Reparations for the descendants of slaves in the United States have long been a hot topic of debate.
While a landmark California Reparations Task Force prepares to submit final recommendations for state-level reparations, a Black California businessman suggested that all Black California residents be compensated $350,000 at a recent public hearing.
About 60 people attended the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 14, the Associated Press reported. For months, the nine-member task force has been traveling around California to learn about the generational trauma of the state’s racist policies and discriminatory actions.
Public comment hearings focused on enslavement, the wealth gap, political disenfranchisement, mass incarceration, and housing discrimination.
Max Fennell, a 35-year-old businessman and the first Black professional tri-athlete, was in attendance and said, “every person should get $350,000 in compensation to close the racial wealth gap and Black-owned businesses should receive $250,000, which would help them to flourish,” per the outlet.
“It’s a debt that’s owed, we worked for free… we’re not asking; we’re telling you,” he told the panel, according to the Daily Mail. “The tangibles of what I’m asking for is $350,000 per Black American in California that’s tangible, small business grant $250,000 and land 15-20 acres.”
Additionally, an economic research team recommended that $225,000 represents California’s “maximum culpability” for the housing discrimination Black residents faced between 1933 and 1977.
However, task force Chairperson Kamilah Moore said the group has not yet decided on any dollar amount or form of reparations.
“In reality, that number would
be minimized when you take into account the fact that the task force decided in March that the community of eligibility would be lineage-based rather than race-based,” she explained, per the Daily Mail. “When you really look at who was really impacted by housing discrimination during that particular time period, it most likely won’t be all Black folks.”