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What Could Reparations Look Like In California? Angelenos Have Some Opportunities To Weigh In
The California State flag flies outside City Hall, in Los Angeles, California on January 27, 2017.
(
Mark Ralston
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AFP via Getty Images
)
The state's first-in-the-nation Reparations Task Force is looking for people to weigh in on its initial findings about the history of slavery and racism in California — and recommendations on how to make amends.
Community-based groups are holding listening sessions to gather public input. There's one coming up on June 18 in Leimert Park.
Kristin Nimmers is with one of the participating organizations, the L.A.-based California Black Power Network, which is holding listening sessions in July and August. She said these conversations are long overdue.
"Beyond policy, I think it's just an opportunity for healing… for the community as well,” she said. “For folks to kind of talk about and really name the harms and pains and the generational trauma from a lot of these things in a way that I don't think that we have.”
Nimmers said reparations could include a range of solutions, such as free college for Black students or grants for Black-owned small businesses. And it's important for Black people to say which solutions that would make the biggest difference to them.
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