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California’s reparations movement, painstakingly built over the past two years and fueled by dramatic public hearings that revealed the state’s racist past, is at risk of crumbling.
Indifference, political apathy and a determined opposition have left doubts as to whether justice will ever be served to Black Californians. This leaves the demographic with one final, but potent, card to play.
“It’s important right now for us to do everything we can to make sure politicians know this will be an important issue in 2024, that it isn’t going anywhere,” said Eric McDonnell, chair of the African American Reparations Advisory Committee.
For reparations to be enacted, Black Californians must remain unwavering in their demand and make it clear that Black voter support for any politician or political party is contingent upon their commitment to the issue. By exerting collective power and leveraging influence, Black Californians can get at least some of the recommendations approved.
Eric McDonnell, right, chair of the African American Reparations Advisory Committee, speaks at the San Francisco Board of Supervisors’ public hearing about the city’s draft reparations plan at City Hall in San Francisco on March 14. The committee submitted its final report over the summer, ending a two-year process of studying how the legacy of chattel slavery in the U.S. has impacted generations of Black San Franciscans. For committee members like McDonnell, the reparations journey in the state is far from over and should remain an important part of the 2024 election cycle.
Salgu Wissmath/The Chronicle“If we don’t keep the momentum behind this movement, we will have missed the window of opportunity that was created by the civic and civil unrest following George Floyd’s murder, which ushered in this movement across the country,” McDonnell said. “These kinds of windows for change open, at best, decades apart.”
So, what does leading the reparations movement entail for Black Californians who have never been activists or community leaders?
It starts by engaging with candidates, attending town hall meetings and demanding support for reparations, Chris Lodgson from the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California, told me. The CJEC is a statewide community advocacy group that’s focusing on organizing and mobilizing people to achieve reparations in California.
The effects of chattel slavery have reverberated for generations in California, leaving Black people at a distinct disadvantage in wealth, education, health and overall well-being. The reparations recommendations from California’s commissions call for financial compensation, educational initiatives, health care provisions and other targeted measures that aim to address these inequalities.
More Black Californians need to make it their business to spend time studying the extensive work done by these commissions.
The learning curve related to the reports is steep, a fact I was reminded of last weekend while virtually attending a meeting about reparations at Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco, which was spearheaded by the church’s Racial Justice Congregational Life Group of reparations supporters.
I noticed during the event that some community members, despite understanding the holistic cures reparations could provide, still aren’t familiar with the hundreds of reparations recommendations that the state Legislature and the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco have been examining since the summer.
Enthusiasm is good in the reparations movement, but understanding the details of the proposals is critical.
The CJEC is hosting arts and cultural events with other pro-reparations organizations throughout the state over the next few months to update attendees on statewide and local efforts and help educate people about tracing their family roots. Being able to trace your family lineage to a person enslaved in the U.S. is a key factor in qualifying for reparations under both proposals.
“People must also make sure they’re connected to accurate information about reparations,” Lodgson said, adding that the CJEC has a newsletter designed to educate readers. “It’s a big objective that we all make sure our people are educated about what’s going on.”
Black Californians need this knowledge to be the best possible advocates for reparations considering the path ahead for the movement is not without its challenges.
Nationally, the right wing’s anti-woke movement remains relentless, attacking social and racial justice. Misinformation and disinformation are critical components of their poisonous work to undermine reparations advocacy. And the anger the right has drummed up against reparations even has some moderate candidates on the left refraining from supporting the issue, or venturing to even discuss the concept in public for fear of alienating potential voters.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed has said reparations, including cash payments, should be handled at the federal level. Breed could be a revolutionary leader for the national reparations movement if she decided to throw her support behind the local effort and commit to opening an office to oversee reparations in San Francisco.
Jessica Christian/The ChronicleA prime example is San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who is up for reelection in 2024. Despite being a Black woman who has experienced the harms of inequality in the city she leads, Breed has largely refrained from weighing in on the issue.
Breed is an example of the hurdles to reparations many Democrats pose. These are politicians who must make strategic decisions about their prospects for power in the coming 2024 elections and have to answer tough questions: Should they avidly support reparations, even though the Black population in the state is relatively small? Or can they afford to overlook this pressing issue, considering that cash payments, a key component of reparations, are unpopular with non-Black voters?
Black people are only a small fraction of the state’s population. But Black voters can be the deciding votes in close races, which is something politicians would be wise to remember.
The continued fight for reparations will require perseverance, resilience, and unwavering commitment. This is a tremendous task, but Black Californians have proved over decades they can effect change. They have been at the forefront of civil rights movements, fought against racial injustice and shattered glass ceilings.
At this crucial moment in the state’s political history, it’s time for my people to shine once more.
Reach Justin Phillips: jphillips@sfchronicle.com
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