Assembly Standing Committee on Judiciary

And the rules for witness testimony are that each side will be allowed two main witnesses each. And witnesses will have approximately two minutes to testify in support of or opposition to the bill or resolution. Additional witnesses should state their names, organization, if any, and their position on the item. And so, we will go ahead and start with our sole item on the agenda, ACR 135. Dr. Weber, you may begin whenever you're ready. Oh, yeah.

While you're stepping up here, if we can have our secretary do the roll call for quorum call run here.

[Roll Call]

We have a quorum established. Assemblymember Weber, you begin whenever you're ready.

Thank you, chair. Good afternoon, Chair and Members. I want to start by stating that I accept the committee amendments and would like to thank the Committee staff for your very thoughtful analysis on this resolution. I am here today to present ACR 135, which affirms the findings of the California Reparations Task Force in regard to the harms done to black Californians over the course of California's history.

The reparations task force was created through AB 3121 in 2020, authored by now California Secretary of State Dr. Shirley Weber. Its purpose was to study the institution of slavery and its lingering negative effects on living African Americans, as well as develop reparation proposals for African Americans in California. AB 3121 also charged the California Department of Justice with providing administrative, technical, and legal assistance. The members of the reparations task force, along with the Attorney General, released the reparation report last June.

A quote from the report states quote, "America's wealth was built by the forced labor of trafficked African people and their descendants who were bought and sold as commodities. American government at all levels allowed or participated in exploiting, abusing, terrorizing, and murdering people of African descent so that mostly white Americans could profit from their enslavement." End quote. This is something that we should all already know, but the question that we ask is, what role did California play?

The reparations report did a masterful job of researching and reporting the role that our state played. And although California joined the union in 1850 as a free state, pro-slavery individuals held a great deal of power and influence that shaped our state Legislature, state court system, and our representatives in US Congress, to highlight a very few examples. In 1852, California passed and enforced the fugitive state law that made us more pro-slavery than most other free states.

California did not ratify the 14th Amendment until 1959 and did not ratify the 15th Amendment until 1962. Some of us on this dias may have been born at that time. I know my mother was. In 1874, the California Supreme Court ruled that segregation in schools was legal. This was 22 years before the US Supreme Court case of Plessy versus Ferguson. Operating under a state law for urban redevelopment, San Francisco was declared that the predominantly black neighborhood of western edition was blighted and therefore destroyed.

The Fillmore, San Francisco's most prominent African American neighborhood and business district. Our state enacted policies to prevent black Californians from living in certain neighborhoods, also known as redlining, from testifying against white men in court, and from interracial marriage, just to name a few. And these are some of the few findings that are outlined in the task force report and affirmed in ACR 135. And if you haven't read the report or, at a minimum, the executive summary, I strongly recommend that you do so.

We cannot move forward as a state unless we learn about, acknowledge the harms from the past, and then begin to repair them. ACR 135 is the first step in that acknowledgment. This resolution has no opposition, and I respectfully ask for your aye vote. Thank you.

Thank you, Dr. Weber. We have witnesses on this item, I believe. Okay, in that case, if there's anyone who would like to come up to the microphone to speak in support of ACR 135, please approach the microphone, and if you can have the sergeant can set up the microphone. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Thank you. All right. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the Committee. Sorry. My name is Tasia Stevens, and on behalf of the Alliance for Reparations, Reconciliation, and Truth, I strongly support this measure.

Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else in support of ACR 135? Is anyone in opposition to ACR 135? Okay. Questions or comments from committee members? Assemblymember Bryan?

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

This is a full circle moment for me because it was some years ago where I was the expert witness to then Assemblywoman Shirley Weber when she presented the bill that established the reparations task force to this very same committee.

So to be sitting here as a member to look at ACR 135 shows the progress that's been made in just a short amount of time when a dedicated group of task force Members and community members all across the state do the hard work to understand California's role in slavery and its afterlifes. As was mentioned earlier, although California was a free state, some of the earliest laws passed out of this institution included the fugitive slave law, which was draconian in all of its ways.

You could come to California seeking freedom and then be returned back to the South. You could come to California owning slaves and continue to own those slaves in California. The afterlife of slavery are very well documented in the thousand-page report that was compiled over a year of dedicated research. We have a lot of work to do to make amends, to repair, to redress, to address the harms that have been inflicted on black people and descendants of slaves here in California and beyond.

And one of those steps, an important step, is ACR 135. And so I want to thank my colleague and secretary for the Legislative Black Caucus for bringing this important measure forward on this Black History month. And I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you. Senator Mckinnor.

Dr. Weber, I want to thank you for authoring ACR 135 and for bringing this resolution forward as part of the California Legislative Black Caucus reparation legislative package. As you know, this is the first of what will be a multi-year effort to address the negative legacies and impacts of slavery and the harm that was caused not just to enslaved persons but to the descendants of enslaved persons, harms that continue to this day.

Dr. Weber, our ancestors could never have imagined us sitting in this room, in these chairs, in this building. You, the descendant of formerly enslaved people and sharecroppers from Arkansas, and me, a descendant of formerly enslaved people and sharecroppers from Orange, Texas. As a black woman, we carry the weight of many burdens and traumas from generations past on our shoulders and on our crowns, and yet we stand with our chins up and our shoulders back, showing the strength and resilience of our people.

Following the end of apartheid in South Africa, that nation formed a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a public effort to speak truth to the horrors of apartheid, to allow those in government to take responsibility for their actions, and to allow the public to heal.

ACR 135 recognized that while the State of California was not directly involved in the slave trade, the state and its people had direct financial benefits from slavery in the form of free labor, cheap agricultural products, cheap textiles, and was a model of our own labor exploitations here in the early golden state.

As we begin this journey in repair to repair the harm caused by slavery, it makes sense that we start by accepting responsibilities for those in power that promoted discrimination, and that those that developed systemic structures of discrimination that still remain in this day. On this day, the journey ahead will not be easy. But I am proud to be working with each and every one of you, shoulder to shoulder, crown to crown, to ensure that all descendants of slavery are granted the dignity and justice they deserve.

Thank you.

Thank you, Senator Bauer-Kahan.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I want to start by thanking committee staff, actually, for the very thoughtful analysis that I had the opportunity to read and to Dr. Weber for bringing this forward. I think it's so critically important that in this journey that the legislature in the state of California is on, that allyship is a huge part of it.

And those of us that don't have the same history need to learn and understand the history of California and the role California has played in the wrongs committed against African Americans here within our own borders. And I think that that is what this analysis began to do, what this conversation begins to do.

You know, when I bought my house, and I was signing my papers, I was taken aback when I turned the page and saw that neither you nor I would have been able to live in my house before the law was changed, Jews and African Americans weren't allowed in my neighborhood. And that redlining, although now no longer the law, absolutely still shapes the color of my neighborhood. My child came home from our local elementary school one day and said-

"We did family history day. And can you believe that everyone was from just one of two places?"

And I said, "Yeah, you know, why?" And I explained redlining, and I said, "It's gone, but it's not." Right? Our neighborhood still looks this way because of a history of discrimination and exclusion. And we have a lot of work to go before we change those wrongs. That, although maybe taken off the books, are still very much a part of the fabric of the society of this state. And so it's important that we help our kids understand that. We help our communities understand that.

And I think the education that this begins to do is really the beginning of the work that my colleagues have spoken about, about making that repair. But I appreciate you starting that conversation, helping me learn more and look forward to the journey ahead.

Assemblymember Haney

Well, first of all, thank you, Dr. Weber, and thank you to the Black Caucus for their incredible leadership on bringing forward the package of bills. I know this is one of the pieces of what we're going to be considering this year coming out of the work of the reparations task force. All of us who've spoken have shared this, and you spoke to this in your comments.

It's really important that all of the residents that we represent that the people of California, understand the history here in our state, that our state, through the color of law, directly discriminated, protected the awful, despicable institution of slavery through our laws, and that there are so many ways in which we are still living with the consequences and impacts of that in our state.

I think if we were to look at one thing, that is the starting point for this, to the many things that we are going to have to do to redress this and repair this, it's to get people to understand our own history and what happened here, including in this institution where, as Mr. Brian said, we sit in seats that are part of that legacy, are part of that impact, that passed laws that promoted and protected slavery and directly contributed to it, and that the legacy and consequences of that are still very much here with us for not only slavery, but the many, many decades of authorized, legalized segregation and the responsibility that the state of California has, the people of California have, and to the continuing effects of that I live in.

You spoke to the history of the Western Eidition and the Fillmore. We now, in the City of San Francisco, have less than 3% of our population African American. A huge displacement because of this history of redlining and displacement of this redevelopment that intentionally targeted black neighborhoods in not only San Francisco but all over the state.

And that for us to be able to address what is happening in the city of San Francisco right now, you can't do that without both an understanding of how we got there and the responsibility that comes with it. And that is what this resolution is about. And I thank you for your leadership and for everyone who will step forward as allies and also to the Black Caucus for their extraordinary leadership, and very proud to support this today.

Vice Chair Dixon.

Thank you, Chair and Assemblymember Weber, thank you for bringing this important critical issue forward. California legislators, in the early days, as you spoke of its statehood, enacted a number of laws that intentionally discriminated against African Americans. Those laws are morally repugnant and indefensible. Yet it is correct, as California legislators today, we can be proud that California, in the second half, it took a long time, of the 20th century, became a national leader in extending civil rights to African Americans and others.

For example, being one of the first states to overturn bans on interracial marriage, to desegregate schools, and to guarantee equal opportunity and nondiscrimination in education, housing, and employment. I look forward to our growing knowledge in reading the reparations report and informing us of these transgressions. Because of this, I will be abstaining today, but I look forward to continued growing my knowledge and understanding. Thank you.

Senator Reyes.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I sincerely appreciate, Dr. Weber, you're bringing this resolution. I remember when our Secretary of State introduced it, and it wasn't going to be a bill to put together a study. It was to ask for reparations, and initially, I remember that we were a little upset that it wasn't a bill to move forward on reparations, but she accepted it to be a study to set up the reparations task force.

And I'm glad that she did, because it provides even more information, more historical context for those who may still deny what California's history was all about. I remember my father sharing that. He would go to places, and he would see the notes, "No Negroes, Mexicans, or dogs allowed." And we remember this. This is part of our California history. My colleague talked about the intentional acts of the state of California. It wasn't just that it happened. We caused it to happen.

And for that, we need to cause a repair to the actions of the state of California. And I thank you for bringing this resolution forward.

Any other Members? I want to join in thanking you, Dr. Weber, for your leadership. And I also want to extend my thanks to not just the two members of the legislative Black Caucus who are members of the committee, but the many members who are in the audience in support. I think that not only demonstrates the importance of this to the caucus, but it should demonstrate to every single member of the legislature why this should be a priority for each and every one of us.

We know, as many of our colleagues have mentioned, the insidious nature of California's very specific role. As was mentioned, it was this body that took action that was so horrific and inhumane, and immoral, and we sit in those same seats. So, it is up to us to take corrective action in a very meaningful way. The reality is, I think when we look back at this time period, the California reparations report will be seen as a very significant historical document.

But if it just remains a document without us taking action, then we've lost an enormous opportunity for us to actually rectify wrongs and to actually bring some semblance of justice to those who have suffered and to descendants of slaves. And so I know this is the first step towards a formal apology. I think it's a critically important step. And I do think the educational nature of this is important, not just for our legislative colleagues, but for all Californians.

And I do encourage all of our colleagues to read the reparations report because there's a lot more work that's going to be coming subsequent to this as well. So I hope that for those that support this resolution or are considering support going forward, that we recognize that this is the first step of many other recommendations that are going to come forward that are actually going to put action towards the words of recognition and apology.

And so, I would be honored to be added as a co-author. And with that, would you like to close Dr. Weber?

Thank you, Chair. We would love to have you as a co-author as well. Thank you for asking. I want to start by thanking all of the committee members who spoke up for this resolution. It is something that people put a lot of time, energy, and effort into in terms of researching our history in California, and it is the first step.

I want to thank my two fellow members of the Black Caucus as well for their input because this is not easy, but this is a piece of education. And if we want to believe that California's harm was only limited to a certain portion of our history or the first half of our history, I strongly recommend once again that we go back and look at this report.

The foundation of this state meant a lot, but there are other policies that were put in place after which are very visible in the report, which we see today as why black children are at the bottom of the totem pole in terms of education. Black maternal health outcomes are worse than anyone else, regardless of your socioeconomic status. I can go on. We talked about Assemblymember Bauer-Kahan's neighborhood not being very diverse.

So I think it's important and incumbent on all of us to learn the history of our state, the past and the present. And with that, I strongly ask for your aye vote on ACR 135. Thank you.

Move the bill.

I was going to say we didn't have a motion, but we've got it. And so with that. Ma'am, secretary, please call the roll on the motion.

It's to be adopted as amended to the Floor. [Roll Call]

All right, that bill is out of the floor. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, we'll keep the roll open for a moment to see if any colleagues that aren't here would like to add on.

Thank you.

You'll be sitting there for a while.

Thank you, Bryan.

Thank you.