A ‘rough’ analysis
One of the most pervasive forms of racial injustices Black Californians faced is disproportionate health outcomes. The economic consultants noted that Black Californians have the shortest life expectancy of any racial group at 71 years, which is 7.6 years shorter than whites. Black Californians also faced higher death rates from cancer than other racial groups, and Black mothers were four times more likely to die in childbirth than any other group.
Although there is no actual price tag on a year of life, for statistical purposes some economists use a $10 million valuation for a person’s entire life. This group of economic consultants calculated the dollar amount of the gap in life expectancy for Black Californians to be worth $127,226 per year.
The consultants’ dollar estimates are “rough,” Campbell said Friday.
Task force Chairperson Kamilah Moore noted that the list of injustices and “harms” the task force is considering was much longer and has been narrowed down from a dozen last spring to five.
The economic consultants disclosed numerous pages of data analysis they have yet to complete, and they have a November deadline to request more racial and financial data from the state’s Department of Justice to make more accurate calculations.
“After this process is over, we need to get you all a Nobel Peace Prize in economics,” Moore joked.
The task force also has to narrow down how many people would be eligible for payments, the time frame for reparations, and decide how recipients would establish residency in California.
The discussion about reparations hasn’t been just about money. In June, the task force issued a preliminary report that recommended a public, formal apology — in addition to cash payments, free college tuition, and zero-interest housing loans.
Cash payments were the most popular form of reparations suggested during 17 community listening sessions and in 46 testimonies uploaded to a website hosted by UCLA’s Bunche Center think tank, researchers told the task force Friday.
Meanwhile, Gov. Gavin Newsom is considering a bill that would extend the life of the task force. Introduced by Assemblymember and task force member Reggie Jones-Sawyer, Assembly Bill 2296 would let the task force deliberate a third year, to 2024, instead of ending in 2023.
The task force is required to submit its final recommendations to the Legislature in June 2023.
Jones-Sawyer, a Democrat who represents South Los Angeles, told CalMatters he hopes to keep the task force together another year after delivering its report, to leave room for additional hearings and to allow for input from members of the task force who are not legislators.
“This is just so that we as a body can stay united,” he said. “It’s really difficult to get things to the Legislature … so we’re going to need everybody involved to make sure it gets done. The best experts are those people in the room right now. There’s nobody else on the planet right now that knows more about reparations than the nine members of the task force.”
Some audience members, however, said they worried that the bill would delay reparations.
“AB 2296 is a betrayal of Black Americans,” said Tiffany Quarles, a member of the audience. “We’ve been waiting for 400 years. We do not need an extension.”
Assemblyman Reginald Jones-Sawyer, a member of the California Reparations Task Force, listens to public comment during a public meeting at the California Science Center in Los Angeles on Sept. 23, 2022.Pablo Unzueta / CalMattersJones-Sawyer said that the bill would not slow reparations.
A removal clause
Another controversial provision in the bill would allow legislators to remove and replace task force members. Many audience members argued against that.
Chris Lodgson, with the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California, which push to create the task force, told CalMatters the removal clause is dangerous.
“It politicizes this,” he said. “If some of the politicians don’t like the fact that we’re getting cash reparations, they could simply remove people on the task force who support them.”
Jones-Sawyer says the removal clause would hold task members accountable for “malfeasance” or sexual or racial harassment.
“We’re not the Supreme Court,” he said. “We’re only commissioners, and we serve at the will of the deployment agent.”
Newsom appointed five task force members. Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon each picked two.
Lodgson said he believes Jones-Sawyer wants the composition of the task force to change so eligibility for reparations could be voted on again. Jones-Sawyer was among four task force members who voted against limiting reparations to those who could trace their ancestry to enslaved relatives.
Jones-Sawyer responded that he cannot predict what will happen to task force members.
Other public commenters urged the task force to keep its word and limit reparations to those who descended from an enslaved or freed ancestor.
In other discussions, Amos Brown, a civil rights leader and task force member, asked that every member of the Legislature receive a copy of the task force’s first report, to ensure they can’t ignore it. And the task force heard from experts on international models of reparations from Chile, South Africa, and Germany, and discussed the United Nations’ standards for remedying human rights violations.
The task force plans to meet again in Oakland on Dec. 14 and 15.
