Written by Michael Palomba
AB 3121, a reparations bill written by Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, has moved one step closer to being passed. The proposal would create an eight-member committee to study the effects of slavery on Black Californians.
“California was a free state in name only,” said Democratic State Senator Steven Bradford.
California outlawed slavery immediately after becoming a state, but still allowed slave owners from other states to bring their slaves. The belief is that by upholding slavery as an instution, even while making it illegal, California was complicit.
The Senate judiciary committee was “receptive” to the bill and voted 7-1 to advance it. It now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee, which it is likely to pass as well.
The idea of providing reparations to Black people—in 2020—for a practice that was abolished in 1865 is ridiculous. Not a single person in California today has been a slave or owned one. This is a purely political bill because it’s an election year amid social turmoil. Democrats are taking advantage of the momentum created by the “Black Lives Matter” movement and using it to propose all kinds of racist, far-left legislation.
ACA 5, a resolution that would remove an equality clause from the California Constitution and legally permit discrimination based on race and gender, was recently passed by the State Legislature and will appear on the November ballot as Proposition 16.
AB 3121 is just another attempt by Democrats to pander to minority voters. They know they need the Black vote in November, and they are doing everything in their power to secure it, especially considering that President Trump’s support in the Black community has been rising.
