Reparations supporters plot comeback after bitter defeat in California Legislature

Still grappling with the fallout from the defeat of two bills in the Legislature’s final hours, backers of reparations geared up for a grinding fight they said could last a decade and debated whether new divisions amongst them are best resolved through reconciliation or open political warfare.

Some supporters of the bills, which would have established a fund and an agency to administer reparations in California, are even promising payback, possibly by campaigning to recall legislators who blocked the bills.

The defeat of the legislation caused a deep schism between the reparations advocates who backed the bills and the California Legislative Black Caucus, which wants to take a more incremental approach and successfully kept those bills from coming to a vote on the Assembly floor Saturday.

The caucus prioritized 14 other pieces of legislation, drawing on the recommendations of a state reparations task force. Many passed the Legislature and are headed to the governor’s desk. Caucus leaders pointed to the package as a concrete achievement; it includes one bill that establishes a process to restore property to victims of racially motivated eminent domain.

Political experts say California Democrats are walking a balance beam: trying to advance reparations policies far enough to appease advocates and Black voters, but not so far as to incur potential voter blowback.

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