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Multiple reports have claimed that California Governor Gavin Newsom does not back the cash payments of up to $1.2 million for Black residents recommended by his reparations task force. The news all stems from a Fox News Digital interview Newsom did on May 9. But according to California reparations leaders and Newsom’s office, this is misinformation.
Newsom told Fox that reparations “is about much more than cash payments.”
The Democrat governor praised the task force’s findings as a milestone in the effort to repair injustice.
“This has been an important process, and we should continue to work as a nation to reconcile our original sin of slavery and understand how that history has shaped our country,” Newsom said. “Dealing with that legacy is about much more than cash payments.”
But he declined to endorse any specific recommendations by the task force while still praising its work.
“Many of the recommendations put forward by the Task Force are critical action items we’ve already been hard at work addressing: breaking down barriers to vote, bolstering resources to address hate, enacting sweeping law enforcement and justice reforms to build trust and safety, strengthening economic mobility — all while investing billions to root out disparities and improve equity in housing, education, healthcare, and well beyond,” he said.
The California Reparations Task Force’s nine-member committee voted in favor of several recommendations on May 6, including paying eligible Black Californians a minimum of $360,000.
Newsom signed Assembly Bill 3121 in 2020 to create the task force, which is assigned to study and recommend actions the state legislature should take in response to discrimination experienced by Black residents imposed by the state. The task force will wrap up its study on July 1.
Newsom’s office later clarified his statements.
Newsom’s Chief Communication Advisor Anthony York said the governor “is not backing away from cash payments, but wants to wait for the report in its entirety to arrive on his desk before he makes any decision.”
York said the payments issue “will be resolved” after Newsom meets with legislative leadership this summer and that, for now, the governor is “not ruling anything out,” The Hill reported.
FILE – California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks in Sacramento, Calif., Jan. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/José Luis Villegas, File)
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