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.
———–
Timothy R. Snowball is a Senior Attorney at the Equal Protection Project.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY