California's Fight for Reparations
July 28, 2022
Last month, the California Reparations Task Force released an interim report detailing California’s history of slavery and its impact on the state. The task force was created in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder. Its goal is to examine what a reparations program in the state could look like.
The idea of reparations for slavery itself is not new. It stems from the value of enslaved labor, which, in 1860, was estimated at over 3 billion dollars. This forced labor built the backbone of the American economy but enslaved people nor their descendants have ever seen the economic benefit from their labor. In fact, Black Americans have systematically been denied opportunities to build and accumulate wealth since the country’s founding.Advocates of reparations argue this is one of the most effective ways to decrease the racialized wealth gap.
Joining us today Tammerlin Drummond, a communications strategist at the ACLU of Northern California and Brandon Greene, director of the racial and economic justice program at the ACLU of Northern California, Brandon Greene. Tammerlin is also the host of Gold Chains, a podcast that explores California’s ties to slavery, and Brandon worked with the California Reparations Task Force, helping build the interim report.
To learn more about the Gold Chains project, visit: https://www.aclunc.org/sites/goldchains/index.html
In this episode
Kendall Ciesemier
Former Host of At Liberty and Senior Executive Producer of Multimedia, American Civil Liberties Union
she/her/hers
Tammerlin Drummond
Communications Strategist , ACLU of Northern California
she/her
Brandon Greene
Racial and Economic Justice Director, ACLU of Northern California
(he/him)