Morning Brief: LA Considers Reparations, Digital Vax Cards, And Billions For Dads

Good morning, L.A. It’s June 21.

Over the weekend, Angelenos celebrated Juneteenth as a national holiday for the first time.

At the same time, news broke that L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti has joined 10 other mayors from across the country to investigate paying reparations for slavery to small groups of Black residents in their cities.

The project, dubbed Mayors Organized for Reparations and Equity, also includes elected officials from Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, Rhode Island and more. According to its website, the group was organized around the premise that discriminatory practices with roots in slavery have made it impossible for Black families to build generational wealth.

That inequity plays out in scenarios such as coming up with a down payment for a house, which many young white people do by using familial funds (read: asking their parents for money).

Speaking to LAist, Garcetti described the project as an effort in which “each of us does something, makes more of a commitment to justice, more of a commitment to wealth building, more of a commitment to a country that faces its past.”

The group also wants to set an example for the federal government, to demonstrate how a nationwide program could work.

Keep reading for more on what’s happening in L.A., and stay safe out there.

What Else You Need To Know Today

• Saturday was the inaugural Juneteenth, and Angelenos were out in the streets celebrating.
• California is now offering virtual vaccine cards.
• L.A. District Attorney George Gascón said the people backing the effort to unseat him are supporters of former President Donald Trump.
• L.A. officials are cracking down on illegal fireworks by reaching out to groups that sell them online.
• In our Racism 101 series, a reader writes: "Would it be considered racist for a non-Black mother to put her child's hair in braids or cornrows?"

Before You Go ... Father's Day By The Numbers

Happy Father's Day!

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Photo by Tim Mossholder

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Unsplash

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Yesterday was Father’s Day, and the National Retail Foundation released a report on how much Americans spend to honor the dads and dad-like figures in their lives.

Three-quarters of men in the U.S. planned to celebrate the holiday, and their families and loved ones will drop approximately $20 billion to show how much we care. It’s a lot, but it trails what we spend on moms.