SACRAMENTO, California (KCRA) — An unusual pair has joined forces in the fight for reparations in California: The Democratic leader of California’s Reparations Task Force and a Republican state lawmaker who has publicly stated he opposes taxpayer-funded reparations.
But the fall-out from the collapse of two reparations-related proposals last year have brought together Task Force Chairwoman Kamilah Moore and Republican Corona Assemblyman Bill Essayli. Moore led the state’s historic task force that spent two years studying the negative impacts slavery had on society in California.
The two sat down together for an exclusive interview with KCRA 3 on Thursday.
Moore told KCRA 3 she is backing a proposal Essayli filed last week that establishes the California American Freedmen Agency. The agency is meant to serve as a starting point for the state’s reparations work by setting up genealogy services to determine and have on record who exactly is a descendant of enslaved African-Americans.
“I stand in strong support,” Moore said of Essayli’s bill. “As former chairperson I’m going to support any piece of legislation from any legislator that speaks to the task force’s report.”
The legislation is similar to a proposal former Democratic State Senator Steven Bradford carried last year. That measure sailed through the state legislature until the final night of California’s legislative session. The Democratic Legislative Black Caucus, which considered the measure a priority, decided to block the bill from its final vote in the State Assembly that night.
Reparations advocates were enraged and protested at the capitol. That’s when Essayli met Moore and The Coalition for a Just and Equitable California, key supporters of Bradford’s bill. Bradford termed out of the legislature last year, and Essayli decided to pick up the legislation.
“I only introduced it after [the coalition] came to me and said no Democrat is willing to introduce this bill and asked me to do it. The reason I did it is because I think it’s important, we should have these conversations” Essayli said. “I think a lot of people have a misconception that there is an effort to hand out checks to all Black Americans. That’s not true, it’s also not constitutional. So, this bill is very narrow.”
When asked why no Democrat would introduce the proposal this year, Essayli pointed to Gov. Gavin Newsom. Moore nodded as he spoke.
“I was told by multiple Democrats that it was Gov. Newsom who ordered the bills to be killed last year because he did not want the bills on his desk. He thought it was not a national popular issue and he’s all about shaping his image for a future Presidential run. The California Black Caucus took their marching orders from Newsom and they killed the bills even though I know they individually support them,” Essayli said.
In response, Gov. Newsom’s spokesperson Izzy Gardon said the office does not typically comment on pending legislation.
“We continue to work collaboratively with the California Legislative Black Caucus,” he said.
The California Legislative Black Caucus last week rolled out several proposals they consider priorities for the year. One of them includes a bill that would someday launch the Bureau for Descendants of American Slaves but would first require a two-year, $6 million study on genealogy.
Moore said the task force already did that work. “There is no need to further study genealogy. We just need to do genealogy and the technology frankly exists,” she said.
According to the California Department of Finance, only one reparations-related bill requiring the use of taxpayer dollars has been chaptered into state law. AB 3089, which passed last year, requires the state to issue a formal apology for its role in harms done because of chattel slavery. Lawmakers earmarked $500,000 for a plaque that will memorialize the apology at the state capitol.
Last year, lawmakers and the governor set aside $12 million that can only be used for specific reparations related legislation that is enacted into law. The funds have yet to be touched, the Department of Finance confirmed on Thursday. Essayli and Moore noted the Freedmen Affairs Agency would not require new money, because it has already been set aside.
Essayli’s reparation-related bill surprised members of his party. When asked where Republicans have been on the conversation around reparations, Essayli said, “maybe Republicans haven’t done a great job on communicating on this issue.”
“We are the party that fought to abolish slavery, we were founded to abolish slavery, we fought a civil war. Our first President was Lincoln. This was a natural constituency group for the Republican party,” Essayli said.
He reiterated he does not support cash proposals but said he thinks there are other ideas Republicans would support. He mentioned school choice vouchers as an example.
Moore told KCRA 3 she never expected to be in this political situation when she became task force chair. She noted Democratic Los Angeles Assemblyman Isaac Bryan told POLITICO that some members of the reparations coalition are MAGA affiliated.
“I consider that to be categorically false. It’s even in slander and libel territory, defamation territory,” she said.
Moore pointed to President Ronald Reagan and his work to provide reparations to Japanese Americans.
“Most folks in the Black community will say he’s not a friend to us because of his neoconservative policies,” she said. “Just because someone is a Republican, just because someone has some neoconservative policies, that doesn’t mean they can’t do good for certain folks.”
The California Legislative Black Caucus did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
The-CNN-Wire
