rush, let’s say in early 1849 up through mid-1850 … [then] until March of 1855, so five, six years later, you could be enslaved and returned back to the slave states under California law,” Smith said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Pushing to expand slavery\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The national uproar over the Kansas-Nebraska Act turned the political tide against California’s fugitive slave law and made the support of slavery a losing issue for the state’s Democrats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law allowed new territories to decide whether to permit slavery within their borders, replacing the generation-old Missouri Compromise, which had banned slavery in new territories north of latitude 36° 30’, spanning the northern borders of Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas. The Kansas-Nebraska Act was evidence that Southerners were not only intent on preserving slavery, they wanted to expand it. The law incensed opponents of slavery, scrambled national and state party alliances and, in the words of historian James McPherson, “may have been the most important single event pushing the nation toward war.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite California’s official status as a free state, its representatives in Congress supported the law. And in the weeks leading up to the final vote, the state Legislature passed a resolution supporting “the Nebraska bill,” as it was known at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s show of support for the Kansas-Nebraska Act was nonbinding, but it spoke volumes. The only other legislature in a free state to back the proposal, Smith said, was Illinois — home of the bill’s author, U.S. Sen. Stephen A. Douglas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s fairly unusual for a free state to pass an endorsement of the Kansas-Nebraska Act when a lot of other people in Northern states — free states, especially the Northeast — are just clamoring for the overturn of the [law],” Smith said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Voter backlash in California to the Kansas-Nebraska Act \u003ca href=\"https://www.jstor.org/stable/41170744\">helped launch the California Republican Party\u003c/a>, slowing the momentum for further extensions of the state’s fugitive slave law. Pro-slavery lawmakers retained control in Sacramento until the Civil War, at times resorting to violence to achieve their goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A pro-slavery legislator assaulted an anti-slavery colleague with a cane on the floor of the Senate during debates to extend the fugitive slave law, according to Smith. And in 1859, Broderick, the prominent anti-slavery Democrat, was killed in a duel on the shores of Lake Merced in San Francisco by the Chivalry’s David Terry, a former state Supreme Court justice. As he lay dying, Broderick \u003ca href=\"https://www.nps.gov/goga/learn/historyculture/broderick-terry-duel.htm\">reportedly said his anti-slavery stances were what pushed his political opponents to violence\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Broderick quickly became a martyr for opponents of slavery, and his bust is still on display in the chambers of the state Senate. As the Gold Rush waned, many of the Southerners in California’s government left the state. Some, like Gwin, backed the Confederacy in the Civil War. The decade-long reign of the Chivalry and their enslavers’ agenda became a historical footnote.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Reparations and atonement\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“I think, for the most part, when I say something like ‘slavery in California,’ most people who’ve gone to school in California will say, ‘Oh, the mission system,’” said Smith. “It’s just these other stories, especially about enslaved African Americans, that are a lot less familiar to most Californians.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kamilah Moore, a reparatory justice scholar who chairs the state Reparations Task Force, said confronting the Legislature’s pro-slavery history should start in the state’s K–12 schools. She said the task force would like to see a curriculum that acknowledges and teaches California’s role in maintaining the institution of slavery.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“I grew up in California, born and raised, and so were my parents. And none of us learned about this history in school,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the task force presents its financial recommendations to the Legislature this summer, the possibility of monetary compensation for the descendants of 19th-century Black Americans will likely stir up the most interest and debate in Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At KQED’s gubernatorial debate in October, when asked where he stood on the issue of potential payments, Newsom demurred, saying he would first “want to see the recommendations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“By definition, we created the work group to adjudicate the merits of different strategies,” Newsom said. “And so this task force is convening, we’ll see where their recommendations come out and we’ll make a determination after the fact.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moore is interested in atonement by the Legislature. Lawmakers today routinely celebrate its history at the vanguard of environmentalism and protections for labor, abortion and LGBTQ rights. But that history also includes support for the brutality of chattel slavery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Part of our work as the task force is thinking about how we can get the California state Legislature not only to adopt our final recommendations as proposed, but then also for the body itself to take some self-accountability,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Wouldn’t want to live under a rock’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Ryan’s pursuit of his family history introduced him to members of his extended family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Along the way, I’ve been finding a lot of new families that are like first cousins, second cousins, third cousins and then getting to share my information with them, and that’s been a lot of fun getting to meet people,” Ryan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of his relatives found Estill’s story too painful to confront — like the cousin in New York whose first name was Estill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She had seen those pictures of him and knew that he existed but had no idea what his history was or his dealings and stuff,” Ryan said. “And so she was very upset.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other relatives have told Ryan to stop doing his research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of people are very sensitive to it,” he said. “I never would have thought that — although, by finding out all this stuff about Estill I can kind of understand it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added, “But I also wouldn’t want to live under a rock. So you have to kind of learn from history, right? You don’t want to whitewash history.”\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Reversal of Oakland School Closures Renews Hope of Reparations for Black Students",
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"headTitle": "Reversal of Oakland School Closures Renews Hope of Reparations for Black Students | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>The decision by Oakland’s new school board to rescind a school closure plan has renewed hope in the reparations movement to improve the outcomes of Oakland Unified School District’s Black students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the movement remains in limbo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March 2021, the school board passed the \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1knTRaGliW06LnPCATRmaILnwrgViLgsC/view\">Reparations for Black Students\u003c/a> resolution, an initiative to provide more resources for almost 8,000 Black students. For some observers, the resolution acknowledged the inequitable education students have received for generations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The resolution created a task force to monitor academic performance and, among other things, provide anti-racism training to district teachers and staff. Early versions of the resolution included a ban on school closures where more than 30% of the students are Black, a line item that was opposed by the school district and Chris Learned, the state trustee who oversaw the district’s finances. It was ultimately removed from the final resolution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For two decades, the school district has been under state receivership because of a $100 million bailout in 2003. To address budget shortfalls, the school board voted in January 2022 to close what it deemed were underperforming schools with low enrollment. The vote sparked protests, which included a hunger strike, a 125-day occupation of Parker Elementary School after the district closed it, and a State Department of Justice inquiry into claims that the plan continued a trend of discrimination against the district’s Black students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942027\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942027 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS53519_20220204-IMG_2625-2-qut-800x599.jpg\" alt=\"A group of protesters hold signs against school closures as they march on a city street.\" width=\"800\" height=\"599\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS53519_20220204-IMG_2625-2-qut-800x599.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS53519_20220204-IMG_2625-2-qut-1020x763.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS53519_20220204-IMG_2625-2-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS53519_20220204-IMG_2625-2-qut-1536x1150.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS53519_20220204-IMG_2625-2-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Educators, parents, youth and supporters protest during a citywide rally at Oakland City Hall on Feb. 4, 2022. The rally was one of several events last year in support of the Reparations for Black Students campaign. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The closures derailed the reparations effort to hold the school district accountable for improving the education of Black students. But the reversal, which was approved during a special meeting in January, has activists and community members cautiously optimistic about OUSD’s future. The action was made possible by newly elected board members who opposed the previous board’s decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations\">California Reparations Task Force\u003c/a> continues to study and develop proposals for the entire state, a look into Oakland’s effort reveals just how difficult reparations can be to implement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are now finally positioned to start doing things differently,” said Mike Hutchinson, the school board’s new president. “We have to embed this work in the district so it becomes a core part of what we do, and I think we are starting to do that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Luz Cázares, the current trustee, will have to sign off for the reversal to be permanent. The Alameda County Office of Education must also approve. \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2023/01/19/ousd-oakland-school-closures-hutchinson-alameda-county-castro/\">As \u003cem>The Oaklandside\u003c/em>’s Ashley McBride reported\u003c/a>, “the board’s decision could also threaten a separate influx of state cash the district was expecting as a result of closing schools.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, if the decision is confirmed by the state, it will save five elementary schools that serve predominantly students of color — Brookfield, Grass Valley, Horace Mann, Carl B. Munck, Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy and Hillcrest Elementary School, which would also continue to serve kindergarten through eighth grade. The majority of students at Grass Valley and Carl B. Munck are Black.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Having the board make that decision as soon as it did has really given the system a breath of fresh air,” said Pecolia Manigo, chair of the Black Students and Families Thriving Task Force, the body created to implement the reparations resolution.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Ongoing fight against systemic racism\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Jordan Rancifer was captivated by the stories of anti-Black racism in Oakland’s public schools that he heard in the Oakland High School auditorium in 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It piqued my interest because it’s like, damn, I’m not the only one having these racial experiences in OUSD,” he recalled in an interview with KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The event was one of a series of community listening sessions held by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandkidsfirst.org/programs/j4os/\">Justice for Oakland Students coalition\u003c/a>. Students described being called racist slurs by peers. They said they felt ignored when they brought concerns to school administrators, and alienated by curricula that neglected Black experiences. Parents described years of limited enrollment in programs meant to support Black students and funding that always seemed to quickly run out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942014\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942014 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62640_Jordan-Photo-2-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A young Black man with a black hoodie and shoulder-length black twists looks at the camera while standing on a sidewalk in an urban street.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62640_Jordan-Photo-2-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62640_Jordan-Photo-2-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62640_Jordan-Photo-2-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62640_Jordan-Photo-2-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62640_Jordan-Photo-2-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jordan Rancifer poses for a photo on Grand Avenue in Oakland on April 15, 2022. Rancifer spoke at the listening sessions that led to the Reparations for Black Students resolution when he was a senior at Oakland Technical High School. Now he’s studying political science at Cal State East Bay. \u003ccite>(Annelise Finney/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rancifer was then a senior struggling in math at Oakland Technical High School. He shared his experience in a room full of teachers, students and parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just didn’t feel like, as a Black man, I was being helped or noticed,” said Rancifer, now 23 and studying political science at Cal State East Bay. “They just kind of let me fail.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Black students accounted for \u003ca href=\"https://dashboards.ousd.org/views/Enrollment/Snapshot?:embed=y&:showAppBanner=false&:display_count=n&:showVizHome=n&:origin=viz_share_link\">20.5% of district enrollment\u003c/a> — roughly 10,000 out of 50,000 students — in the 2021–2022 academic year, according to OUSD’s dashboard. Two decades ago, Black students accounted for nearly half. Since then, the district has shuttered 16 majority Black schools, fracturing school communities and separating students from friends and familiar teachers. At the listening sessions, speakers said the closures contributed to the exodus of Black families from district schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The listening sessions laid the foundation for the reparations resolution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The resolution promised to address the declining enrollment and poor outcomes of Black students, and set its sights on ending the achievement gap, also called the opportunity gap, by 2026.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Pecolia Manigo, chair, Black Students and Families Thriving Task Force\"]‘Having the board make that decision as soon as it did has really given the system a breath of fresh air.’[/pullquote]In September 2021, the district created the \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PlZalR3MLPd6M4XK5_ORtdu8oK0d26Ox/view\">Black Students and Families Thriving Task Force\u003c/a>, a 25-member volunteer body to carry out the resolution. By that time, Rancifer was in college. His mother, Kampala Taiz-Rancifer, an Oakland teacher and vice president of the Oakland teachers union, became the task force secretary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The thing that makes me so excited about our work is being able to bring Black folks into a safe space, and for them to know that they’re not alone in their experiences and that other folks are experiencing the same thing, but that they can also come up with the solutions,” said Manigo, who is also executive director of the Bay Area Parent Leadership Action Network, an Oakland-based nonprofit that empowers parents to advocate for their children in public schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Manigo and Hutchinson, things were going smoothly for months after the task force began its work. The volunteer group of Black parents, educators, district employees and community activists met regularly on Zoom, gathering virtually to view colorful slide decks put together by Manigo, mother of two OUSD students and one OUSD graduate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OUSD receives special state funding for students from lower-income families and foster youth, many of whom are Black. The task force aims to track how OUSD invests that money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland has been trying to improve the outcomes for Black students for decades. OUSD founded the African American Male Achievement program in 2010 and what is now known as the African American Female Excellence program in 2015. Data shows the programs improved graduation rates and lowered rates of suspensions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the impact of other, more diffuse efforts like curriculum changes and diversifying staff is harder to trace. The task force set out to build a system to quantify the impact of district interventions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Being able to say whether something is effective or not effective, and whether it’s helping to close opportunity gaps or not … we knew that that was a big challenge,” said Manigo, who was unsuccessful in her bid for a school board seat in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Manigo, the school closure plan, announced four months after the task force began its work, revealed that the district was unwilling “to understand the implications of the lived experience and wisdom that so many of us had been putting before them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The closure plan felt like a betrayal. “By saying reparations, there is an immediate demand to stop the harm,” Manigo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942012\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942012 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62641_Manigo-qut-800x596.jpg\" alt=\"A Black woman with a purple top and short cropped hair smiles at the camera as she stands in a park.\" width=\"800\" height=\"596\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62641_Manigo-qut-800x596.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62641_Manigo-qut-1020x760.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62641_Manigo-qut-160x119.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62641_Manigo-qut-1536x1145.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62641_Manigo-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pecolia Manigo poses in Maxwell Park in Oakland on Aug. 25, 2022. Manigo is the chair of the Black Students and Families Thriving Task Force. \u003ccite>(Annelise Finney/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Instead of focusing on improving outcomes for Black students, conflict grew among members of the task force who found themselves on opposing sides of the closure debate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are in a highly polarized political context and I think our minds are pretty trained to put a stake in the ground and not move from that,” said Dr. Dexter Moore Jr., the superintendent’s representative on the task force. “It put a wedge in the work. No question about it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last March, a report presented by Moore to the school board on behalf of the district superintendent showed that a year after the reparations resolution was passed, many of the worrying trends affecting Black students continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Black students were being suspended at more than twice the district average, and more than half of Black students were chronically absent, which Moore attributed in part to the impact of a surge in COVID-19 cases at the time. Between the 2020–21 and 2021–22 school years, \u003ca href=\"https://dashboards.ousd.org/views/Enrollment/Historic?%3Aembed=y&%3AshowShareOptions=true&%3Adisplay_count=no&%3AshowVizHome=no&%3Arender=false#7\">Black student enrollment dropped by more than 400 students\u003c/a>, continuing the decades-long pattern of Black students leaving the district, according to OUSD data. Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell, district superintendent, instructed the task force to pause indefinitely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task force initially refused to stop holding meetings, but momentum waned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We went from 25 folks being able to meet in the very early days and having really great conversations looking over different indicators and putting metrics to those things, to then eventually 15, 16, 17, to slowly but surely many individuals just stepping back,” Manigo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task force stopped holding public meetings in April. Not enough members were regularly attending to have a quorum. Ten months later, meetings have yet to resume. But developments since the new year might signal a change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hutchinson has nominated board members Clifford Thompson and VanCedric Williams, co-author of the reparations resolution, to new positions as board liaisons to the task force. He hopes Thompson and Williams will help the task force rebuild its membership.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942017\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11942017\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62639_Hutchinson-qut-800x589.jpg\" alt='A Black man with clean shaven head and wearing a blue hoodie that reads \"Protect West Oakland Mural\" smiles at the camera with people in the background.' width=\"800\" height=\"589\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62639_Hutchinson-qut-800x589.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62639_Hutchinson-qut-1020x751.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62639_Hutchinson-qut-160x118.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62639_Hutchinson-qut-1536x1130.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62639_Hutchinson-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mike Hutchinson, an outspoken opponent of school closures in Oakland, became the president of Oakland’s school board in January. \u003ccite>(Annelise Finney/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Manigo feels frustrated that so much time was lost fighting the district, especially in a year with a massive state budget surplus. Instead of galvanizing energy around petitioning the state for more funding for Oakland schools, Manigo said community organizers like her spent the year fighting with the district to keep schools open.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What was lost was the opportunity to really tell the Oakland story, to give lawmakers and the larger community hope that we really can create a district where all students are valued, where racially just schools are real,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That model could be important, because what Black students are up against in Oakland is similar to what Black students face throughout the state. \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-interim-report-preliminary-recommendations-2022.pdf\">California remains the sixth most segregated state in the country for Black students (PDF)\u003c/a>, according to the interim report published by the state reparations task force in June. “In California’s highly segregated schools, schools attended by white and Asian children receive more funding and resources than schools with predominantly Black and Latino children,” the report says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a reality with deep roots. \u003ca href=\"https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1855/1855.PDF\">In 1855, California passed a law that withheld state funds from schools that taught Black and Chinese children (PDF).\u003c/a> Although California taxed Black residents to pay for public schools, the money was only used for the education of white children.[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11941976,news_11941469\"]Systemic racism continues to affect Black students. According to statewide data, in 2021–2022 \u003ca href=\"http://www.ed-data.org/state/CA/ps_NTI5Mjg%5E?_gl=1*1dpu79i*_ga*MTI4MDk1MjYxOS4xNjc1NzEyMjg0*_ga_475QR6J62K*MTY3NTcxMjI4NC4xLjEuMTY3NTcxMzM5NC42MC4wLjA.\">only 30% of Black students met English language arts standards and less than 16% met the standard in math\u003c/a>, placing Black students behind all other racial groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2023–2024 budget attempted to address some of this inequity, but \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2023/critics-say-newsoms-proposal-for-low-performing-students-fails-black-students/684148\">the budget proposal drew criticism\u003c/a> from advocates who say they want to see more funding and support specifically for Black students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What has played out in Oakland’s school district is not an anomaly when it comes to reparations, said Dr. Cheryl Grills, a state task force member.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s sometimes harder to implement things in the spirit in which they were intended than it is to get the win on the books,” said Grills, professor at Loyola Marymount University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state task force, which \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/ab3121/meetings\">meets Friday and Saturday in Sacramento\u003c/a>, is expected to publish its plan for repairing almost 200 years of anti-Black racism in the state in June. To address racial disparities in public education, \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/task-force-agenda-consolidated-prelim-props.pdf\">preliminary policy proposals (PDF)\u003c/a> being considered include an increase in funding to schools through the local control funding formula, which determines how much money schools receive from the state. The preliminary proposals include repealing or amending Proposition 209, the 1996 ballot measure that prohibits state and local government affirmative action programs in the areas of public employment, public education and public contracting. “Proposition 209 is widely viewed as an impediment to the adoption of remedial measures,” the task force stated in the proposal document.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No part of a reparations plan will become law without the support of the governor and the state Legislature. Like the reparations push in Oakland, it will require consistent public pressure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is a historic moment that could happen in California,” Manigo said. “And I believe that the time is now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The group redesigning how OUSD supports its Black students was stalled by the district's school closure plan. But that plan was rescinded — and now the group's leadership is hopeful for a renewed commitment to the district's Black families.",
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"title": "Reversal of Oakland School Closures Renews Hope of Reparations for Black Students | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The decision by Oakland’s new school board to rescind a school closure plan has renewed hope in the reparations movement to improve the outcomes of Oakland Unified School District’s Black students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the movement remains in limbo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March 2021, the school board passed the \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1knTRaGliW06LnPCATRmaILnwrgViLgsC/view\">Reparations for Black Students\u003c/a> resolution, an initiative to provide more resources for almost 8,000 Black students. For some observers, the resolution acknowledged the inequitable education students have received for generations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The resolution created a task force to monitor academic performance and, among other things, provide anti-racism training to district teachers and staff. Early versions of the resolution included a ban on school closures where more than 30% of the students are Black, a line item that was opposed by the school district and Chris Learned, the state trustee who oversaw the district’s finances. It was ultimately removed from the final resolution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For two decades, the school district has been under state receivership because of a $100 million bailout in 2003. To address budget shortfalls, the school board voted in January 2022 to close what it deemed were underperforming schools with low enrollment. The vote sparked protests, which included a hunger strike, a 125-day occupation of Parker Elementary School after the district closed it, and a State Department of Justice inquiry into claims that the plan continued a trend of discrimination against the district’s Black students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942027\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942027 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS53519_20220204-IMG_2625-2-qut-800x599.jpg\" alt=\"A group of protesters hold signs against school closures as they march on a city street.\" width=\"800\" height=\"599\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS53519_20220204-IMG_2625-2-qut-800x599.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS53519_20220204-IMG_2625-2-qut-1020x763.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS53519_20220204-IMG_2625-2-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS53519_20220204-IMG_2625-2-qut-1536x1150.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS53519_20220204-IMG_2625-2-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Educators, parents, youth and supporters protest during a citywide rally at Oakland City Hall on Feb. 4, 2022. The rally was one of several events last year in support of the Reparations for Black Students campaign. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The closures derailed the reparations effort to hold the school district accountable for improving the education of Black students. But the reversal, which was approved during a special meeting in January, has activists and community members cautiously optimistic about OUSD’s future. The action was made possible by newly elected board members who opposed the previous board’s decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations\">California Reparations Task Force\u003c/a> continues to study and develop proposals for the entire state, a look into Oakland’s effort reveals just how difficult reparations can be to implement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are now finally positioned to start doing things differently,” said Mike Hutchinson, the school board’s new president. “We have to embed this work in the district so it becomes a core part of what we do, and I think we are starting to do that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Luz Cázares, the current trustee, will have to sign off for the reversal to be permanent. The Alameda County Office of Education must also approve. \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2023/01/19/ousd-oakland-school-closures-hutchinson-alameda-county-castro/\">As \u003cem>The Oaklandside\u003c/em>’s Ashley McBride reported\u003c/a>, “the board’s decision could also threaten a separate influx of state cash the district was expecting as a result of closing schools.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, if the decision is confirmed by the state, it will save five elementary schools that serve predominantly students of color — Brookfield, Grass Valley, Horace Mann, Carl B. Munck, Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy and Hillcrest Elementary School, which would also continue to serve kindergarten through eighth grade. The majority of students at Grass Valley and Carl B. Munck are Black.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Having the board make that decision as soon as it did has really given the system a breath of fresh air,” said Pecolia Manigo, chair of the Black Students and Families Thriving Task Force, the body created to implement the reparations resolution.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Ongoing fight against systemic racism\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Jordan Rancifer was captivated by the stories of anti-Black racism in Oakland’s public schools that he heard in the Oakland High School auditorium in 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It piqued my interest because it’s like, damn, I’m not the only one having these racial experiences in OUSD,” he recalled in an interview with KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The event was one of a series of community listening sessions held by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandkidsfirst.org/programs/j4os/\">Justice for Oakland Students coalition\u003c/a>. Students described being called racist slurs by peers. They said they felt ignored when they brought concerns to school administrators, and alienated by curricula that neglected Black experiences. Parents described years of limited enrollment in programs meant to support Black students and funding that always seemed to quickly run out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942014\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942014 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62640_Jordan-Photo-2-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A young Black man with a black hoodie and shoulder-length black twists looks at the camera while standing on a sidewalk in an urban street.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62640_Jordan-Photo-2-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62640_Jordan-Photo-2-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62640_Jordan-Photo-2-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62640_Jordan-Photo-2-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62640_Jordan-Photo-2-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jordan Rancifer poses for a photo on Grand Avenue in Oakland on April 15, 2022. Rancifer spoke at the listening sessions that led to the Reparations for Black Students resolution when he was a senior at Oakland Technical High School. Now he’s studying political science at Cal State East Bay. \u003ccite>(Annelise Finney/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rancifer was then a senior struggling in math at Oakland Technical High School. He shared his experience in a room full of teachers, students and parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just didn’t feel like, as a Black man, I was being helped or noticed,” said Rancifer, now 23 and studying political science at Cal State East Bay. “They just kind of let me fail.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Black students accounted for \u003ca href=\"https://dashboards.ousd.org/views/Enrollment/Snapshot?:embed=y&:showAppBanner=false&:display_count=n&:showVizHome=n&:origin=viz_share_link\">20.5% of district enrollment\u003c/a> — roughly 10,000 out of 50,000 students — in the 2021–2022 academic year, according to OUSD’s dashboard. Two decades ago, Black students accounted for nearly half. Since then, the district has shuttered 16 majority Black schools, fracturing school communities and separating students from friends and familiar teachers. At the listening sessions, speakers said the closures contributed to the exodus of Black families from district schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The listening sessions laid the foundation for the reparations resolution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The resolution promised to address the declining enrollment and poor outcomes of Black students, and set its sights on ending the achievement gap, also called the opportunity gap, by 2026.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Having the board make that decision as soon as it did has really given the system a breath of fresh air.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In September 2021, the district created the \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PlZalR3MLPd6M4XK5_ORtdu8oK0d26Ox/view\">Black Students and Families Thriving Task Force\u003c/a>, a 25-member volunteer body to carry out the resolution. By that time, Rancifer was in college. His mother, Kampala Taiz-Rancifer, an Oakland teacher and vice president of the Oakland teachers union, became the task force secretary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The thing that makes me so excited about our work is being able to bring Black folks into a safe space, and for them to know that they’re not alone in their experiences and that other folks are experiencing the same thing, but that they can also come up with the solutions,” said Manigo, who is also executive director of the Bay Area Parent Leadership Action Network, an Oakland-based nonprofit that empowers parents to advocate for their children in public schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Manigo and Hutchinson, things were going smoothly for months after the task force began its work. The volunteer group of Black parents, educators, district employees and community activists met regularly on Zoom, gathering virtually to view colorful slide decks put together by Manigo, mother of two OUSD students and one OUSD graduate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OUSD receives special state funding for students from lower-income families and foster youth, many of whom are Black. The task force aims to track how OUSD invests that money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland has been trying to improve the outcomes for Black students for decades. OUSD founded the African American Male Achievement program in 2010 and what is now known as the African American Female Excellence program in 2015. Data shows the programs improved graduation rates and lowered rates of suspensions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the impact of other, more diffuse efforts like curriculum changes and diversifying staff is harder to trace. The task force set out to build a system to quantify the impact of district interventions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Being able to say whether something is effective or not effective, and whether it’s helping to close opportunity gaps or not … we knew that that was a big challenge,” said Manigo, who was unsuccessful in her bid for a school board seat in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Manigo, the school closure plan, announced four months after the task force began its work, revealed that the district was unwilling “to understand the implications of the lived experience and wisdom that so many of us had been putting before them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The closure plan felt like a betrayal. “By saying reparations, there is an immediate demand to stop the harm,” Manigo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942012\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942012 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62641_Manigo-qut-800x596.jpg\" alt=\"A Black woman with a purple top and short cropped hair smiles at the camera as she stands in a park.\" width=\"800\" height=\"596\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62641_Manigo-qut-800x596.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62641_Manigo-qut-1020x760.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62641_Manigo-qut-160x119.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62641_Manigo-qut-1536x1145.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62641_Manigo-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pecolia Manigo poses in Maxwell Park in Oakland on Aug. 25, 2022. Manigo is the chair of the Black Students and Families Thriving Task Force. \u003ccite>(Annelise Finney/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Instead of focusing on improving outcomes for Black students, conflict grew among members of the task force who found themselves on opposing sides of the closure debate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are in a highly polarized political context and I think our minds are pretty trained to put a stake in the ground and not move from that,” said Dr. Dexter Moore Jr., the superintendent’s representative on the task force. “It put a wedge in the work. No question about it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last March, a report presented by Moore to the school board on behalf of the district superintendent showed that a year after the reparations resolution was passed, many of the worrying trends affecting Black students continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Black students were being suspended at more than twice the district average, and more than half of Black students were chronically absent, which Moore attributed in part to the impact of a surge in COVID-19 cases at the time. Between the 2020–21 and 2021–22 school years, \u003ca href=\"https://dashboards.ousd.org/views/Enrollment/Historic?%3Aembed=y&%3AshowShareOptions=true&%3Adisplay_count=no&%3AshowVizHome=no&%3Arender=false#7\">Black student enrollment dropped by more than 400 students\u003c/a>, continuing the decades-long pattern of Black students leaving the district, according to OUSD data. Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell, district superintendent, instructed the task force to pause indefinitely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task force initially refused to stop holding meetings, but momentum waned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We went from 25 folks being able to meet in the very early days and having really great conversations looking over different indicators and putting metrics to those things, to then eventually 15, 16, 17, to slowly but surely many individuals just stepping back,” Manigo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task force stopped holding public meetings in April. Not enough members were regularly attending to have a quorum. Ten months later, meetings have yet to resume. But developments since the new year might signal a change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hutchinson has nominated board members Clifford Thompson and VanCedric Williams, co-author of the reparations resolution, to new positions as board liaisons to the task force. He hopes Thompson and Williams will help the task force rebuild its membership.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942017\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11942017\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62639_Hutchinson-qut-800x589.jpg\" alt='A Black man with clean shaven head and wearing a blue hoodie that reads \"Protect West Oakland Mural\" smiles at the camera with people in the background.' width=\"800\" height=\"589\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62639_Hutchinson-qut-800x589.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62639_Hutchinson-qut-1020x751.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62639_Hutchinson-qut-160x118.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62639_Hutchinson-qut-1536x1130.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62639_Hutchinson-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mike Hutchinson, an outspoken opponent of school closures in Oakland, became the president of Oakland’s school board in January. \u003ccite>(Annelise Finney/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Manigo feels frustrated that so much time was lost fighting the district, especially in a year with a massive state budget surplus. Instead of galvanizing energy around petitioning the state for more funding for Oakland schools, Manigo said community organizers like her spent the year fighting with the district to keep schools open.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What was lost was the opportunity to really tell the Oakland story, to give lawmakers and the larger community hope that we really can create a district where all students are valued, where racially just schools are real,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That model could be important, because what Black students are up against in Oakland is similar to what Black students face throughout the state. \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-interim-report-preliminary-recommendations-2022.pdf\">California remains the sixth most segregated state in the country for Black students (PDF)\u003c/a>, according to the interim report published by the state reparations task force in June. “In California’s highly segregated schools, schools attended by white and Asian children receive more funding and resources than schools with predominantly Black and Latino children,” the report says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a reality with deep roots. \u003ca href=\"https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1855/1855.PDF\">In 1855, California passed a law that withheld state funds from schools that taught Black and Chinese children (PDF).\u003c/a> Although California taxed Black residents to pay for public schools, the money was only used for the education of white children.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Systemic racism continues to affect Black students. According to statewide data, in 2021–2022 \u003ca href=\"http://www.ed-data.org/state/CA/ps_NTI5Mjg%5E?_gl=1*1dpu79i*_ga*MTI4MDk1MjYxOS4xNjc1NzEyMjg0*_ga_475QR6J62K*MTY3NTcxMjI4NC4xLjEuMTY3NTcxMzM5NC42MC4wLjA.\">only 30% of Black students met English language arts standards and less than 16% met the standard in math\u003c/a>, placing Black students behind all other racial groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2023–2024 budget attempted to address some of this inequity, but \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2023/critics-say-newsoms-proposal-for-low-performing-students-fails-black-students/684148\">the budget proposal drew criticism\u003c/a> from advocates who say they want to see more funding and support specifically for Black students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What has played out in Oakland’s school district is not an anomaly when it comes to reparations, said Dr. Cheryl Grills, a state task force member.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s sometimes harder to implement things in the spirit in which they were intended than it is to get the win on the books,” said Grills, professor at Loyola Marymount University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state task force, which \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/ab3121/meetings\">meets Friday and Saturday in Sacramento\u003c/a>, is expected to publish its plan for repairing almost 200 years of anti-Black racism in the state in June. To address racial disparities in public education, \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/task-force-agenda-consolidated-prelim-props.pdf\">preliminary policy proposals (PDF)\u003c/a> being considered include an increase in funding to schools through the local control funding formula, which determines how much money schools receive from the state. The preliminary proposals include repealing or amending Proposition 209, the 1996 ballot measure that prohibits state and local government affirmative action programs in the areas of public employment, public education and public contracting. “Proposition 209 is widely viewed as an impediment to the adoption of remedial measures,” the task force stated in the proposal document.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No part of a reparations plan will become law without the support of the governor and the state Legislature. Like the reparations push in Oakland, it will require consistent public pressure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is a historic moment that could happen in California,” Manigo said. “And I believe that the time is now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "reparations-are-also-about-black-safety-and-that-means-taking-on-policing",
"title": "Reparations Are Also About Black Safety — and That Means Taking on Policing",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]T[/dropcap]yre Nichols was mercilessly beaten by Memphis police officers after a traffic stop last month — and it was his fault. That’s if you believe the five officers accused of killing Nichols, of course.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s the story officers, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/02/17/1157756023/memphis-tyre-nichols-police-officers-court-charges\">who pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder charges on Feb. 17\u003c/a>, wanted the public to buy: Nichols, who \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/equity-lab/article272243108.html\">lived in Sacramento\u003c/a> before moving to Memphis, was driving recklessly, a misdemeanor in Tennessee, before he was pulled over for a routine traffic stop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After being forcibly removed from his car at gunpoint, he fled. The officers, then-part of an elite crime suppression unit, chased Nichols. They punched and kicked Nichols and struck him with a baton, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/30/us/tyre-nichols-arrest-videos.html\">justifying the violence in a false police report\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The release of police and traffic camera footage revealed the glaring disparity that often exists between the police narrative and what actually occurs. Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, wasn’t violent or aggressive, and he didn’t reach for an officer’s gun, as the initial report falsely asserted. So why did Nichols flee? In my bones, I know he was running to his mother’s house in search of what many police officers decline to provide Black people: safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The safety of Black people in America has been imperiled for four centuries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The safety of Black people in America is at the core of the California Reparations Task Force.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I wish more Californians were aware of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations\">the first statewide body to consider reparations for Black people\u003c/a>. The task force has presented an irrefutable examination of how systemic racism was woven into the fabric of America and California. I can think of at least 1,619 reasons why the work is largely unnoticed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Think about it: After the unpaid workforce of millions was emancipated, laws were enacted to restrict economic and social mobility. The emancipated population was terrorized by white supremacists intent on preserving the racial hierarchy as promises of land, opportunity and security were abandoned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t safe for Black people to look white people in the eye. It wasn’t safe for Black people to vote. It wasn’t safe for Black people to be in some towns after dark. It wasn’t safe for Black people to prosper. To maintain institutionalized social order, first it was the slave patrols, and now it’s the police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Reparations in California\" link1=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations,Explore why California launched the first-in-the-nation task force to study reparations for Black people\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/2022/02/RiCLandingPageGraphic-1020x574.png\"]Racial terror swept this country for decades after emancipation as white mobs — some dressed in robes and hoods, some flashing badges and guns — destroyed homes, towns and lives. The racial segregation enforced in the South initiated the migration of Black people to states like California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For more than a year, the reparations task force, \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/task-force-notice-agenda-03032023-03042023.pdf\">which meets Friday and Saturday in Sacramento (PDF)\u003c/a>, has documented the unsavory truth about Black history — a history that is more than the cherry-picked sections of Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream speech. Honoring Black history must include the centuries of state-sanctioned violence that America willfully ignores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Black history is American history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After I watched the footage of Nichols being brutalized by the officers who immediately began constructing a false narrative as they gasped for air, I thought about Rodney King, the Black man who was savagely beaten by Los Angeles Police Department officers in 1991, an assault recorded by an amateur videographer. The grainy footage of King writhing in pain as officers swung batons as if they were chopping sugarcane will stick in my mind forever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I thought about Delphine Allen, the Black man who, while walking in West Oakland in 2000, was kidnapped and assaulted by rogue Oakland police officers. His feet were struck with a baton before he was driven to a secluded highway overpass, where the beating continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allen was the lead plaintiff in a civil rights lawsuit that alleged \u003ca href=\"https://clearinghouse.net/case/5541/\">misconduct and excessive use of force by four Oakland police officers\u003c/a> — and a lack of discipline and accountability for officer misconduct within the Oakland Police Department. More than 100 residents alleged mistreatment — brutal beatings, unlawful detention, intimidation — in the lawsuit that led to the federal monitoring of the OPD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The quartet of officers known as “The Riders” rampaged West Oakland, an area once patrolled by the Black Panthers \u003cem>because of\u003c/em> police brutality, after sunset. An enduring vestige of enslavement is the over-policing of Black neighborhoods. As part of the $11 million settlement with the plaintiffs in 2003, the police department was forced to comply with court-ordered reforms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost two decades after the settlement, \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2023/02/15/oakland-police-chief-leronne-armstrong-fired-mayor-sheng-thao/\">LeRonne Armstrong, OPD’s police chief, was fired on Feb. 15\u003c/a>, in part, because of an independent report that detailed the police department’s mishandling of officer misconduct — the kind of violation that led to federal monitoring in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942048\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11942048\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS49478_044_Oakland_NAACPGeorgeFloyd_05252021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A bald Black man in a blue police uniform stands outside in the sun holding a microphone and squinting\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS49478_044_Oakland_NAACPGeorgeFloyd_05252021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS49478_044_Oakland_NAACPGeorgeFloyd_05252021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS49478_044_Oakland_NAACPGeorgeFloyd_05252021-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS49478_044_Oakland_NAACPGeorgeFloyd_05252021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS49478_044_Oakland_NAACPGeorgeFloyd_05252021-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong, pictured at a 2021 NAACP event paying tribute to George Floyd, was fired by Mayor Sheng Thao on Feb. 15. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Last month, I interviewed Darwin BondGraham and Ali Winston, co-authors of \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2023/01/13/oakland-police-darwin-bondgraham-riders-ali-winston-book-opd/\">\u003cem>The Riders Come Out at Night: Brutality, Corruption, and Cover-Up in Oakland\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, as part of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/archive/video/uncovering-brutality-cover-and-corruption-oakland\">Commonwealth Club of California event\u003c/a>. In the book, BondGraham, news editor for The Oaklandside, and Winston, an independent journalist, present a riveting and profound portrait of out-of-control policing in Oakland. \u003cem>The Riders Come Out at Night\u003c/em> is a compelling argument for why the police can’t be trusted with reforming the institution of policing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2016, OPD cycled through three police chiefs in eight days, an infamous stretch initiated by another misconduct scandal, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11080955/alameda-county-da-charges-7-cops-with-sexually-exploiting-teenager\">sex-trafficking of a minor by Oakland police officers and officers from multiple Bay Area jurisdictions\u003c/a>. The same year, two officers were suspended because of a racist text scandal. In 2021, nine officers were disciplined for racist and sexist social media posts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s what led to the firing of Armstrong, who is from West Oakland and became chief two years ago this month: In 2021, an OPD sergeant driving a police vehicle hit a parked car in the garage of his San Francisco apartment building. The driver, Sgt. Michael Chung, who was instrumental in OPD’s response to crime in Chinatown, didn’t report the accident. In 2022, Chung fired his gun in an elevator at police headquarters. Again, no report was filed. An investigation by a law firm found that an OPD captain had Chung’s violations reduced so his punishment was less severe. According to the investigators with Clarence Dyer & Cohen LLP, Armstrong was aware of the light discipline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Jan. 18, the federal judge monitoring OPD’s reform efforts made the report by Clarence Dyer & Cohen public. The investigation “revealed systemic failures far larger and more serious than the actions of one police officer,” the \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/OPD-IA-cases-NSA-compliance-report.pdf\">blistering report (PDF)\u003c/a> concluded. The next day Armstrong was placed on paid administrative leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s when he should’ve copped a plea and said, “My bad, y’all.” Instead, he campaigned for his job at a rally on the steps of Oakland City Hall. The NAACP held another rally on Feb. 20. I called Terry Wiley, the former Alameda County prosecutor who is handling press around the firing for the NAACP. Wiley told me that Armstrong had made the kind of progress people of color want to see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942080\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11942080\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS63165_GettyImages-1466897640-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A profile shot of a group of roughly 10 people, most of them Black, listening while a woman in the middle claps her hands\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1291\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS63165_GettyImages-1466897640-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS63165_GettyImages-1466897640-qut-800x538.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS63165_GettyImages-1466897640-qut-1020x686.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS63165_GettyImages-1466897640-qut-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS63165_GettyImages-1466897640-qut-1536x1033.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Community members listen to speakers during a rally in support of terminated Oakland police Chief LeRonne Armstrong at City Hall on Feb. 16. \u003ccite>(Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“When you look at the balance of all of the positives he has brought to the department as the chief, the question becomes, was this incident such that he should be terminated?” said Wiley, who lost the November election for district attorney to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11940920/when-da-boudin-investigated-police-killings-arrests-slowed-that-may-not-happen-with-da-pamela-price\">progressive Pamela Price\u003c/a>. “Our conclusion was that the mayor went too far on this, and that there should have been much more contemplation about the decision.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement released by Sam Singer, a crisis manager, shortly after Armstrong was terminated, Armstrong referred to himself as a “loyal and effective reformer.” But reform isn’t possible without zero tolerance for misconduct, and the failure to issue appropriate discipline is inexcusable, especially for someone who pledges loyalty to reform.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The police are incapable of policing the police. Just look around the Bay Area. In Vallejo, a city that blithely dodges police scrutiny, \u003ca href=\"https://openvallejo.org/2023/02/05/vallejo-destroyed-evidence-of-police-killings/\">the city destroyed evidence in multiple police killings\u003c/a> despite being under investigation by the state attorney general, according to reporting by Open Vallejo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/09/10/exclusive-fbi-criminal-investigation-of-antioch-pittsburg-cops-grows-grand-jury-convening/\">Officers in Antioch and Pittsburg are under investigation by the FBI and the Contra Costa district attorney\u003c/a> for fraud and civil rights violations, and federal prosecutors have already dismissed more than a dozen cases that hinged on officer testimony, according to \u003cem>The Mercury News\u003c/em>. And in Berkeley, the city’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11932420/berkeley-postpones-hiring-of-new-police-chief-amid-controversy-over-another-officers-alleged-racist-texts\">former police union head allegedly sent racist, anti-unhoused text messages\u003c/a> to officers while pushing for more arrests, as multiple newsrooms, including KQED, reported in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Wesley Lowery, journalist, author and contributing editor to The Marshall Project\"]‘What type of resources are we pouring into communities if our aim is to cut down on crime? Is the resource we’re sending in a bunch of armed guys told to rough people up?’[/pullquote]In January, the California Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board published a report that found that \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ripa-board-report-2023.pdf\">police searched Black people at twice the rate of white people in 2021 (PDF)\u003c/a>. And get this: Officers were more likely to find contraband on white people than Black and Latino people, according to the report, which also found that police were twice as likely to use force against Black people than white people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2021, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/data-reveals-racial-disparities-police-stops-bay-17763091.php\">Black people were six times as likely to be stopped in Oakland than white people\u003c/a>, according to the\u003cem> San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>’s analysis of the police-stop data recently released by the state attorney general.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Francisco, Black people were at least five times as likely to be stopped than white people. This is a city where officers accused of, among other infractions, sexual misconduct, domestic violence and sharing racist and antisemitic texts work desk duty in a windowless room while raking in millions collectively, according to the San Francisco Standard’s \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/criminal-justice/cop-used-drugs-had-car-sex-with-a-teenager-then-sf-spent-1-2m-to-keep-him-on-desk-duty/\">three-part series on police accountability\u003c/a>. This is the city where \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/jenkins-police-investigate-17782463.php\">the law-and-order district attorney gutted the unit that investigates police misconduct and violence\u003c/a>, according to reporting by the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101892172/wesley-lowery-on-americas-elusive-racial-reckoning\">episode of Forum\u003c/a>, Wesley Lowery, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, talked with host Mina Kim about “\u003ca href=\"https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/02/tyre-nichols-death-memphis-george-floyd-police-reform/672986/\">Why There Was No Racial Reckoning\u003c/a>,” a piece he wrote for \u003cem>The Atlantic\u003c/em>. George Floyd’s murder by police in Minneapolis in May 2020 sparked nationwide uprisings not seen since 1967. Floyd’s death was supposed to also spark a reimagining of policing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That, of course, hasn’t happened. Instead, the backlash against protests that demanded more funding for social services has empowered cities to continue criminalizing poverty. Posturing by police and politicians isn’t going to provide relief for families who have been living in poverty for generations. The police are trained in coercion, which renders their skills insufficient to respond to the circumstances which allow criminal activity to flourish: disinvestment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What type of resources are we pouring into those communities if our aim is to cut down on crime?” Lowery said on Forum. “Is the resource we’re sending in a bunch of armed guys told to rough people up?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='Reparations Coverage' tag='california-reparations']In July, the task force will deliver reparations recommendations, which are expected to include direct payments to eligible Black Californians. But reparations are more than compensation. Last summer, the task force \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-interim-report-preliminary-recommendations-2022.pdf\">released a preliminary report (PDF)\u003c/a> with recommendations to address, among other things, the unjust legal system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The police are the gatekeepers of that system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The preliminary report suggests reducing “the scope of law enforcement jurisdiction within the public safety system” and shifting “more funding for prevention and mental health care.” The report also calls for the elimination of “discriminatory policing and particularly killings, use of force and racial profiling” of Black people; the elimination of racial disparities in police stops; and the elimination of over-policing of predominantly Black communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task force could pave the road to viable racial equity in America. But to get to that place, it’s guaranteed to be a bumpy journey. Make sure you buckle up for safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "California's reparations task force could pave the road to viable racial equity in America. But when police can't be trusted to reform policing — with the ouster of OPD Chief LeRonne Armstrong and the killing of Tyre Nichols as just the latest examples — it's going to be a bumpy journey.",
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"title": "Reparations Are Also About Black Safety — and That Means Taking on Policing | KQED",
"description": "California's reparations task force could pave the road to viable racial equity in America. But when police can't be trusted to reform policing — with the ouster of OPD Chief LeRonne Armstrong and the killing of Tyre Nichols as just the latest examples — it's going to be a bumpy journey.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">T\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>yre Nichols was mercilessly beaten by Memphis police officers after a traffic stop last month — and it was his fault. That’s if you believe the five officers accused of killing Nichols, of course.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s the story officers, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/02/17/1157756023/memphis-tyre-nichols-police-officers-court-charges\">who pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder charges on Feb. 17\u003c/a>, wanted the public to buy: Nichols, who \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/equity-lab/article272243108.html\">lived in Sacramento\u003c/a> before moving to Memphis, was driving recklessly, a misdemeanor in Tennessee, before he was pulled over for a routine traffic stop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After being forcibly removed from his car at gunpoint, he fled. The officers, then-part of an elite crime suppression unit, chased Nichols. They punched and kicked Nichols and struck him with a baton, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/30/us/tyre-nichols-arrest-videos.html\">justifying the violence in a false police report\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The release of police and traffic camera footage revealed the glaring disparity that often exists between the police narrative and what actually occurs. Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, wasn’t violent or aggressive, and he didn’t reach for an officer’s gun, as the initial report falsely asserted. So why did Nichols flee? In my bones, I know he was running to his mother’s house in search of what many police officers decline to provide Black people: safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The safety of Black people in America has been imperiled for four centuries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The safety of Black people in America is at the core of the California Reparations Task Force.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I wish more Californians were aware of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations\">the first statewide body to consider reparations for Black people\u003c/a>. The task force has presented an irrefutable examination of how systemic racism was woven into the fabric of America and California. I can think of at least 1,619 reasons why the work is largely unnoticed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Think about it: After the unpaid workforce of millions was emancipated, laws were enacted to restrict economic and social mobility. The emancipated population was terrorized by white supremacists intent on preserving the racial hierarchy as promises of land, opportunity and security were abandoned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t safe for Black people to look white people in the eye. It wasn’t safe for Black people to vote. It wasn’t safe for Black people to be in some towns after dark. It wasn’t safe for Black people to prosper. To maintain institutionalized social order, first it was the slave patrols, and now it’s the police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Racial terror swept this country for decades after emancipation as white mobs — some dressed in robes and hoods, some flashing badges and guns — destroyed homes, towns and lives. The racial segregation enforced in the South initiated the migration of Black people to states like California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For more than a year, the reparations task force, \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/task-force-notice-agenda-03032023-03042023.pdf\">which meets Friday and Saturday in Sacramento (PDF)\u003c/a>, has documented the unsavory truth about Black history — a history that is more than the cherry-picked sections of Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream speech. Honoring Black history must include the centuries of state-sanctioned violence that America willfully ignores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Black history is American history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After I watched the footage of Nichols being brutalized by the officers who immediately began constructing a false narrative as they gasped for air, I thought about Rodney King, the Black man who was savagely beaten by Los Angeles Police Department officers in 1991, an assault recorded by an amateur videographer. The grainy footage of King writhing in pain as officers swung batons as if they were chopping sugarcane will stick in my mind forever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I thought about Delphine Allen, the Black man who, while walking in West Oakland in 2000, was kidnapped and assaulted by rogue Oakland police officers. His feet were struck with a baton before he was driven to a secluded highway overpass, where the beating continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allen was the lead plaintiff in a civil rights lawsuit that alleged \u003ca href=\"https://clearinghouse.net/case/5541/\">misconduct and excessive use of force by four Oakland police officers\u003c/a> — and a lack of discipline and accountability for officer misconduct within the Oakland Police Department. More than 100 residents alleged mistreatment — brutal beatings, unlawful detention, intimidation — in the lawsuit that led to the federal monitoring of the OPD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The quartet of officers known as “The Riders” rampaged West Oakland, an area once patrolled by the Black Panthers \u003cem>because of\u003c/em> police brutality, after sunset. An enduring vestige of enslavement is the over-policing of Black neighborhoods. As part of the $11 million settlement with the plaintiffs in 2003, the police department was forced to comply with court-ordered reforms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost two decades after the settlement, \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2023/02/15/oakland-police-chief-leronne-armstrong-fired-mayor-sheng-thao/\">LeRonne Armstrong, OPD’s police chief, was fired on Feb. 15\u003c/a>, in part, because of an independent report that detailed the police department’s mishandling of officer misconduct — the kind of violation that led to federal monitoring in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942048\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11942048\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS49478_044_Oakland_NAACPGeorgeFloyd_05252021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A bald Black man in a blue police uniform stands outside in the sun holding a microphone and squinting\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS49478_044_Oakland_NAACPGeorgeFloyd_05252021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS49478_044_Oakland_NAACPGeorgeFloyd_05252021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS49478_044_Oakland_NAACPGeorgeFloyd_05252021-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS49478_044_Oakland_NAACPGeorgeFloyd_05252021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS49478_044_Oakland_NAACPGeorgeFloyd_05252021-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong, pictured at a 2021 NAACP event paying tribute to George Floyd, was fired by Mayor Sheng Thao on Feb. 15. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Last month, I interviewed Darwin BondGraham and Ali Winston, co-authors of \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2023/01/13/oakland-police-darwin-bondgraham-riders-ali-winston-book-opd/\">\u003cem>The Riders Come Out at Night: Brutality, Corruption, and Cover-Up in Oakland\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, as part of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/archive/video/uncovering-brutality-cover-and-corruption-oakland\">Commonwealth Club of California event\u003c/a>. In the book, BondGraham, news editor for The Oaklandside, and Winston, an independent journalist, present a riveting and profound portrait of out-of-control policing in Oakland. \u003cem>The Riders Come Out at Night\u003c/em> is a compelling argument for why the police can’t be trusted with reforming the institution of policing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2016, OPD cycled through three police chiefs in eight days, an infamous stretch initiated by another misconduct scandal, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11080955/alameda-county-da-charges-7-cops-with-sexually-exploiting-teenager\">sex-trafficking of a minor by Oakland police officers and officers from multiple Bay Area jurisdictions\u003c/a>. The same year, two officers were suspended because of a racist text scandal. In 2021, nine officers were disciplined for racist and sexist social media posts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s what led to the firing of Armstrong, who is from West Oakland and became chief two years ago this month: In 2021, an OPD sergeant driving a police vehicle hit a parked car in the garage of his San Francisco apartment building. The driver, Sgt. Michael Chung, who was instrumental in OPD’s response to crime in Chinatown, didn’t report the accident. In 2022, Chung fired his gun in an elevator at police headquarters. Again, no report was filed. An investigation by a law firm found that an OPD captain had Chung’s violations reduced so his punishment was less severe. According to the investigators with Clarence Dyer & Cohen LLP, Armstrong was aware of the light discipline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Jan. 18, the federal judge monitoring OPD’s reform efforts made the report by Clarence Dyer & Cohen public. The investigation “revealed systemic failures far larger and more serious than the actions of one police officer,” the \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/OPD-IA-cases-NSA-compliance-report.pdf\">blistering report (PDF)\u003c/a> concluded. The next day Armstrong was placed on paid administrative leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s when he should’ve copped a plea and said, “My bad, y’all.” Instead, he campaigned for his job at a rally on the steps of Oakland City Hall. The NAACP held another rally on Feb. 20. I called Terry Wiley, the former Alameda County prosecutor who is handling press around the firing for the NAACP. Wiley told me that Armstrong had made the kind of progress people of color want to see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942080\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11942080\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS63165_GettyImages-1466897640-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A profile shot of a group of roughly 10 people, most of them Black, listening while a woman in the middle claps her hands\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1291\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS63165_GettyImages-1466897640-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS63165_GettyImages-1466897640-qut-800x538.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS63165_GettyImages-1466897640-qut-1020x686.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS63165_GettyImages-1466897640-qut-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS63165_GettyImages-1466897640-qut-1536x1033.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Community members listen to speakers during a rally in support of terminated Oakland police Chief LeRonne Armstrong at City Hall on Feb. 16. \u003ccite>(Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“When you look at the balance of all of the positives he has brought to the department as the chief, the question becomes, was this incident such that he should be terminated?” said Wiley, who lost the November election for district attorney to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11940920/when-da-boudin-investigated-police-killings-arrests-slowed-that-may-not-happen-with-da-pamela-price\">progressive Pamela Price\u003c/a>. “Our conclusion was that the mayor went too far on this, and that there should have been much more contemplation about the decision.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement released by Sam Singer, a crisis manager, shortly after Armstrong was terminated, Armstrong referred to himself as a “loyal and effective reformer.” But reform isn’t possible without zero tolerance for misconduct, and the failure to issue appropriate discipline is inexcusable, especially for someone who pledges loyalty to reform.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The police are incapable of policing the police. Just look around the Bay Area. In Vallejo, a city that blithely dodges police scrutiny, \u003ca href=\"https://openvallejo.org/2023/02/05/vallejo-destroyed-evidence-of-police-killings/\">the city destroyed evidence in multiple police killings\u003c/a> despite being under investigation by the state attorney general, according to reporting by Open Vallejo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/09/10/exclusive-fbi-criminal-investigation-of-antioch-pittsburg-cops-grows-grand-jury-convening/\">Officers in Antioch and Pittsburg are under investigation by the FBI and the Contra Costa district attorney\u003c/a> for fraud and civil rights violations, and federal prosecutors have already dismissed more than a dozen cases that hinged on officer testimony, according to \u003cem>The Mercury News\u003c/em>. And in Berkeley, the city’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11932420/berkeley-postpones-hiring-of-new-police-chief-amid-controversy-over-another-officers-alleged-racist-texts\">former police union head allegedly sent racist, anti-unhoused text messages\u003c/a> to officers while pushing for more arrests, as multiple newsrooms, including KQED, reported in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In January, the California Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board published a report that found that \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ripa-board-report-2023.pdf\">police searched Black people at twice the rate of white people in 2021 (PDF)\u003c/a>. And get this: Officers were more likely to find contraband on white people than Black and Latino people, according to the report, which also found that police were twice as likely to use force against Black people than white people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2021, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/data-reveals-racial-disparities-police-stops-bay-17763091.php\">Black people were six times as likely to be stopped in Oakland than white people\u003c/a>, according to the\u003cem> San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>’s analysis of the police-stop data recently released by the state attorney general.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Francisco, Black people were at least five times as likely to be stopped than white people. This is a city where officers accused of, among other infractions, sexual misconduct, domestic violence and sharing racist and antisemitic texts work desk duty in a windowless room while raking in millions collectively, according to the San Francisco Standard’s \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/criminal-justice/cop-used-drugs-had-car-sex-with-a-teenager-then-sf-spent-1-2m-to-keep-him-on-desk-duty/\">three-part series on police accountability\u003c/a>. This is the city where \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/jenkins-police-investigate-17782463.php\">the law-and-order district attorney gutted the unit that investigates police misconduct and violence\u003c/a>, according to reporting by the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101892172/wesley-lowery-on-americas-elusive-racial-reckoning\">episode of Forum\u003c/a>, Wesley Lowery, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, talked with host Mina Kim about “\u003ca href=\"https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/02/tyre-nichols-death-memphis-george-floyd-police-reform/672986/\">Why There Was No Racial Reckoning\u003c/a>,” a piece he wrote for \u003cem>The Atlantic\u003c/em>. George Floyd’s murder by police in Minneapolis in May 2020 sparked nationwide uprisings not seen since 1967. Floyd’s death was supposed to also spark a reimagining of policing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That, of course, hasn’t happened. Instead, the backlash against protests that demanded more funding for social services has empowered cities to continue criminalizing poverty. Posturing by police and politicians isn’t going to provide relief for families who have been living in poverty for generations. The police are trained in coercion, which renders their skills insufficient to respond to the circumstances which allow criminal activity to flourish: disinvestment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What type of resources are we pouring into those communities if our aim is to cut down on crime?” Lowery said on Forum. “Is the resource we’re sending in a bunch of armed guys told to rough people up?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In July, the task force will deliver reparations recommendations, which are expected to include direct payments to eligible Black Californians. But reparations are more than compensation. Last summer, the task force \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-interim-report-preliminary-recommendations-2022.pdf\">released a preliminary report (PDF)\u003c/a> with recommendations to address, among other things, the unjust legal system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The police are the gatekeepers of that system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The preliminary report suggests reducing “the scope of law enforcement jurisdiction within the public safety system” and shifting “more funding for prevention and mental health care.” The report also calls for the elimination of “discriminatory policing and particularly killings, use of force and racial profiling” of Black people; the elimination of racial disparities in police stops; and the elimination of over-policing of predominantly Black communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task force could pave the road to viable racial equity in America. But to get to that place, it’s guaranteed to be a bumpy journey. Make sure you buckle up for safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The hunt for racial equity in the United States may strike gold in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least that’s how many hope the work of the \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/ab3121/members\">California Reparations Task Force\u003c/a>, the first statewide body to study reparations for Black people, will pan out. The task force could potentially change the course of history by creating a malleable reparations model that the federal government could adapt for a nationwide package.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11906054/it-means-to-repair-what-you-should-know-about-reparations-for-black-californians#definition\">The term “reparation” is derived from “repair.”\u003c/a> But before we can seriously consider atonement and financial restitution for more than two centuries of enslavement, America, like California, must first acknowledge that, because of enslavement, racial inequities persist. Even though California staked a claim as a free state, Black people have endured marginalization and systemic racism since the state’s inception, as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations\">KQED’s yearslong project on reparations continues to report\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anti-Black racism in America is a vestige of chattel slavery. The task force has mined the lingering effects on society, releasing an \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-reparations-interim-report-2022.pdf\">interim report (PDF)\u003c/a> last year that provided nuggets on how closely linked California’s past is to the present. The durability of systemic racism can be difficult to digest. That’s why Manjula Varghese, a digital producer and editor for KQED Arts and Culture, produced a five-part video series that enriches the reparations debate and, most importantly, provides enlightenment on why reparations are a necessary tool to achieve equity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnwBMVDCx_M\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Directed by Varghese, with assistance from Lakshmi Sarah, a weekend digital producer and reporter, and Chinwe Oniah, a Bay Area-based filmmaker, the series explores how the perpetual influence of chattel slavery — disparities in education, health, wealth and more — affects the lives of Black people in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The series will delve into the history of the reparations movement in America, while also exploring a part of California history that is rarely discussed: the hostility toward Black settlements, and how thriving Black communities were systematically torn apart and turned into ghost towns. KQED’s viewers will be introduced to the nine-member task force and, as part of the lead-up to the release of the task force’s landmark report this summer, viewers will meet people who have been digging for reparations for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Reparations in California\" link1=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations,Explore why California launched the first-in-the-nation task force to study reparations for Black people\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/2022/02/RiCLandingPageGraphic-1020x574.png\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task force has until July 1 to deliver reparations recommendations, which are expected to include direct payments to eligible Black Californians. From there, California’s state Legislature will determine what to do with the recommendations to address, among other things, political disenfranchisement, housing segregation, environmental racism and an unjust legal system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anything less than a significant investment in the communities that have historically been denied opportunity will signal that the report was fool’s gold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The hunt for racial equity in the United States may strike gold in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least that’s how many hope the work of the \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/ab3121/members\">California Reparations Task Force\u003c/a>, the first statewide body to study reparations for Black people, will pan out. The task force could potentially change the course of history by creating a malleable reparations model that the federal government could adapt for a nationwide package.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11906054/it-means-to-repair-what-you-should-know-about-reparations-for-black-californians#definition\">The term “reparation” is derived from “repair.”\u003c/a> But before we can seriously consider atonement and financial restitution for more than two centuries of enslavement, America, like California, must first acknowledge that, because of enslavement, racial inequities persist. Even though California staked a claim as a free state, Black people have endured marginalization and systemic racism since the state’s inception, as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations\">KQED’s yearslong project on reparations continues to report\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anti-Black racism in America is a vestige of chattel slavery. The task force has mined the lingering effects on society, releasing an \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-reparations-interim-report-2022.pdf\">interim report (PDF)\u003c/a> last year that provided nuggets on how closely linked California’s past is to the present. The durability of systemic racism can be difficult to digest. That’s why Manjula Varghese, a digital producer and editor for KQED Arts and Culture, produced a five-part video series that enriches the reparations debate and, most importantly, provides enlightenment on why reparations are a necessary tool to achieve equity.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/vnwBMVDCx_M'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/vnwBMVDCx_M'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Directed by Varghese, with assistance from Lakshmi Sarah, a weekend digital producer and reporter, and Chinwe Oniah, a Bay Area-based filmmaker, the series explores how the perpetual influence of chattel slavery — disparities in education, health, wealth and more — affects the lives of Black people in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task force has until July 1 to deliver reparations recommendations, which are expected to include direct payments to eligible Black Californians. From there, California’s state Legislature will determine what to do with the recommendations to address, among other things, political disenfranchisement, housing segregation, environmental racism and an unjust legal system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anything less than a significant investment in the communities that have historically been denied opportunity will signal that the report was fool’s gold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Valeria Contreras’ phone started ringing on a bustling Saturday last February, when she was driving past almond and pistachio orchards on an errand run. Some callers sounded panicked. Others were just upset. “Where’s the water?” they asked her. “How come you guys don’t notify us? I know I’m past due, but did you guys turn off my water?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contreras lives in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11925020/promised-land-a-historically-black-california-town-honors-its-proud-painful-past-and-fights-for-its-future\">Allensworth\u003c/a>, a small town of about 500 people an hour’s drive north of Bakersfield, in California’s Central Valley. She runs her own catering company, and in her spare time she is also the general manager of the Allensworth Community Services District, which oversees the town’s water supply. Back in February, Contreras had no idea why the water had stopped flowing. And it was her job to fix it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='news_11925020,education_535779']Contreras and other community leaders spent the rest of the weekend scrambling to find the source of the problem. It turned out the pumps on a few of Allensworth’s water wells had failed — the system is old and prone to breaking — and it took the town a month to fully fix it. Then the water system broke down again a few months later. These days, Contreras keeps a few extra gallons of water on her back patio, just in case it happens again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You would think it’s just water, but it’s a necessity — to use a restroom, to wash, to do anything,” Contreras said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Clean, safe and affordable drinking water is considered a human right under state law, but nearly a million residents don’t have access to it. Like Contreras, many of them live in the Central Valley, a patchwork of desert scrub and irrigated farmland that’s twice the size of Massachusetts and produces 25% of the nation’s food supply. To some extent, the state’s historic, climate change-fueled drought is to blame. The number of dry wells in California has shot up by more than 70% since last year, many of them in the valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='small' citation='Sherry Hunter, president, Allensworth Community Services District']‘Water is something you cannot live without. And if it’s not drinkable, you may as well be without.’[/pullquote]The drought has only exacerbated long-standing water access issues that in many valley communities can be traced back to decades of neglect and racist policies. Nowhere is this more apparent than Allensworth. Founded in 1908, the town was the first community in California to be financed, built and governed by African Americans. Ten years later, it had been all but decimated by white farmers and corporate interests. Water was one of their weapons of choice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, more than a century later, local leaders like Contreras are still dealing with the aftereffects and periodic crises. But they are also laser-focused on securing a sustainable and clean drinking water supply for the town — and their creative approach could turn out to be a blueprint for other water-insecure communities in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>A thriving Black community\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“Water has always been an issue here in Allensworth,” said Sherry Hunter, who is president of the Allensworth Community Services District and manages the town’s water system with Contreras. Contreras was visiting her on a sweltering summer afternoon, when it was over 100 degrees, but no one seemed to mind. When it comes to California heat, the women agreed, people from Los Angeles are whiners; people from the Bay Area are just plain weak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we were kids, there was no AC,” said Contreras. “You sat in those leather seats … ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And sweated profusely,” said Hunter. “And you were happy about it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11925128\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58540_02_Allensworth00017-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11925128\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58540_02_Allensworth00017-qut-800x522.jpg\" alt='Two Black women with natural salt-and-pepper hair and one Latina woman with black hair pulled into a tight bun sit on the cracked cement front steps of a gray, wood-paneled building with a white door. The women wear blue jeans. One woman wears a white t-shirt with front buttons and splashes of purple and green. One woman wears a white cotton shirt with black embroidery down the front and arms. The third woman wears a white t-shirt reading \"La Cocina de Contreras.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"522\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58540_02_Allensworth00017-qut-800x522.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58540_02_Allensworth00017-qut-1020x666.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58540_02_Allensworth00017-qut-160x104.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58540_02_Allensworth00017-qut-1536x1002.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58540_02_Allensworth00017-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">From left, Denise Kadara, Sherry Hunter and Valeria Contreras talk on the steps of the Allensworth Community Center on Friday, Aug. 26, 2022. The women are residents of the small Tulare County town and are trying to get help to provide its residents with clean water. \u003ccite>(Craig Kohlruss/FERN)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hunter’s sister, Denise Kadara, was there, too. She advocates for marginalized communities across the region as vice chair of the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board. The sisters played a pivotal role in helping Contreras fix the water outage back in February. They are also among Allensworth’s few remaining Black residents. Their mother moved to town in the 1970s after learning about its troubled history, and her children followed her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Her mission was to make sure that this town did not die and that history got it right,” said Hunter. “And we knew without a second thought we had to be a part of that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lieutenant Colonel Allen Allensworth was the town’s iconoclastic founder. He was born into slavery, escaped to fight for the Union during the Civil War, and became the highest-ranking Black military officer of his time. With Jim Crow tightening its grip on the South, he wanted to go West and build a town “where African Americans would settle upon the bare desert and cause it to blossom as a rose.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='news_11922175,news_11891836']In 1908, he and his co-founders bought a stretch of farmland in the Central Valley and got to work. Many of the town’s streets were named after prominent Black leaders or abolitionists, and its founders dreamed of building the West’s first Black university.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They had a glee club, they had a debate society,” said Kadara. “They were a thriving, upscale community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And they had water from the nearby White River. But a few years after Allensworth was established, powerful white farmers diverted the stream to irrigate their crops and cut off the town’s supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fortunately, Allensworth had a backup plan: groundwater. The town planned to tap into the ancient aquifers that run deep underground in the Central Valley. A local company that had sold them land promised to help dig the wells and build the town’s water system, according to several historians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the firm, Pacific Farming Co., violated its contract and drilled fewer than half of the wells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Allensworth was promised fertile land and water — which [was] reneged on,” said Hunter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11925123\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00009-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11925123\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00009-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"An aerial view of a small, dusty town, surrounded by bare dirt. In the distance, lush, irrigated farmlands are visible. \" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00009-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00009-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00009-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00009-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00009-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00009-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dusty roads and parched land lead through the town of Allensworth in rural Tulare County. Irrigated, lush farmlands are visible in the distance. \u003ccite>(Craig Kohlruss/FERN)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The town sued Pacific Farming, but reached a settlement that left the town in debt. Meanwhile, the company honored its contract with Alpaugh, a majority-white community a few miles away, and dug all the wells they had agreed to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These battles over water access were prevalent throughout California in the early 20th century. As the Central Valley became an agricultural powerhouse, Black migrants flocked to it for a piece of the California dream, along with immigrants from Mexico, Japan, India and the Philippines. But more established local farmers, almost all of whom were white, sought to control as much of the state’s water as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The result, says Jonathan London, an associate professor at the UC Davis Department of Human Ecology, was a “separate but unequal system of water provisions.” When corporate interests resorted to illegal behavior, communities of color took them to court, but rarely got a fair hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a really difficult situation — getting squeezed by the corporations on one hand, in a way that really was racially biased, and then having a judicial system that was also racially biased,” said London. “They had really nowhere to turn.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11925125\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00012-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11925125\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00012-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A sagging, abandoned wooden building sits in dry soil behind a barbed wire fence.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00012-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00012-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00012-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00012-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00012-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00012-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An abandoned structure sits on dry land in the town of Allensworth in rural Tulare County. \u003ccite>(Craig Kohlruss/FERN)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Without a secure water supply, Allensworth’s farmers couldn’t get enough water for their crops. And they faced other racist roadblocks. Local companies charged Black farmers nearly four times as much for land as white farmers, then tried to prevent them from buying land altogether. The railroad shut down Allensworth’s station and moved it to the majority-white Alpaugh. Then, in 1914, Lt. Col. Allen Allensworth was struck and killed by a motorcycle. The driver was white, and no charges were ever brought against him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the 1920s, Allensworth’s Black residents started to move away.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>‘If it’s not drinkable, you may as well be without’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Today, the most visible evidence of Lt. Col. Allensworth’s utopian project is an obscure California state park. Tourists can walk through the town’s original buildings, visit the old church, and tour the lieutenant colonel’s home. Contemporary Allensworth sits across the street. It’s quiet and welcoming, populated by mostly Latinx farmworkers who moved in as Black residents departed. The town is hemmed in by irrigated vineyards and orchards. Many Central Valley farmers get water deliveries from the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project, feats of 20th-century engineering that shuttle water from Northern California to cities and farms in the south. But like most small valley towns, Allensworth doesn’t have access to this water source.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, it’s still tapping its shrinking aquifer, which, according to residents, tastes unusually good. There’s “an itty-bitty sweetness to it,” said Hunter. But like most people in town, she only uses the water to shower, wash dishes or flush toilets. She hasn’t had a drink from it in years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Come to find out the water was contaminated with arsenic,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='small' citation='Denise Kadara, Allensworth resident']‘Being creative is not something we wanted to do. It’s that we’ve had enough.’[/pullquote]Arsenic is tasteless, odorless, colorless and extremely toxic; trace amounts of the naturally occurring contaminant can increase cancer risk. In Allensworth, some wells have arsenic levels 15 times the legal limit. State officials have known about Allensworth’s arsenic problem since at least the 1960s, but for decades, residents say, they weren’t told how dangerous it was. Hunter and her sister didn’t find out until the 1990s. By then, residents had been drinking the contaminated water their entire lives. “Nobody told them,” said Hunter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allensworth is far from alone. According to a damning state auditor’s report earlier this year, nearly a million Californians face an increased risk of cancer, kidney problems and other long-term health crises because their water isn’t safe to drink. Many systems are contaminated by nitrate pollution arising from farming, or by arsenic, which can become more concentrated when farmers overpump their aquifers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to other studies, the communities suffering from contamination are disproportionately Black and Brown, without the resources to fix the problem, the report noted. The California State Water Resources Control Board has the funding to help these failing water systems, but the agency “has generally demonstrated a lack of urgency in providing this critical assistance,” the state auditor’s report said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11925127\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58541_05_Allensworth00016-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11925127\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58541_05_Allensworth00016-qut-800x523.jpg\" alt=\"A Black woman with natural salt-and-pepper hair fills up a plastic water bottle from a outdoor silver spigot. The woman wears blue jeans and a white t-shirt with buttons down the front and splashes of purple and green. Behind her is a grey, wood-paneled building and a large tree with wide branches.\" width=\"800\" height=\"523\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58541_05_Allensworth00016-qut-800x523.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58541_05_Allensworth00016-qut-1020x666.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58541_05_Allensworth00016-qut-160x105.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58541_05_Allensworth00016-qut-1536x1003.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58541_05_Allensworth00016-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Denise Kadara fills up her water bottle from a spigot producing the only clean water in the town of Allensworth. The water is collected via solar-powered hydropanels, which suck ambient moisture from the air. \u003ccite>(Craig Kohlruss/FERN)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Right now, the only arsenic-free water in Allensworth comes from a small spigot in the center of town, across the street from the elementary school. There are two black solar panels a few feet away, which emit a mechanical buzz beneath the squabbling of nearby chickens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You hear the hum?” said Kayode Kadara, Denise Kadara’s husband. “Those are motors running, powered by the sun.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hydropanel system pulls moisture out of the air. Kadara poured some water from the spigot. “Completely arsenic-free,” he said with satisfaction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allensworth’s hydropanels are the result of a pilot program with Source, a renewable drinking water company based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Last year, the town installed two hydropanel prototypes near the elementary school, and local leaders plan to install two panels at every home in the community. The technology is expensive and somewhat limited — each hydropanel produces only about a gallon of water a day. But to Hunter, they’re better than nothing because the water is arsenic-free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It would be enough to cook and enough to drink,” she said. “Water is something you cannot live without. And if it’s not drinkable, you may as well be without.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11925124\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/06_Allensworth00006-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11925124\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/06_Allensworth00006-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two rectangular solar panels sit slanted to the sun in front of a one-story, grey, wood-paneled building. Three windows in the building have white wood trim and a lattice of squares inside the trim.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/06_Allensworth00006-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/06_Allensworth00006-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/06_Allensworth00006-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/06_Allensworth00006-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/06_Allensworth00006-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/06_Allensworth00006-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Solar-powered hydropanels collect ambient moisture from the air to produce the only clean water in Allensworth outside the town’s community center. \u003ccite>(Craig Kohlruss/FERN)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The panels are also a stopgap measure, which will tide Allensworth over as it works on longer-term solutions like an experimental arsenic-removal technology with UC Berkeley’s Gadgil Laboratory. If it works, it could help hundreds of other communities whose water is also contaminated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The town is pursuing much of this work on its own, with unpaid volunteers working with partners on projects and cobbling together grant funding to make it happen. Hunter, Kadara and a group of other Black and Latinx leaders in town know that if they’re going to save Allensworth — and its history — they need to solve its water crisis. It’s the only way Allensworth can thrive again.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Watering the future\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On a 105-degree day last June, Allensworth doubled in size. Hundreds of people braved the heat, bought themselves plates of hot links and crowded the stage in the center of town to celebrate Juneteenth, the holiday celebrating the emancipation of enslaved people. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Reparations in California\" link1=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations,Explore why California launched the first-in-the-nation task force to study reparations for Black people\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/2022/02/RiCLandingPageGraphic-1020x574.png\"]As the audience sweated over Styrofoam cups of lemonade and swayed to the music, Hunter and Kadara worked the crowd. A coalition of Black and Brown farmers handed out smoothies. Scientists and grad students set up shop by the old schoolhouse, showcasing a half dozen projects to help solve Allensworth’s water crisis. Staffers for local congressmembers and state senators milled about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a reason scientists and politicians are looking at Allensworth. California’s historic drought is getting worse. More than 90% of Central Valley residents are now relying on groundwater, and as the state overpumps its aquifers, the water is becoming more contaminated and dwindling fast. If any of these communities are going to survive in the long term, they’re going to need access to clean drinking water. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So Allensworth may become a beacon, an example of what one water-stressed community can do to ensure a water supply after a century of denied access and repeated crises. Its leaders might end up piloting some of California’s water solutions precisely because they’ve been forced to take matters into their own hands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Being creative is not something we wanted to do,” said Kadara. “It’s that we’ve had enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">This piece was produced in collaboration with the \u003c/i>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">\u003ca class=\"c-link\" href=\"https://thefern.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https://thefern.org/\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\" data-remove-tab-index=\"true\">Food and Environment Reporting Network\u003c/a>\u003c/i>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">, a nonprofit, investigative news organization\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "Racism Robbed This Historically Black California Town of Its Water. Now, They're Developing Water of Their Own | KQED",
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"headline": "Racism Robbed This Historically Black California Town of Its Water. Now, They're Developing Water of Their Own",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Valeria Contreras’ phone started ringing on a bustling Saturday last February, when she was driving past almond and pistachio orchards on an errand run. Some callers sounded panicked. Others were just upset. “Where’s the water?” they asked her. “How come you guys don’t notify us? I know I’m past due, but did you guys turn off my water?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contreras lives in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11925020/promised-land-a-historically-black-california-town-honors-its-proud-painful-past-and-fights-for-its-future\">Allensworth\u003c/a>, a small town of about 500 people an hour’s drive north of Bakersfield, in California’s Central Valley. She runs her own catering company, and in her spare time she is also the general manager of the Allensworth Community Services District, which oversees the town’s water supply. Back in February, Contreras had no idea why the water had stopped flowing. And it was her job to fix it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Contreras and other community leaders spent the rest of the weekend scrambling to find the source of the problem. It turned out the pumps on a few of Allensworth’s water wells had failed — the system is old and prone to breaking — and it took the town a month to fully fix it. Then the water system broke down again a few months later. These days, Contreras keeps a few extra gallons of water on her back patio, just in case it happens again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You would think it’s just water, but it’s a necessity — to use a restroom, to wash, to do anything,” Contreras said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Clean, safe and affordable drinking water is considered a human right under state law, but nearly a million residents don’t have access to it. Like Contreras, many of them live in the Central Valley, a patchwork of desert scrub and irrigated farmland that’s twice the size of Massachusetts and produces 25% of the nation’s food supply. To some extent, the state’s historic, climate change-fueled drought is to blame. The number of dry wells in California has shot up by more than 70% since last year, many of them in the valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Water is something you cannot live without. And if it’s not drinkable, you may as well be without.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The drought has only exacerbated long-standing water access issues that in many valley communities can be traced back to decades of neglect and racist policies. Nowhere is this more apparent than Allensworth. Founded in 1908, the town was the first community in California to be financed, built and governed by African Americans. Ten years later, it had been all but decimated by white farmers and corporate interests. Water was one of their weapons of choice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, more than a century later, local leaders like Contreras are still dealing with the aftereffects and periodic crises. But they are also laser-focused on securing a sustainable and clean drinking water supply for the town — and their creative approach could turn out to be a blueprint for other water-insecure communities in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>A thriving Black community\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“Water has always been an issue here in Allensworth,” said Sherry Hunter, who is president of the Allensworth Community Services District and manages the town’s water system with Contreras. Contreras was visiting her on a sweltering summer afternoon, when it was over 100 degrees, but no one seemed to mind. When it comes to California heat, the women agreed, people from Los Angeles are whiners; people from the Bay Area are just plain weak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we were kids, there was no AC,” said Contreras. “You sat in those leather seats … ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And sweated profusely,” said Hunter. “And you were happy about it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11925128\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58540_02_Allensworth00017-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11925128\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58540_02_Allensworth00017-qut-800x522.jpg\" alt='Two Black women with natural salt-and-pepper hair and one Latina woman with black hair pulled into a tight bun sit on the cracked cement front steps of a gray, wood-paneled building with a white door. The women wear blue jeans. One woman wears a white t-shirt with front buttons and splashes of purple and green. One woman wears a white cotton shirt with black embroidery down the front and arms. The third woman wears a white t-shirt reading \"La Cocina de Contreras.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"522\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58540_02_Allensworth00017-qut-800x522.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58540_02_Allensworth00017-qut-1020x666.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58540_02_Allensworth00017-qut-160x104.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58540_02_Allensworth00017-qut-1536x1002.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58540_02_Allensworth00017-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">From left, Denise Kadara, Sherry Hunter and Valeria Contreras talk on the steps of the Allensworth Community Center on Friday, Aug. 26, 2022. The women are residents of the small Tulare County town and are trying to get help to provide its residents with clean water. \u003ccite>(Craig Kohlruss/FERN)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hunter’s sister, Denise Kadara, was there, too. She advocates for marginalized communities across the region as vice chair of the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board. The sisters played a pivotal role in helping Contreras fix the water outage back in February. They are also among Allensworth’s few remaining Black residents. Their mother moved to town in the 1970s after learning about its troubled history, and her children followed her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Her mission was to make sure that this town did not die and that history got it right,” said Hunter. “And we knew without a second thought we had to be a part of that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lieutenant Colonel Allen Allensworth was the town’s iconoclastic founder. He was born into slavery, escaped to fight for the Union during the Civil War, and became the highest-ranking Black military officer of his time. With Jim Crow tightening its grip on the South, he wanted to go West and build a town “where African Americans would settle upon the bare desert and cause it to blossom as a rose.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In 1908, he and his co-founders bought a stretch of farmland in the Central Valley and got to work. Many of the town’s streets were named after prominent Black leaders or abolitionists, and its founders dreamed of building the West’s first Black university.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They had a glee club, they had a debate society,” said Kadara. “They were a thriving, upscale community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And they had water from the nearby White River. But a few years after Allensworth was established, powerful white farmers diverted the stream to irrigate their crops and cut off the town’s supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fortunately, Allensworth had a backup plan: groundwater. The town planned to tap into the ancient aquifers that run deep underground in the Central Valley. A local company that had sold them land promised to help dig the wells and build the town’s water system, according to several historians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the firm, Pacific Farming Co., violated its contract and drilled fewer than half of the wells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Allensworth was promised fertile land and water — which [was] reneged on,” said Hunter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11925123\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00009-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11925123\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00009-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"An aerial view of a small, dusty town, surrounded by bare dirt. In the distance, lush, irrigated farmlands are visible. \" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00009-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00009-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00009-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00009-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00009-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00009-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dusty roads and parched land lead through the town of Allensworth in rural Tulare County. Irrigated, lush farmlands are visible in the distance. \u003ccite>(Craig Kohlruss/FERN)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The town sued Pacific Farming, but reached a settlement that left the town in debt. Meanwhile, the company honored its contract with Alpaugh, a majority-white community a few miles away, and dug all the wells they had agreed to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These battles over water access were prevalent throughout California in the early 20th century. As the Central Valley became an agricultural powerhouse, Black migrants flocked to it for a piece of the California dream, along with immigrants from Mexico, Japan, India and the Philippines. But more established local farmers, almost all of whom were white, sought to control as much of the state’s water as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The result, says Jonathan London, an associate professor at the UC Davis Department of Human Ecology, was a “separate but unequal system of water provisions.” When corporate interests resorted to illegal behavior, communities of color took them to court, but rarely got a fair hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a really difficult situation — getting squeezed by the corporations on one hand, in a way that really was racially biased, and then having a judicial system that was also racially biased,” said London. “They had really nowhere to turn.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11925125\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00012-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11925125\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00012-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A sagging, abandoned wooden building sits in dry soil behind a barbed wire fence.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00012-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00012-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00012-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00012-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00012-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Allensworth00012-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An abandoned structure sits on dry land in the town of Allensworth in rural Tulare County. \u003ccite>(Craig Kohlruss/FERN)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Without a secure water supply, Allensworth’s farmers couldn’t get enough water for their crops. And they faced other racist roadblocks. Local companies charged Black farmers nearly four times as much for land as white farmers, then tried to prevent them from buying land altogether. The railroad shut down Allensworth’s station and moved it to the majority-white Alpaugh. Then, in 1914, Lt. Col. Allen Allensworth was struck and killed by a motorcycle. The driver was white, and no charges were ever brought against him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the 1920s, Allensworth’s Black residents started to move away.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>‘If it’s not drinkable, you may as well be without’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Today, the most visible evidence of Lt. Col. Allensworth’s utopian project is an obscure California state park. Tourists can walk through the town’s original buildings, visit the old church, and tour the lieutenant colonel’s home. Contemporary Allensworth sits across the street. It’s quiet and welcoming, populated by mostly Latinx farmworkers who moved in as Black residents departed. The town is hemmed in by irrigated vineyards and orchards. Many Central Valley farmers get water deliveries from the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project, feats of 20th-century engineering that shuttle water from Northern California to cities and farms in the south. But like most small valley towns, Allensworth doesn’t have access to this water source.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, it’s still tapping its shrinking aquifer, which, according to residents, tastes unusually good. There’s “an itty-bitty sweetness to it,” said Hunter. But like most people in town, she only uses the water to shower, wash dishes or flush toilets. She hasn’t had a drink from it in years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Come to find out the water was contaminated with arsenic,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Arsenic is tasteless, odorless, colorless and extremely toxic; trace amounts of the naturally occurring contaminant can increase cancer risk. In Allensworth, some wells have arsenic levels 15 times the legal limit. State officials have known about Allensworth’s arsenic problem since at least the 1960s, but for decades, residents say, they weren’t told how dangerous it was. Hunter and her sister didn’t find out until the 1990s. By then, residents had been drinking the contaminated water their entire lives. “Nobody told them,” said Hunter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allensworth is far from alone. According to a damning state auditor’s report earlier this year, nearly a million Californians face an increased risk of cancer, kidney problems and other long-term health crises because their water isn’t safe to drink. Many systems are contaminated by nitrate pollution arising from farming, or by arsenic, which can become more concentrated when farmers overpump their aquifers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to other studies, the communities suffering from contamination are disproportionately Black and Brown, without the resources to fix the problem, the report noted. The California State Water Resources Control Board has the funding to help these failing water systems, but the agency “has generally demonstrated a lack of urgency in providing this critical assistance,” the state auditor’s report said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11925127\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58541_05_Allensworth00016-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11925127\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58541_05_Allensworth00016-qut-800x523.jpg\" alt=\"A Black woman with natural salt-and-pepper hair fills up a plastic water bottle from a outdoor silver spigot. The woman wears blue jeans and a white t-shirt with buttons down the front and splashes of purple and green. Behind her is a grey, wood-paneled building and a large tree with wide branches.\" width=\"800\" height=\"523\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58541_05_Allensworth00016-qut-800x523.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58541_05_Allensworth00016-qut-1020x666.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58541_05_Allensworth00016-qut-160x105.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58541_05_Allensworth00016-qut-1536x1003.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58541_05_Allensworth00016-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Denise Kadara fills up her water bottle from a spigot producing the only clean water in the town of Allensworth. The water is collected via solar-powered hydropanels, which suck ambient moisture from the air. \u003ccite>(Craig Kohlruss/FERN)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Right now, the only arsenic-free water in Allensworth comes from a small spigot in the center of town, across the street from the elementary school. There are two black solar panels a few feet away, which emit a mechanical buzz beneath the squabbling of nearby chickens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You hear the hum?” said Kayode Kadara, Denise Kadara’s husband. “Those are motors running, powered by the sun.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hydropanel system pulls moisture out of the air. Kadara poured some water from the spigot. “Completely arsenic-free,” he said with satisfaction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allensworth’s hydropanels are the result of a pilot program with Source, a renewable drinking water company based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Last year, the town installed two hydropanel prototypes near the elementary school, and local leaders plan to install two panels at every home in the community. The technology is expensive and somewhat limited — each hydropanel produces only about a gallon of water a day. But to Hunter, they’re better than nothing because the water is arsenic-free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It would be enough to cook and enough to drink,” she said. “Water is something you cannot live without. And if it’s not drinkable, you may as well be without.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11925124\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/06_Allensworth00006-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11925124\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/06_Allensworth00006-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two rectangular solar panels sit slanted to the sun in front of a one-story, grey, wood-paneled building. Three windows in the building have white wood trim and a lattice of squares inside the trim.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/06_Allensworth00006-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/06_Allensworth00006-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/06_Allensworth00006-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/06_Allensworth00006-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/06_Allensworth00006-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/06_Allensworth00006-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Solar-powered hydropanels collect ambient moisture from the air to produce the only clean water in Allensworth outside the town’s community center. \u003ccite>(Craig Kohlruss/FERN)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The panels are also a stopgap measure, which will tide Allensworth over as it works on longer-term solutions like an experimental arsenic-removal technology with UC Berkeley’s Gadgil Laboratory. If it works, it could help hundreds of other communities whose water is also contaminated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The town is pursuing much of this work on its own, with unpaid volunteers working with partners on projects and cobbling together grant funding to make it happen. Hunter, Kadara and a group of other Black and Latinx leaders in town know that if they’re going to save Allensworth — and its history — they need to solve its water crisis. It’s the only way Allensworth can thrive again.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Watering the future\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On a 105-degree day last June, Allensworth doubled in size. Hundreds of people braved the heat, bought themselves plates of hot links and crowded the stage in the center of town to celebrate Juneteenth, the holiday celebrating the emancipation of enslaved people. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"link1": "https://www.kqed.org/reparations,Explore why California launched the first-in-the-nation task force to study reparations for Black people",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>As the audience sweated over Styrofoam cups of lemonade and swayed to the music, Hunter and Kadara worked the crowd. A coalition of Black and Brown farmers handed out smoothies. Scientists and grad students set up shop by the old schoolhouse, showcasing a half dozen projects to help solve Allensworth’s water crisis. Staffers for local congressmembers and state senators milled about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a reason scientists and politicians are looking at Allensworth. California’s historic drought is getting worse. More than 90% of Central Valley residents are now relying on groundwater, and as the state overpumps its aquifers, the water is becoming more contaminated and dwindling fast. If any of these communities are going to survive in the long term, they’re going to need access to clean drinking water. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So Allensworth may become a beacon, an example of what one water-stressed community can do to ensure a water supply after a century of denied access and repeated crises. Its leaders might end up piloting some of California’s water solutions precisely because they’ve been forced to take matters into their own hands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Being creative is not something we wanted to do,” said Kadara. “It’s that we’ve had enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">This piece was produced in collaboration with the \u003c/i>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">\u003ca class=\"c-link\" href=\"https://thefern.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https://thefern.org/\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\" data-remove-tab-index=\"true\">Food and Environment Reporting Network\u003c/a>\u003c/i>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">, a nonprofit, investigative news organization\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "'Promised Land': A Historically Black California Town Honors Its Proud, Painful Past — and Fights for Its Future",
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"content": "\u003cp>The town of Allensworth, located 30 minutes off Interstate 5 near Bakersfield, was a thriving Black community in the early 20th century. Its founders — a group of five Black settlers including Lieutenant Colonel Allen Allensworth — envisioned a Black utopia. The town had its own school, church and bank.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To escape racist violence and discrimination after the Civil War, Black people built settlements known as freedmen’s towns in a number of states across the U.S. But Allensworth, established in 1908, was the first of its kind in California: a town governed entirely by Black people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='news_11925109']Lt. Col. Allensworth, who was enslaved in Kentucky before fleeing and becoming a Union soldier in the Civil War, was also a minister, educator and businessman. With his town, he hoped to create the “Tuskegee of the West,” according to Terrance Dean, a Black studies professor at Denison University in Ohio who has provided expert testimony to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11906054/it-means-to-repair-what-you-should-know-about-reparations-for-black-californians\">California’s Reparations Task Force\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a letter to Booker T. Washington — a prominent Black leader in the early 20th century and the principal of Tuskegee Institute, now known as Tuskegee University, a historically Black school in Alabama — Allensworth said the town would be “where African Americans would settle upon the bare desert and cause it to blossom as a rose.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11925050\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-576842560-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11925050\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-576842560-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1718\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-576842560-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-576842560-800x537.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-576842560-1020x685.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-576842560-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-576842560-1536x1031.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-576842560-2048x1374.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-576842560-1920x1289.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A portrait of Lt. Col. Allensworth near an abandoned home in Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park. \u003ccite>(Ted Streshinsky/Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Allensworth did blossom into a thriving town. But it had to rely on the state government and white-owned companies that controlled water distribution and the railroad, two lifelines that were soon snatched to squeeze Allensworth into submission — by 1920, the town was in severe decline.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Determined to be recognized\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Before the more widely known 1921 incident in which a white mob destroyed the homes and businesses of prosperous Black residents in Tulsa, Okla., killing almost 40 people, there was Allensworth, a settlement decimated by racism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once a destination where Black people from around the country moved for safety and an opportunity to flourish, Allensworth is now a dusty Central Valley outpost with a population of roughly 500. The town is a remarkable part of the state’s history, yet many people have never heard of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11922175,news_11840548,news_11916026\"]Allensworth and Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park, founded in 1974\u003cb data-stringify-type=\"bold\"> \u003c/b>to honor the town’s history and Black Californians, have come up in several meetings of California’s Reparations Task Force, the group researching reparations for the harm caused by the legacy of slavery in the state. The task force will make a formal recommendation to the state Legislature next summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There have been previous efforts to preserve and share Allensworth’s history and to revitalize the town’s economic base, but what might reparations look like? State Sen. Steven Bradford, a member of the Reparations Task Force, has referred to Allensworth as a ghost town. But a visit almost three months ago revealed a community determined to be recognized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amtrak offered a special 50% discount for train passengers stopping at Allensworth for a celebration of Juneteenth, the national holiday that commemorates emancipation. Maxine Butler was among those who took advantage of the chance to visit the town, catching the train at 6 a.m. on June 11 from the Emeryville Amtrak station. The platform bustled with excitement and anticipation as people boarded the Bakersfield-bound train.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Butler, who is from North Oakland, had received a terminal cancer diagnosis earlier that week. She said visiting Allensworth was on her bucket list. She’d also recently learned that her sister-in-law’s family lived there for six years, until 1940.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11925097\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/02_Maxine_Butler.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11925097\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/02_Maxine_Butler.jpg\" alt=\"an older woman sits on a train wearing a hat and sunglasses and looking out the window\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/02_Maxine_Butler.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/02_Maxine_Butler-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/02_Maxine_Butler-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/02_Maxine_Butler-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/02_Maxine_Butler-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maxine Butler of Oakland rides an Amtrak train to visit Allensworth in June 2022. \u003ccite>(Lakshmi Sarah/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I can only imagine the atmosphere at that time,” she said, referring to Allensworth’s beginnings. “Escaping the lynchings. Escaping the aftereffects of slavery. And they probably heard about this — this Jerusalem, this promised land called Allensworth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Butler has bright eyes and is a classical music singer who used to sing with the Oakland Symphony Chorus. She broke into song more than once as the train made its way through Central Valley towns during the 4.5-hour ride.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The importance of ‘home’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Homeownership is often the largest contributor to personal wealth in the United States. According to a Public Policy Institute of California data analysis, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/californias-housing-divide/\">Black homeownership rate in California is at 36.8%\u003c/a>, about 26.4 points below the rate for white households.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Home helps us to place a marker on our beginnings,” said Dean, of Denison University, in his testimony to the Reparations Task Force. “This is where this American odyssey begins for the hundreds of Black families of Allensworth, Calif., who unfortunately do not and cannot claim inheritance to a home that their ancestors created for them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the town’s founding, Dean spoke about William Payne, Allensworth’s first teacher and principal, who was denied a teaching license by the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Terrance Dean, Black studies professor, Denison University\"]‘Home helps us to place a marker on our beginnings. This is where this American odyssey begins for the hundreds of Black families … who unfortunately do not and cannot claim inheritance to a home that their ancestors created for them.’[/pullquote]Lt. Col. Allensworth had secured more than 9,000 acres “of the richest land in central California,” he wrote to Booker T. Washington. The settlement was on the main line of the Santa Fe Railway. According to Dean, Allensworth was the only transfer point between Los Angeles and Fresno at that time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In essence, it was a shining example of Black self-sufficiency and prosperity,” Dean said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A railroad diverted\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park, visitors can peek into the windows of each structure — the schoolhouse, the library and homes. The nearly 20 buildings are meant to look like they would have looked in 1908, complete with outhouses, furniture, books and even fake food in the kitchen of Lt. Col. Allensworth’s home. There’s a bizarre ghost-like quality to the buildings on days when there isn’t a celebration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a self-guided tour of sorts, visitors can call a number to hear a brief recording describing aspects of each building. The recording also describes the railroad station that connected Allensworth to the outside world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Trains brought friends and relatives, mail supplies and building materials,” a recorded voice says. “Most important, freight shipments supported the town’s economy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1914, a new stop was created in a neighboring white town and the number of shipments from Allensworth severely declined. That’s one of the factors that led to the town’s demise, according to Jerelyn Oliveira, who leads tours of the park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They added tracks over to the little community of Alpaugh, which is west of here by about seven miles,” she said. “All that agricultural product was being transported from Alpaugh instead of Allensworth. So the money started slowing down, dwindling, and then the trains stopped stopping here in 1929.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11925098\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0015-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11925098\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0015-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a bumper sticker that reads 'Visit California's Black Historic Town Allensworth'\" width=\"2560\" height=\"2095\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0015-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0015-800x655.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0015-1020x835.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0015-160x131.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0015-1536x1257.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0015-2048x1676.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0015-1920x1571.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bumper sticker from Allensworth, circa 1970s. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the African American Museum and Library at Oakland Photograph Collection)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11925109/racism-robbed-this-historically-black-california-town-of-its-water-now-theyre-developing-water-of-their-own\">Water was another issue\u003c/a>. The Pacific Water Company built only four wells for Allensworth, compared to the 10 wells built for Alpaugh, according to a report released by the Reparations Task Force in June. Allensworth’s wells started drying up, and the water became contaminated. The settlers were “victims of a racist scam and were sold land that would never have enough water,” the report noted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Denise Kadara’s mother, Nettie Morrison, moved Denise and her siblings to Allensworth in the ’70s. For almost four decades, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/transcripts/6640864\">Morrison helped keep the memory of the town alive\u003c/a> through park events, like the Juneteenth celebration. Though she passed away in 2018, her children — including Kadara and her twin brother, Dennis Hutson — are continuing the legacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All we want to do here is bring the community back, and make it a thriving community once again,” Kadara said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Pride and sadness\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When Butler disembarked the train in the blazing heat, she walked across the tracks to wait for the small bus to take her to the schoolhouse. There, Butler told the docents that she heard a story about how Gloria Harris, her sister-in-law’s mother, had carved her name into a desk. She didn’t find Harris’ name on a desk, but one of the school’s record books confirmed Harris did attend the one-room school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11925095\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0012-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11925095\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0012-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a black and white photo of a schoolhouse\" width=\"2560\" height=\"2102\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0012-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0012-800x657.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0012-1020x838.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0012-160x131.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0012-1536x1261.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0012-2048x1682.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0012-1920x1577.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Exterior of Allensworth Elementary School building, Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park, circa 1970s. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the African American Museum and Library at Oakland Photograph Collection)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Several other visitors walked across the school’s creaky floorboards and examined the desks, including Latrice Hutchings, who took the train from Stockton.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It feels amazing. There’s a sense of nostalgia,” said Hutchings, who had previously visited the park a few weeks prior to the Juneteenth celebration. All of the buildings had been closed then, and she could only look through the windows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s awesome to be inside,” Hutchings continued. “You feel a little bit emotional and you feel a little proud, because you can see that they had a good life here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gail Autry, who boarded the train in the Bay Area, said she had mixed emotions being at the park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I kind of want to cry,” she said. “Any time I’ve ever gone to a different plantation, it’s just the feeling of pride, of sadness, of how they made it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A road map to repair\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Sen. Bradford, of the Reparations Task Force, is focused on bringing attention to the accomplishments of Black people and properties they owned at the turn of the century, such as Val Verde and Bruce’s Beach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Reparations in California\" link1=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations,Explore why California launched the first-in-the-nation task force to study reparations for Black people\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/2022/02/RiCLandingPageGraphic-1020x574.png\"]\u003ca href=\"https://abc7.com/val-verde-black-palm-springs-castaic/11587364/\">Val Verde\u003c/a> was a Santa Clarita Valley city known as the “Black Palm Springs,” where Black people could buy property before World War II. Bruce’s Beach was the beachfront resort built in Manhattan Beach by Charles and Willa Bruce in 1912; the property was seized by the city, and the land owned by Los Angeles County until last year, when the property was transferred to the couple’s descendants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bradford helped secure $40 million in the 2022 state budget for Allensworth, including $10 million for a teaching and innovation farm. According to The Sun Gazette\u003cem>,\u003c/em> \u003ca href=\"https://thesungazette.com/article/news/2022/07/14/state-funding-seeks-to-restore-historic-black-town/\">$28 million will be used for a park visitor center and almost $2 million for a town civic center\u003c/a>. But Bradford believes there’s more to be done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11925100\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-566048923-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11925100\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-566048923-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a sunset over a desert town\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-566048923-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-566048923-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-566048923-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-566048923-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-566048923-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-566048923-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-566048923-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The sun sets on Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park in 2008. \u003ccite>(Barbara Davidson/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I think it has a nexus to reparations,” he said. “To show what was promised but was never delivered, but also what we had that was stolen from us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to know the full story. Far too often we look at where we are today and say, ‘Oh, things are great.’ But we’ve got to understand how we got here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Dennis Hutson, son of Nettie Morrison, who moved to Allensworth in the 1970s\"]‘If you owed me $100 and you want to give me a dime, is that really reparations?’[/pullquote]Dennis Hutson, for his part, isn’t convinced the millions from the state budget will amount to reparations for the descendants of Allensworth settlers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It sounds like a good idea, but I just really wonder, is it really heartfelt?” Hutson said. “And if you owed me $100 and you want to give me a dime, is that really reparations?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the train ride back to Emeryville, I asked Butler how she was feeling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I really bristle when I hear about ‘the first African American who did this,’” she said. “(It’s) always something that was hidden, that never was brought to the surface.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "In 1908, Allensworth was designed by its Black founders as a place where 'African Americans would settle upon the bare desert and cause it to blossom as a rose' — before racist policies squashed it into submission. More than a century later, the town is one of about a dozen Black communities shaping the conversation about what reparations might mean in California.",
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"title": "'Promised Land': A Historically Black California Town Honors Its Proud, Painful Past — and Fights for Its Future | KQED",
"description": "In 1908, Allensworth was designed by its Black founders as a place where 'African Americans would settle upon the bare desert and cause it to blossom as a rose' — before racist policies squashed it into submission. More than a century later, the town is one of about a dozen Black communities shaping the conversation about what reparations might mean in California.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The town of Allensworth, located 30 minutes off Interstate 5 near Bakersfield, was a thriving Black community in the early 20th century. Its founders — a group of five Black settlers including Lieutenant Colonel Allen Allensworth — envisioned a Black utopia. The town had its own school, church and bank.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To escape racist violence and discrimination after the Civil War, Black people built settlements known as freedmen’s towns in a number of states across the U.S. But Allensworth, established in 1908, was the first of its kind in California: a town governed entirely by Black people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Lt. Col. Allensworth, who was enslaved in Kentucky before fleeing and becoming a Union soldier in the Civil War, was also a minister, educator and businessman. With his town, he hoped to create the “Tuskegee of the West,” according to Terrance Dean, a Black studies professor at Denison University in Ohio who has provided expert testimony to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11906054/it-means-to-repair-what-you-should-know-about-reparations-for-black-californians\">California’s Reparations Task Force\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a letter to Booker T. Washington — a prominent Black leader in the early 20th century and the principal of Tuskegee Institute, now known as Tuskegee University, a historically Black school in Alabama — Allensworth said the town would be “where African Americans would settle upon the bare desert and cause it to blossom as a rose.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11925050\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-576842560-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11925050\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-576842560-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1718\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-576842560-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-576842560-800x537.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-576842560-1020x685.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-576842560-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-576842560-1536x1031.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-576842560-2048x1374.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-576842560-1920x1289.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A portrait of Lt. Col. Allensworth near an abandoned home in Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park. \u003ccite>(Ted Streshinsky/Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Allensworth did blossom into a thriving town. But it had to rely on the state government and white-owned companies that controlled water distribution and the railroad, two lifelines that were soon snatched to squeeze Allensworth into submission — by 1920, the town was in severe decline.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Determined to be recognized\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Before the more widely known 1921 incident in which a white mob destroyed the homes and businesses of prosperous Black residents in Tulsa, Okla., killing almost 40 people, there was Allensworth, a settlement decimated by racism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once a destination where Black people from around the country moved for safety and an opportunity to flourish, Allensworth is now a dusty Central Valley outpost with a population of roughly 500. The town is a remarkable part of the state’s history, yet many people have never heard of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Allensworth and Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park, founded in 1974\u003cb data-stringify-type=\"bold\"> \u003c/b>to honor the town’s history and Black Californians, have come up in several meetings of California’s Reparations Task Force, the group researching reparations for the harm caused by the legacy of slavery in the state. The task force will make a formal recommendation to the state Legislature next summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There have been previous efforts to preserve and share Allensworth’s history and to revitalize the town’s economic base, but what might reparations look like? State Sen. Steven Bradford, a member of the Reparations Task Force, has referred to Allensworth as a ghost town. But a visit almost three months ago revealed a community determined to be recognized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amtrak offered a special 50% discount for train passengers stopping at Allensworth for a celebration of Juneteenth, the national holiday that commemorates emancipation. Maxine Butler was among those who took advantage of the chance to visit the town, catching the train at 6 a.m. on June 11 from the Emeryville Amtrak station. The platform bustled with excitement and anticipation as people boarded the Bakersfield-bound train.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Butler, who is from North Oakland, had received a terminal cancer diagnosis earlier that week. She said visiting Allensworth was on her bucket list. She’d also recently learned that her sister-in-law’s family lived there for six years, until 1940.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11925097\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/02_Maxine_Butler.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11925097\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/02_Maxine_Butler.jpg\" alt=\"an older woman sits on a train wearing a hat and sunglasses and looking out the window\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/02_Maxine_Butler.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/02_Maxine_Butler-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/02_Maxine_Butler-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/02_Maxine_Butler-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/02_Maxine_Butler-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maxine Butler of Oakland rides an Amtrak train to visit Allensworth in June 2022. \u003ccite>(Lakshmi Sarah/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I can only imagine the atmosphere at that time,” she said, referring to Allensworth’s beginnings. “Escaping the lynchings. Escaping the aftereffects of slavery. And they probably heard about this — this Jerusalem, this promised land called Allensworth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Butler has bright eyes and is a classical music singer who used to sing with the Oakland Symphony Chorus. She broke into song more than once as the train made its way through Central Valley towns during the 4.5-hour ride.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The importance of ‘home’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Homeownership is often the largest contributor to personal wealth in the United States. According to a Public Policy Institute of California data analysis, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/californias-housing-divide/\">Black homeownership rate in California is at 36.8%\u003c/a>, about 26.4 points below the rate for white households.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Home helps us to place a marker on our beginnings,” said Dean, of Denison University, in his testimony to the Reparations Task Force. “This is where this American odyssey begins for the hundreds of Black families of Allensworth, Calif., who unfortunately do not and cannot claim inheritance to a home that their ancestors created for them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the town’s founding, Dean spoke about William Payne, Allensworth’s first teacher and principal, who was denied a teaching license by the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Lt. Col. Allensworth had secured more than 9,000 acres “of the richest land in central California,” he wrote to Booker T. Washington. The settlement was on the main line of the Santa Fe Railway. According to Dean, Allensworth was the only transfer point between Los Angeles and Fresno at that time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In essence, it was a shining example of Black self-sufficiency and prosperity,” Dean said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A railroad diverted\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park, visitors can peek into the windows of each structure — the schoolhouse, the library and homes. The nearly 20 buildings are meant to look like they would have looked in 1908, complete with outhouses, furniture, books and even fake food in the kitchen of Lt. Col. Allensworth’s home. There’s a bizarre ghost-like quality to the buildings on days when there isn’t a celebration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a self-guided tour of sorts, visitors can call a number to hear a brief recording describing aspects of each building. The recording also describes the railroad station that connected Allensworth to the outside world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Trains brought friends and relatives, mail supplies and building materials,” a recorded voice says. “Most important, freight shipments supported the town’s economy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1914, a new stop was created in a neighboring white town and the number of shipments from Allensworth severely declined. That’s one of the factors that led to the town’s demise, according to Jerelyn Oliveira, who leads tours of the park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They added tracks over to the little community of Alpaugh, which is west of here by about seven miles,” she said. “All that agricultural product was being transported from Alpaugh instead of Allensworth. So the money started slowing down, dwindling, and then the trains stopped stopping here in 1929.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11925098\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0015-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11925098\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0015-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a bumper sticker that reads 'Visit California's Black Historic Town Allensworth'\" width=\"2560\" height=\"2095\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0015-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0015-800x655.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0015-1020x835.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0015-160x131.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0015-1536x1257.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0015-2048x1676.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0015-1920x1571.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bumper sticker from Allensworth, circa 1970s. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the African American Museum and Library at Oakland Photograph Collection)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11925109/racism-robbed-this-historically-black-california-town-of-its-water-now-theyre-developing-water-of-their-own\">Water was another issue\u003c/a>. The Pacific Water Company built only four wells for Allensworth, compared to the 10 wells built for Alpaugh, according to a report released by the Reparations Task Force in June. Allensworth’s wells started drying up, and the water became contaminated. The settlers were “victims of a racist scam and were sold land that would never have enough water,” the report noted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Denise Kadara’s mother, Nettie Morrison, moved Denise and her siblings to Allensworth in the ’70s. For almost four decades, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/transcripts/6640864\">Morrison helped keep the memory of the town alive\u003c/a> through park events, like the Juneteenth celebration. Though she passed away in 2018, her children — including Kadara and her twin brother, Dennis Hutson — are continuing the legacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All we want to do here is bring the community back, and make it a thriving community once again,” Kadara said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Pride and sadness\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When Butler disembarked the train in the blazing heat, she walked across the tracks to wait for the small bus to take her to the schoolhouse. There, Butler told the docents that she heard a story about how Gloria Harris, her sister-in-law’s mother, had carved her name into a desk. She didn’t find Harris’ name on a desk, but one of the school’s record books confirmed Harris did attend the one-room school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11925095\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0012-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11925095\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0012-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a black and white photo of a schoolhouse\" width=\"2560\" height=\"2102\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0012-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0012-800x657.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0012-1020x838.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0012-160x131.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0012-1536x1261.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0012-2048x1682.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/MS189_0012-1920x1577.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Exterior of Allensworth Elementary School building, Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park, circa 1970s. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the African American Museum and Library at Oakland Photograph Collection)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Several other visitors walked across the school’s creaky floorboards and examined the desks, including Latrice Hutchings, who took the train from Stockton.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It feels amazing. There’s a sense of nostalgia,” said Hutchings, who had previously visited the park a few weeks prior to the Juneteenth celebration. All of the buildings had been closed then, and she could only look through the windows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s awesome to be inside,” Hutchings continued. “You feel a little bit emotional and you feel a little proud, because you can see that they had a good life here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gail Autry, who boarded the train in the Bay Area, said she had mixed emotions being at the park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I kind of want to cry,” she said. “Any time I’ve ever gone to a different plantation, it’s just the feeling of pride, of sadness, of how they made it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A road map to repair\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Sen. Bradford, of the Reparations Task Force, is focused on bringing attention to the accomplishments of Black people and properties they owned at the turn of the century, such as Val Verde and Bruce’s Beach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://abc7.com/val-verde-black-palm-springs-castaic/11587364/\">Val Verde\u003c/a> was a Santa Clarita Valley city known as the “Black Palm Springs,” where Black people could buy property before World War II. Bruce’s Beach was the beachfront resort built in Manhattan Beach by Charles and Willa Bruce in 1912; the property was seized by the city, and the land owned by Los Angeles County until last year, when the property was transferred to the couple’s descendants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bradford helped secure $40 million in the 2022 state budget for Allensworth, including $10 million for a teaching and innovation farm. According to The Sun Gazette\u003cem>,\u003c/em> \u003ca href=\"https://thesungazette.com/article/news/2022/07/14/state-funding-seeks-to-restore-historic-black-town/\">$28 million will be used for a park visitor center and almost $2 million for a town civic center\u003c/a>. But Bradford believes there’s more to be done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11925100\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-566048923-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11925100\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-566048923-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a sunset over a desert town\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-566048923-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-566048923-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-566048923-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-566048923-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-566048923-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-566048923-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-566048923-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The sun sets on Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park in 2008. \u003ccite>(Barbara Davidson/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I think it has a nexus to reparations,” he said. “To show what was promised but was never delivered, but also what we had that was stolen from us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to know the full story. Far too often we look at where we are today and say, ‘Oh, things are great.’ But we’ve got to understand how we got here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Dennis Hutson, for his part, isn’t convinced the millions from the state budget will amount to reparations for the descendants of Allensworth settlers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It sounds like a good idea, but I just really wonder, is it really heartfelt?” Hutson said. “And if you owed me $100 and you want to give me a dime, is that really reparations?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the train ride back to Emeryville, I asked Butler how she was feeling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I really bristle when I hear about ‘the first African American who did this,’” she said. “(It’s) always something that was hidden, that never was brought to the surface.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"order": 10
},
"link": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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},
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"id": "city-arts",
"title": "City Arts & Lectures",
"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
"id": "closealltabs",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"order": 1
},
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"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
"site": "radio",
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"link": "/radio/program/code-switch-life-kit",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnByLm9yZy9yc3MvcG9kY2FzdC5waHA_aWQ9NTEwMzEy",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/commonwealth-club-of-california-podcast/id976334034?mt=2",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
"link": "/forum",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/4s8b",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
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"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/381444908/podcast.xml"
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510313/podcast.xml"
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/6c3dd23c-93fb-4aab-97ba-1725fa6315f1/hyphenaci%C3%B3n",
"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC2275451163"
}
},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1492194549",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/xtTd",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
"meta": {
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"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Perspectives",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
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