Commonwealth Policy Center

California just passed a law that will study reparations for black citizens and descendants of slaves. Gov. Gavin Newsom says ‘The timing is right for reparations.’ The law creates a task force charged with proposing recommendations as to what reparations might look like and who would be eligible to receive them. The idea is that there’s structural racism and those suffering from it, must be compensated. The idea is problematic in several ways. Reparations are meant to compensate a specific person for a specific wrong committed against them. In this case, there are no existing slaves that could be compensated. And the current government in charge hasn’t wronged the black community. Reparations tax those who weren’t responsible for slavery and create a further divide between the races.