LAist is part of Southern California Public Radio (SCPR), a member-supported public media network. Hear our news on-air at our partner site:
California's Reparations Task Force has begun the process of deciding who should qualify for reparations.
Civil rights attorney and task force member Lisa Holder says to get a complete understanding of what people want reparations to include, Black Californians must weigh in.
"This is a historic process, and the public should be involved in informing this process and informing reparations," she said.
Secretary of State Shirley Weber has argued that priority should be given to descendants of enslaved people, due to the hundreds of years of earning no pay or the inability to own land.
Holder has pointed out, "If you have Black skin, you are catching hell in this country." And it's not just through the criminal justice system or policing. Holder says anti-Blackness can still be found in housing, healthcare and environmental policies.
She told KPCC's AirTalk that slavery's "legacy of harm and injustice continues."
"Reparations is about curing a harm, and the harm from enslavement started 400 years ago, but it is ongoing today," Holder said.
The task force's next meeting is scheduled for March 29.
