Advocates for racial reparations celebrated a legislative victory in California after Gov.Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2599 — the Truth in Disclosure Act — into law.
But key figures behind the effort say corporate transparency is only a starting point, maintaining that direct cash compensation remains essential.Kristin Nimmers, policy and campaign manager for the California Black Power Network (CBPN) and the Alliance for Reparations, Reconciliation, and Truth, told Fox News Digital that financial reparations must go far beyond a "single check.""We really focus on a harm-based approach, so whoever was harmed should be entitled to that repair," Nimmers said."Compensation for slavery, unpaid labor, for the 40 acres and a mule that were promised after the end of slavery — that should go to folks who have lineage and are descendants of people who were enslaved, because that is the harm that is being repaired."REPARATIONS ADVOCATES SLAM CASH COMPENSATION ‘HANDOUT’ LABEL, POINT TO PAST GOVERNMENT REMEDIESA California lawmaker is trying to make sure reparations payments to Black residents do not get taxed if the effort becomes a reality.
(iStock)However, Nimmers emphasized that racial inequities persisted long after the end of chattel slavery."Black Americans were denied wages.We were denied property.
We were denied access to capital.We were denied access to equal education — all of that over hundreds of years," Nimmers added.
"And so a single check is not going to holistically repair our communities."AB 2599 requires qualifying corporations doing business in California with more than $100 million in gross revenue to search their historical records and publicly disclose any financial ties to chattel slavery.Lawmakers and advocacy groups are now attempting to leverage the bill's passage as momentum to turn broader recommendations from the California Reparations Task Force into law.During the multi-year tenure of the California Task Force to Study and De...