In 2020, California's state legislature set out to do something no state has ever done.

It created a task force to look at the legacy of slavery in the U.S.

and how that legacy has harmed black residents of California and to suggest ways

the state might compensate people for that harm.

The idea is that reparations is a debt that's owed and the direct descendants of slaves are standing in the

shoes of their ancestors for that owed debt. That is Camilla Moore. She was

chair of the California Reparations Task Force. I spoke with her last year before

the task force released its final report. Some people questioned why a state like California,

which never was a slave state should take this on.

Well the task force very early in our study phase we learned that 1500 enslaved

African Americans were forced to labor in California, often working under dangerous conditions. In the goat mines, for instance, we learned that in 1852 California passed and enforced a fugitive slave law that made

California a more pro-slavery state than most other free states. California

was really free in name only.

The task force's 1100 page report was a comprehensive history of racism in California.

And it made a blockbuster recommendation that California should pay the descendants of the enslaved

cash reparations to atone for this history.

Democratic California State Senator Stephen Bradford was on the task force.

He spoke when the report was released.

The task force report is documented with citations and footnotes.

People can choose to ignore it. They can be uncomfortable with the history, but you cannot deny the truth.

That was a year ago. So where does this effort stand today?

Recently, California lawmakers set aside $12 million for reparations.

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