Nearly two years ago, the nine-member committee first assembled and recently granted final approval to an extensive list of proposals in Oakland, California over the weekend. These proposals will now proceed to the governor and legislature for consideration.
The draft final report emphasizes that both federal and state governments have historically targeted Black individuals with “discriminatory arrest and incarceration.” The extent of this unjust policing only worsened when the War on Drugs was initiated in 1971 under the Nixon Administration.
“Reparations are not only morally justified, but they also have the potential to address long-standing racial disparities and inequalities,” U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, stated during the meeting.
The initial vote endorsed a comprehensive account of historical discrimination against Black Californians, particularly examining areas such as voting, housing, education, disproportionate policing and incarceration, among other subjects.
Besides reparation recommendations, the task force also approved a public apology that recognizes the state’s accountability for past injustices and pledges not to repeat them. The apology would be issued in the presence of individuals with ancestors who were enslaved.
“An apology and an admission of wrongdoing alone will not be sufficient,” said Chris Lodgson, an organizer for the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California.
Members calculated the impact of racially discriminatory enforcement and incarceration related to drugs by incorporating analysis on the cost of time spent in prison, along with other collateral consequences stemming from drug convictions. They evaluated racial discrimination based on comparisons of average arrest rates, convictions, and sentencing between Black and white individuals who participated in drug-related activities at similar rates but faced disparate outcomes in the criminal legal system.
According to the report, the task force “suggests that compensation for community harms be provided as uniform payments based on an eligible recipient’s duration of residence in California during the defined period of harm (e.g., residence in an over-policed community during the ‘War on Drugs’ from 1971 to 2020).”
Members also advised that the Legislature establish an “individual claims process” to compensate people who can demonstrate “specific injuries,” such as an individual who was arrested or incarcerated for a drug charge in the past, particularly if the drug is now considered legal, as cannabis is in numerous states.
The panel specifically concluded that the legislature should pay an estimated 1,976,911 Black Californians $115,260 in 2020 dollars, totaling $2,352 per person for “each year of residency in California during the 49-year period between 1971 and 2020,” or an overall sum of $227,858,891.023 in reparations for all affected, as reported by Marijuana Moment.
“To assess racial mass incarceration disparities in the 49 years of the war on drugs from 1971 to 2020, the Task Force’s experts estimated the disproportionate years spent in prison for African American non-Hispanic Californian drug offenders compared to white non-Hispanic drug offenders,” the report states. “Since these disparities can be measured in years, the experts attached a monetary value to these disproportionate years spent in prison by calculating what an average California State employee would have earned in a year.”
The report highlights that the drug war led to the “massively disproportionate incarceration of African Americans,” further contributing to unemployment and homelessness in economically disadvantaged African American communities once incarcerated individuals were released. The panel also suggests additional compensation for health disparities and housing discrimination.
It also underscores the sentencing disparities between crack and powder cocaine enacted by Congress during the Reagan administration, specifically mentioning it as an example of drug policy being created in a way that disproportionately affected Black communities.
In addition, the task force recommended reinstating affirmative action, abolishing the death penalty, restoring voting rights for formerly and currently incarcerated individuals, providing free college tuition to those eligible for reparations under the proposal, eliminating cash bail, and implementing universal single-payer healthcare, among other measures.
The members will convene one last time on June 29 before submitting the final report to the legislature.
