June 29, 2023
Assemblymember Akilah Weber, M.D. Issues Statement on
California Reparations Task Force Final Report
We have been silent for far too long on the legacy of slavery. Our society has not been able to recover from our history of racial violence and terror. Our legal system and Legislature has been complicit for generations – creating policies that tolerate racial bias and inequity in nearly every sector of our society.
I was overjoyed when AB 3121 was introduced by now-Secretary of State Dr. Shirley Weber, passed by the Legislature, and signed by the Governor in 2020. I am very excited that this long over-due conversation is happening to repair the wrongs of the past since slavery.
The Reparations Task Force’s difficult task to produce a substantive report in a short amount of time is much-anticipated. They spent the first of a two-year process acknowledging the history, revealing in great detail how Black Californians were denied housing, were over incarcerated, and how discriminatory policies have led to devastating health consequences. All of these factors have deep multigenerational impacts on Black Americans.
Today, we heard the task force’s final report to the Legislature. I am looking forward to engaging in further discussions with the Legislature and Governor Newsom on repairing these harms.