Black Californians warn Newsom of 'direct impact' on Harris after Democrats kill slave reparations bill

Black activists in California's legislature warned of “direct implications” for Vice President Harris' presidential campaign after state Democrats put on hold two bills that would authorize slavery reparations.

Last week, the California Assembly approved bills that would allow land restitution and compensation to families whose property was wrongfully taken by the government, and officially apologize for laws and practices that harmed Black people. But none of the bills would provide widespread direct payments to African Americans. After hours of heated debate and protests on Saturday, state lawmakers removed two bills, Senate Bills 1403 and 1331, that would have established a fund and agency to oversee reparations.

“The speaker needs to table the bill now. This is their bill. Their name is on it. They're killing their own bill because they're afraid of the governor,” a Black man and member of the Coalition for a Fair and Equal California said in the Rotunda on Saturday, the final day of the legislative year. “Look, they're going to see this and get mad at us. They're killing their own bill and they're going to get mad at us. They're killing their own bill because they're afraid of the governor. We don't care. Table this damn bill now, now, now.”

“We need to send a message to the governor,” a black woman from the same group said in a video shared on X. “The governor needs to understand that the world is watching California and that this directly impacts your friend Kamala Harris, who is running for president. This will have a direct impact, so take up the bill now, vote for it, sign it. We've been waiting for over 400 years.”

“We have the votes,” the man added.

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State Sen. Steven Bradford, who authored the bill, said it didn't move forward out of concern that California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, would veto it.

“We are at the finish line and we as the Congressional Black Caucus have an obligation to the descendants of slavery, to black Californians and to black Americans to move this bill forward,” Bradford said in a statement Saturday afternoon, urging his colleagues to reconsider, according to the Associated Press.

“We owe a debt of gratitude to our ancestors,” Bradford told the Sacramento Bee, “and I think in some ways we've let them down.”

California Legislative Black Caucus Chairwoman Rep. Lori Wilson said Saturday that the Black Caucus has withdrawn the bill, adding that the proposal needs more work.

“We knew from the beginning it was going to be an uphill battle, and we knew from the beginning it was going to be a multi-year effort,” Wilson told reporters.

Governor Newsom signed a $297.9 billion budget in June, though he was not involved in most of the bill. The budget also includes a $12 million compensation bill. However, the budget does not specify how the money will be used for the proposals, and the Newsom administration has expressed opposition to parts of the bill. Governor Newsom has until September 30 to decide whether to sign the bill into law.

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Members of the Coalition for a Fair and Equitable California protested at the Rotunda on the last day of the legislative year, Saturday, August 31, 2024, in Sacramento, California. (AP Photo/Tran Nguyen)

Rep. Reggie Jones-Sawyer, a Black Democrat, called the bill to issue a formal apology for discrimination a “labor of love.” His uncle was part of a group of black students who walked escorted by federal troops through angry white mobs into Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in the 1950s. Three years later, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled school segregation unconstitutional. The students became known as the Little Rock Nine.

“I think my grandmother and grandfather would be very proud of what we're doing today,” Jones-Sawyer said ahead of the vote on the bill, which passed. “That's why they struggled in 1957, and that's why I'm able to move forward, and that's why we're ….”

Members of the Coalition for a Fair and Equal California are calling for lawmakers to vote on two reparations bills in the Rotunda on Saturday, August 31, 2024, the last day of the legislative year in Sacramento, California. (AP Photo/Tran Nguyen)

Newsom approved legislation in 2020 creating the nation's first task force to explore reparations proposals. New York and Illinois have since passed similar bills, and a California group released its final report last year with more than 100 recommendations for lawmakers.

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Governor Newsom signed a bill this summer requiring school districts that receive state funding for career education programs to collect data on the performance of participating students by race and gender. The bill is part of a reparations package supported by the California Legislative Black Caucus and is aimed at closing student achievement gaps.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.