California Gov. Gavin Newsom is staying silent as his state considers doling out potentially hundreds of billions of dollars to Black residents in reparations as a way to make amends for slavery and subsequent discrimination.
Newsom, a Democrat, has yet to take a position or comment publicly on the prospect of his state potentially enacting a slew of recent reparations proposals that are gaining steam in California. The governor’s office didn’t respond to any of Fox News Digital’s repeated requests for comment regarding his views on the issue and whether he’s considered taking executive action to implement the plans being discussed if the California Legislature doesn’t act.
The California Reparations Task Force, which was created by state legislation signed by Newsom in 2020, is considering a proposal to give just under $360,000 per person to approximately 1.8 million Black Californians who had an ancestor enslaved in the U.S., putting the total cost of the program at about $640 billion.
The task force’s final recommendations for reparations will be submitted to the California Legislature, which will then decide whether to implement the measures and send them to Newsom’s desk to be signed into law.
NEWSOM UNDER PRESSURE TO TAKE EXECUTIVE ACTION ON REPARATIONS IF CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE DOESN’T ACT
Newsom’s silence on reparations comes amid growing calls for him to use his power to unilaterally enact the task force’s proposals for the state’s Black residents if the legislature doesn’t.
“The task force is doing the grunt work of preparing final recommendations, but at the end of the day these recommendations are non-binding and still require uncompromising political will to enact remedies that will begin to address centuries of compounded harm,” Dreisen Heath, an expert and leading reparations activist, recently told Fox News Digital. “Governor Newsom has the authority to enact these recommendations, if they are in fact aligned with the entire descendant…
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