California’s Race-Based Reparations Proposals Criticized by Public, Slave Descendant

Commentary On May 21, the California Senate passed SB 1403, a state bill to establish the California American Freedmen Affairs Agency, which would address and implement recommendations from California’s sweeping, 40-chapter Reparations Task Force Report. Introduced by Senator Steven Bradford of Gardena, who is also a member of the state Reparations Task Force, SB 1403 was approved along strict partisan lines by the Senate Appropriations Committee (5–2) on May 16 and by the Senate Committee on Governmental Organization (11–2) on April 23. Alas, a state that entered the Union as a free state in 1850 is leading the nation in institutionalizing a laundry list of reparation schemes, including: property claims, educational access, environmental justice, criminal justice reforms, cultural activities, and more....