California Task Force Recommends Drug War Apology and Reparations for Black Americans

The nine-member committee first met almost two years ago and gave final approval over the weekend in Oakland, California, on a long list of proposals that will now go to the governor and the legislature for consideration.

The draft final report notes that federal and state governments have long targeted black people with “discriminatory arrests and detentions,” and the extent of this unfair policing was only exacerbated when the War on Drugs began under the Nixon administration in 1971.

“Reparations are not only morally defensible, but also have the potential to address long-standing racial differences and inequalities,” said US Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, at the meeting.

The first vote approved a detailed report on historical discrimination against black Californians, which specifically examined areas such as elections, housing, education, disproportionate policing, and incarceration, among others.

In addition to recommendations for redress, the task force also approved a public apology that acknowledges the state’s responsibility for past wrongs and pledges that the state will not repeat them. The apology would be issued in the presence of people of enslaved ancestry.

“An apology and an admission of wrongdoing alone will not be satisfactory,” said Chris Lodgson, an organizer for the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California.

Members quantified the impact of racially discriminatory drug prosecutions and incarceration by including an analysis of the cost of time spent in prison with other side effects associated with drug abuse convictions. They assessed racial discrimination based on comparisons of average arrest rates, convictions, and convictions between blacks and whites who engaged in drug-related activities at comparable rates and experienced different consequences in the criminal justice system.

The Task Force “recommends that community damage compensation be provided as uniform payments based on an eligible recipient’s length of stay in California during the defined period of damage (e.g., residence in a patrolled community during the 1971 ‘War on Drugs’ by 2020),” according to the report.

Members also recommended that the legislature introduce a “single application process” to compensate people who can demonstrate “specific injuries,” such as a person who has been arrested or imprisoned on a drug charge in the past, particularly where the drug is now believed to be legal Cannabis is available in many states.

The panel specifically concluded that lawmakers should pay an estimated 1,976,911 Black Californians $115,260 in 2020, totaling $2,352 per person for “each year of residence in California during the 49-year period between 1971 and 2020” or total equals $227,858,891,023 in indemnity for all affected according to Marijuana Moment.

“To measure racial disparities in mass incarceration over the 49 years of the War on Drugs from 1971 to 2020, the task force experts estimated the disproportionate years that African-American, non-Hispanic, California drug offenders spent behind bars compared to white, non- Hispanic drug offenders. ” says the report. “Because these differences are measurable in years, the experts put a monetary value on these disproportionate years in prison by calculating what the average California State employee would have earned in one year.”

The report notes that the Drug War resulted in “massively disproportionate incarceration of African Americans,” in addition to contributing to unemployment and homelessness in economically depressed African American communities once incarcerated individuals were released. The panel also proposes additional compensation for health inequalities and housing discrimination.

It also points to the differences in judgment between crack and powder cocaine enacted by Congress during the Reagan administration and specifically cites it as an example of drug policy drafted in a way that disproportionately affected black communities.

In addition, the task force made recommendations on reinstating affirmative action, abolishing the death penalty, restoring voting rights to those previously and currently incarcerated, providing free tuition for those eligible for redress under the proposal, eliminating bail in cash and to provide universal single-payer healthcare, among others.

Members will meet again on June 29 before submitting the final report to lawmakers.