Berkeley Unified School District has created a reparations task force. Yes, a school district that never enslaved people inside a state where slavery was never legal will “explore the establishment of a program of true reparations for BUSD students with ancestors who were enslaved in the U.S.”
This comes amidst a variety of reparations committees throughout a state where – it bears repeating – slavery was never legal.
The California reparations commission continues its slow march toward a recommendation that will please no one. In December, the commission estimated that if every black person in California descended from slaves could receive $223,000 in compensation. Which would cost California…$569 billion. That’s more than two-and-a-half times the size of the state’s entire budget.
That commission has led to a couple of ugly incidents. One member, after losing a vote, accused the majority of aiding in “another win for white supremacy.” (No committee member is white).
Another member referenced a black person with whom he disagreed by calling him “someone who wears our colors but didn’t play on our team.” That same member said that “any person who does not think African Americans are worthy of reparations is the personification of evil.” That member, by the way, is a pastor. Yikes.
Not to be outdone, the San Francisco’s reparations committee suggested a $5 million payment per qualifying person. For perspective, just those payments would cost San Francisco $112.5 billion (with a 
if even 50% of San Francisco’s 45,000 black residents qualified. San Francisco’s entire budget is ~$14 billion .. with a projected $780mm deficit in the next two years. And that’s just one part of the San Francisco commission’s recommendation.
Reminding us that there is “nothing so permanent as a temporary government program,” the California reparations commission wants to create a “California American Freedman Affairs Agency.” SF wants to create a “Reparations Office” that would cost San Francisco $50 million … just to establish the office.
I know that SF wants their program to be a model for the nation. But if Congress were to send the San Francisco sum to even half of black Americans, the cost would exceed $100 trillion (with a T).
Where does this end?
Councilman Will O’Neill represents District 7 on the Newport Beach City Council.
