California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) now says he is open to the idea of cash reparations for slavery, after he indicated several days ago he was opposed to the idea, which was recommended by his own task force on the issue.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) backed away Tuesday from the idea of paying reparations to descendants of slaves, after a state panel he signed into law calculated the state was liable for hundreds of billions of dollars.
Newsom signed a law in 2020, at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, establishing a reparations task force to examine whether California, a free state since its inception in 1850, owed money for slavery.
The committee, composed predominantly of black members, held hearings throughout the state and concluded that California owed black residents $1.2 million each — though it limited eligibility to descendants of slaves.
Fox News Digital reported that Newsom was declining to back the committee’s forthcoming recommendations, saying that confronting the legacy of slavery “is about much more than cash payments.”
Now, however, after a predictable media storm and backlash from the black activists whose hopes he had raised with the reparations task force, Newsom is moving back in the opposite direction. The Sacramento Bee reports:
A spokesperson for Newsom clarified his comments in an email statement to The Bee.
“The sensationalized framing in pieces published by outlets like Fox News and others is inaccurate. The Governor looks forward to reviewing the final report — and all recommendations — when complete.”
Newsom’s chief communication advisor, Anthony York said that Newsom 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.
Source: Breitbart