IN SUMMARY
The California reparations task force created economic models for lawmakers to calculate the costs of racism in California. Try our interactive tool to see what an individual might be owed.
Input years of residency.
Health Harms
1850–2020
Mass Incarceration & Over-policing
1971-2020
Housing Discrimination
1933-2020
Devaluation of Businesses
1850–2020
Unjust Property Takings
1850–2020
The task force said the state had not yet gathered enough data to provide a specific calculation.
*Note: Updated May 10, 2023 after clarification from the task force. The task force voted to recommend the state cap losses to those experienced up to 2020 when the task force was established.
Source: California Reparations Task Force
Interactive: Erica Yee
After two years studying the effects of slavery and modern-day racism, the state task force is urging California to repair the long-term damage African-Americans here have suffered.
Among its recommendations: that the state make a “down payment” on financial reparations.
Economic experts devised ways to calculate African Americans’ losses due to certain types of racial harm — such as health care disparities, discrimination in housing and mortgage lending, over-policing and over-incarceration, and devaluation of Black-owned businesses.
How much might the state owe a person? The panel said it depends on how long and when they’ve lived in California.
Task force members said elderly people should have priority. And only African American descendents from enslaved Americans are eligible — not other Black residents, such as more recent immigrants.
That means nearly 80% of California’s 2.6 million Black residents would be eligible, an economist estimates. If each person lived in the state only two years, it could mean hundreds of millions of dollars in potential reparations.
Eligible Black residents shouldn’t expect cash payments anytime soon. The state Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom will decide on reparations. It’s unclear what they will do with the task force report.
MORE ON REPARATIONS
Reparations panel recommends possible millions for eligible Black Californians
A task force approved economic models for lawmakers to calculate the costs of historical racism in California. Try our interactive tool to see what is owed.
‘Coming for our check’: State task force wants strong new agency to handle reparations
A state-appointed panel inching toward recommendations for reparations wants a new state agency to handle compensation and services to Black people.
