Newsom Signs Law Authorizing “Reparations” for Black People
The “descendants of slavery” designation operating as a legal proxy for race is the entire point of the legislation.
Five years after forming a task force, and more than two years after the group released its recommendations, Gov. Gavin Newsom has approved legislation making my home state the first (and hopefully last) in the union to approve direct “reparations” to the descendants of former slaves.
Also known as direct cash payments and other state-provided benefits to black people based on the color of their skin. Also known as…racist.
As we previously covered, these performative efforts at moral posturing have long been brewing in California. In terms of the proposed benefits, the proposals ranged from the absurd to the unconstitutional.
One attendee of the task force advocated that the Reconstruction-era promise to former slaves of “40 acres and a mule” be translated into the equivalent of modern dollars. In California maybe that means an electric car and pot farm.
In any event, the craziness has now moved from discussions to law.
Senate Bill 518, which Newsom signed into law last week, establishes a “Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery” within the California Department of Justice.
This new bureaucracy, one of over an estimated two hundred already operating in the state, is tasked with verifying eligibility for participation, recommending forms of benefits, and eventually processing claims.
If past discussions are any indication, these benefits will include cash payments, preferential treatment in state programs, and other benefits. We can only wait and see. But when bureaucrats are tasked with handing out goodies from public coffers, the sky is often the limit.
Perhaps, would-be President Newsom and his cronies need a legal refresher:
The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the government from discriminating against individuals based solely on their race unless a law meets the strictest constitutional scrutiny.
Discrimination in this context means treating one group differently from another group based only on the color of their skin, even if the differential treatment is supposedly positive.
Only two years ago, in the Students for Fair Admissions case, the U.S. Supreme Court made clear that this protection is as strong as ever.
Given that the new law references the specific concept of “chattel slavery,” or owning a person outright as property, that regrettably means one thing in American history: black people.
The “descendants of slavery” designation as a legal proxy for race is the entire point of the legislation.
Not only is the new law likely unconstitutional, but it is also offensive to anyone who believes in individual rights and autonomy.
The potential verification process for benefits sounds like something out of a twisted take on early twentieth-century eugenics. Under the legislation, the new Bureau is required to create a “Genealogy Division” to verify an individual’s status as a “descendant” to receive benefits.
“Creepy” doesn’t begin to describe the implications.
Will the government be taking blood samples and performing genetic tests? Will potential recipients receive a larger check the more black blood they have in their veins? Will the government simply ask people to visit the office so it can check the color of their skin?
Questions like these should be disturbing to anyone with a shred of moral sense.
Clearly, California’s government seeks to do nothing more with these legal changes than feed stereotypes in which we each shed our individual agency in exchange for being categorized in neat racial boxes. Gone are the admonitions to judge individuals based on the content of their character and not their skin color.
If you have black skin, you must automatically be disadvantaged.
The bad news is that the bill has now been signed into law.
The good news is that the Equal Protection Project will continue to monitor this situation and explore ways to fight back.
Reminder: we are a small organization going up against powerful and wealthy government and private institutions devoted to DEI discrimination. Donations are greatly needed and appreciated.
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Timothy R. Snowball is a Senior Attorney at the Equal Protection Project.
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Comments
Look how much public assistance is given to black families (even on a national scale!) in comparison to their tax contribution.
We already practice reparations. Gavin Newsome just wants to rob you.
Exactly. If you’re going to say that money is owed, then the American taxpayers should get credit for monies spent. Figure out how much 20 acres and a mule would cost in today’s market and then subtract the sum total of all of the government assistance given out to all of the descendants of slaves.
If the number is positive, cut checks. If the number is negative then send out a tax bill.
There you go again. Noticing Things!
MAKE CALFORNIA REPUBLICAN AGAIN
If California Democrats force taxpayers to pay for reparations for something that happened in other states over 160 years ago, I could see a real shake up in California politics.
If my Jewis grandparents can show they worked in a Nazi slave labor camp, would I qualify? Even better if using Biblical text I can establish my Jewish ancestors were enslaved by the Egyptians and forced to build the pyramids, would I still qualify?
All depends on your skin color.
I will simply identify as a black descendant of slaves and then demand my reparations. The fact that I’m not shouldn’t make a difference as long as I identify as one that should be enough.
Once again we have Democrats acting like Nazis. The endless lawsuits in meeting the term “descendant of slaves” will remind us all of the the Nazi regime’s Nuremberg Race Laws (September 1935).
Prostitutes’ bastards would qualify as the descendants of slaves, no?
If not, why do we have “white slavery” laws?
Chattel or otherwise?
My relatives, so I’m told, came from Ireland as indentured servants. Some from Ireland came here with their ‘masters’ against their will. Not sure (of any of this) if my relatives came here willingly or not but I’m willing to swear they were if it means I can get reparations from my new best friend Gavvy.
I don’t live in Cal but I can move, and I identify as black so I think I’m entitled.
Indentured servitude was basically slavery for whites.
Not necessarily for the Irish. The English wanted them cleared out, so the shipped them out & sold them into slavery in the Caribbean. Many Americans of African descent have Irish DNA as the offspring of unions were also sold as slaves.
If you have black skin, you are disadvantaged on the average. US blacks have an average IQ of 86. Which mostly means that average success will be lower than for whites and certainly East Asians. You can’t tell individually though. The other effect is that blacks are missing from really really smart jobs, an effect of the tails of the Bell curve of turning unlikely into really unlikely when the mean is lower.
Good Luck getting paid – There are almost NO records.
https://emilieamt.com/using-census-records-for-black-family-history-before-1865/
“ …the U.S. Federal Census was taken every ten years, starting in 1790. Second, it did attempt to count every single person—except Native Americans—every time it was taken. Enslaved people were counted in every Census, from 1790 to 1860. However, slaves were never named; they were always listed under their enslaver’s name. Free people of color, on the other hand, were treated pretty much like whites in the Census, every year.
In 1850, the Census underwent a big change. For the first time, every free person was supposed to be listed by name in the returns. Although this is wonderful if you’re researching free people, it’s no help at all if you’re looking for enslaved people. But another 1850 innovation, the Slave Schedule, is somewhat helpful. In 1850 and 1860, the Census Bureau created separate returns, call Slave Schedules, counting all enslaved persons.
In these documents, each slave “owner” is listed by name, and then his or her slaves are listed—not by name, but by age, sex, and color (either “black” or “mulatto,” i.e., mixed race). I find the Slave Schedules are mainly useful for (1) helping to confirm the location of enslaved people I’ve already found in other records, and (2) gathering information about enslavers and slaveholdings. (If you’re new to using the Slave Schedules, don’t make the mistake of reading the slaveholder as “black.” The demographic information for the first listed slave will be on the same line as the slaveholder’s name, but it doesn’t describe the named person.)
And by extension ‘good luck’ to the folks who gotta scrutinize the claims and reject many/most for insufficient evidence. That’s where the rubber is gonna meet the road and the crash outs by those rejected will be something to see.
1) No one alive today was kept as a slave in the United States.
2) No one alive today kept slaves in the United States.
3) The American Civil War solved the issue of slavery with the blood of 700,000 Americans.
4) If a black in America today feels oppressed it’s not because of “structural racism” (or any other made-up oppression) it’s because the content of their character is sorely lacking.
5) Black culture today is every bit as toxic to blacks as slavery ever was. It’s a culture of immorality, violence, ignorance, misogyny and a whole host of other pathologies. And the “music” is beyond awful. How did black music go from Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie to rap & hip hop?
Physician, heal thyself and leave my checkbook the (bleep) out of it.
Pretty racist considering Liberalfornias past.
“As President I promise to pack the court with 12 nominees who will overrule Roberts extreme right wing fascist racist nazi court.”
To economize, eliminate the middleman. Just hand out flashy gold jewelry, tricked-out Escalades and dope.
Reparate now!
Don’t think Liberia wants them
And pray tell where is Gov. Newsom going to get the money to pay blacks who were never slaves reparations for slavery? It’s not as if California is swimming in money the days.
I have been told many times that Cali has the 4th largest economy in the world, and the US could never survive financially without them. Surely there must be some extra money there somewhere.
Gail Heriot over at Instapundit takes a more glass-half-full view. Newsom might have authorized this agency but he also vetoed vetoed AB7 (which would have allowed California universities to give preferences to the descendants of American slavery), AB57 (which would have set aside housing funds for the descendants of slaves), and AB742 (which would have given the descendants of slaves priority in seeking licenses).
So basically he established an agency that isn’t in charge of anything.
https://instapundit.com/750607/
The real answer is that the glass is too big.
What Newsom did was to do what Hollywood people do everyday and that is say something to make them sound great but they know they will not be held accountable for what they said. There is no money and there will be none paid.
I would say: cut any ties to the state of California that you may still have now if tou don’t want to be on the hook for this. Pull investments, sell property, etc and refuse to do business with the state too if they are going to insist on this nonsense.
So they’re going to genetically test these people? Hmmm interesting. I wonder if they’ll get some sort of patch to wear on their clothes or maybe an id card?
Don’t you mean an AHNENPASS??
How about a number tattooed on their forearm?
Oh wait, the N**is already did that to the Jews.!
“Under the legislation, the new Bureau is required to create a “Genealogy Division” to verify an individual’s status as a “descendant” to receive benefits.” In what country????
Search assist, what is an ancestry pass?
The term “Ancestry Pass” is not widely recognized in genealogy contexts. However, it may refer to the Ahnenpass, a document used in Nazi Germany.
An Ahnenpass was a document used in Nazi Germany to prove Aryan lineage, required for various legal and social purposes. It required detailed genealogical research to trace ancestry back to grandparents, affirming that individuals were of “German blood” as defined by Nazi racial policies
The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service (1933) which required public servants to be of Aryan descent. The Nuremberg Laws (1935) further defined who was considered Aryan and restricted citizenship based on ancestry.
To obtain an Ahnenpass, individuals needed to provide: Seven birth or baptism certificates (for themselves, parents, and grandparents). Three marriage certificates (for parents and grandparents) or certified proofs thereof.
The demand for Ahnenpasses led to a surge in genealogical research during this period, as individuals sought to prove their Aryan ancestry. Many faced persecution if they could not provide the necessary proof of Aryan descent, leading to the creation of false certificates.
excellent
now allllll blm can move there and the weight of the welfare nation will be self destroying
Arguing the merits or practicality is pointless (and what Newsome wants you to do). This is a political ploy where Newsome gives something knowing the Supreme Court will likely strike it down. And then he blames Trump and the Republicans for taking it away.
People vote for free money. And they revenge vote if a payday is taken from them. It’s a solid political strategy.
It won’t survive legal challenge? Novel legal theory can’t be defended.
California never was a slave state, except when Indian tribes raided other Indian tribes and took slaves.
California was virulently discriminatory against the Chinese “coolies” but their descendants seem to have overcome past discrimination.
I trust that people that DIDN’T own/sell slaves will be exempt? It should be a voluntary contribution to this “reparations” fund, so all the Hollyweird types can dump cash into it as virtue signaling and leave the bulk of the population alone. Noisome should donate his salary to it.
I wonder how long it will take Elizabeth Warren to try to cash in on this by claiming black ancestry, which she likely has as much of as her “Indian” ancestry…. “My meemaw said my great great great grandaddy was a slave, and I have curly hair just like him!”
Those who did not own/sell slaves will be specifically the ones liable to pay for these “reparations”, and it will be involuntary and mandatory if California and the Democrats get their way.
Subotai Bahadur
Should Union soldiers who died fighting the confederacy claim reparations from the Confederacy? My ancestors were slaves in Egypt and all I got was this lousy t shirt …
And what if, like Obama, you find out your ancestor was a slave master?
Or like Michelle Obama, you find out some of your ancestors were slave masters, and some slaves?
And more than a few celebrities were shocked on the Henry Gates Jr. excellent program to find out they were not descendants of slaves at all in spite of being black and bragging about such for decades, but were derived from free blacks? Perhaps enslaved in another country such as Haiti.
It takes a gifted researcher like Professor Henry L. Gates weeks to do a geneoogy. Some Bureau filled with partisan Democrats does not have a chance.
Obama has no american black ancestors unless there is something in his maternal woodpile.
It is Kamatoe whose Jamaican father said his family has slave holding ancestors. She too has no american black ancestors. Jamaican’s shouldn’t count but who knows since its CA.
Obama’s great great grandfather was a slave master in what is now Kenya. That is where he converted from animism to Muslim
Facts don’t matter to the Democrats.
“Some Bureau filled with partisan Democrats does not have a chance.”
They’ll just do it like Deshaun Eli Mack does it.
“How do you write Democrats so well?”
“I think of a Republican, and I take away reason and accountability.”
How would you like to be part of the working poor or lower middle class Hispanics in CA and find out that thanks to the democrats your taxes are going to rise to pay the other POCs (blacks) who were never slaves, some of whom are now quite wealthy.
Given a lot of interracial mixing, I am curious if California is prorating the benefits based on the percentage of slave ancestry, if there is a minimum to access the benefit, or if the existence of any linkage gets one the full amount?
It should also be noted that of the members of the state commission, only one was not eligible for benefits. Talk about an example of enlightened self interest.
OK, noting first that this is unconstitutional and racist idiocy being brought into practice by the Democrats to oppress people today; let me toss out a concept.
An American diplomat, Caleb Cushing, invented a concept in the wake of the first Opium Wars [which China lost] that was used in the American treaty with China and adopted by all of the Western powers in the wake of that war. It was called “Extraterritoriality”.
The concept was that since Chinese law was so different from Western law, no Westerner who was accused of a legal violation could get a fair trial, judgement, or punishment under Chinese law. So Westerners were immune from the entire Chinese legal system and it was left to their home legal systems to decide if they had committed a crime and judge and punish them after they went home. Not surprisingly, there were no such judgements.
To make it “balance”, non-diplomat Chinese in Western countries were not covered by the Western legal systems. Keep in mind that this was invented by an American, and that as it was practiced and codified by various Federal statutes [Page Act, Chinese Exclusion Act, etc. upheld by the Supreme Court] Chinese here were outside the protection of American laws and the Constitution.
I have family experience with this because my father came here from China in 1926 and was outside the law and Constitutional protections until 1943 when due to the exigencies of WW-II the United States became the last Western country to give up Extraterritoriality. In passing, upon being redefined as human under American law when Extraterritoriality ended the first thing he did was enlist in the army and earned his citizenship with the combat infantry in Patton’s 3rd Army.
In any case, being defined as not human and outside the law and Constitution sounds an awful lot like slavery. California can send me and my children checks if they get this operating. [There is a limited amount of /sarc there, as I admit that anything that bankrupts Leftist California amuses me.]
Subotai Bahadur
The use of taxpayer dollars for programs and efforts outside of the responsibilities and duties of government is a form of slavery: Economic Slavery.
ALL forms of slavery are abhorrent. Bonded slavery, economic slavery. It does not matter.
Of course, it has always been the Democrats who have supported and promoted slavery.
They should have written the law to make only Democrats liable for the tax.
California was a free state.
Kinda. Even in ‘free States’ a slave didn’t become ‘free’ simply by entering into that State. CA achieved statehood with the compromise of 1850, IOW they tacitly approved of the continuation of slavery as an institution for political power as did every other free State admitted post Revolution. There’s the issue of CA instituting indentured servitude for Indians. Tens of thousands of Indians were forced into indenture to ‘Whites’. Indians who couldn’t prove means of support were rounded up by local government and their forced labor was rented out to the public. A neat workaround to the question of slavery and indentured servitude b/c it had a ‘judicial sentence’ as the basis. In CA defense they did abolish the indenture almost immediately after the Emancipation Proclamation.
The real distinction of free/slave States was the legality of the slave trade within the State. IOW within a ‘slave State’ there was buying and selling of slaves but that market wasn’t lawful in a ‘free State’. Even so there wasn’t some game of tag with ‘home base’ in a ‘free State’ that automatically transformed a slave into a freedman upon entry.
California serves as a warning to other states.
He is just buying votes and preventing more black people to vote republican
I’m 78, in my whole life I have never seen a politician as stupid as this MORON.
Who has standing to challenge the constitutionality of this law in court? If someone can trace their ancestry to a White who was enslaved, and California refuses to accept them as eligible because American slave =/= Black (chattel) slave, then the bill is simply using coded racist language which is unconstitutional.
Why are Democrats trying to break the country?
The concept is so simple it can be easily understood even by a Democrat. “Vote and demonstrate loudly in the streets for us and when we are in power we will take money away from those who have more than we think they need, and we will give it to you”. The fact that this will never pass legal scrutiny outside of California is irrelevant because California Socialists now make their own rules, validated by their own Judges, enforced by their own police and National Guard, assisted by local Antifa teachers and social workers. The rest of the Country can follow suit, or not, but California clearly claims the right to tell the rest of us to get lost.
The Federal Government should pass a law placing a 100% Tax on “Reparations” to fund payments to the families of Union soldiers who died to free the slaves.