Activist seeks $600,000 from California taxpayers during reparations task committee meeting

During the inaugural meeting of the state’s reparations task group on Wednesday, a black California businessman demanded $600,000 from California taxpayers.

Initiated discussions on how to quantify how monetary compensation could be computed and what would be required to demonstrate eligibility.

Max Fennell, a 35-year-old entrepreneur and the first black professional triathlete, stated at the public hearing that everyone should receive $350,000 in compensation to close the racial wealth gap, while Black-owned enterprises should receive $250,000 to assist them develop.

Fennell added, “It’s an obligation that must be paid; we worked for free.” ‘We’re not asking; we’re telling you.’

He closed his remarks by stating, “The tangibles of my request are $350,000 per black American in California, which is tangible, a $250,000 small business award, and 15-20 acres of land.”

At the debate, entrepreneur and professional triathlete Max Fennell stated, “It’s a debt we owe, we worked for free.” ‘We’re not asking; we’re telling you.’

Fennell shared a video on Instagram of himself and perhaps 60 others attending the proceedings with the remark, “Witnessing history with the tribe.”

Since 2021, a task team, the first of its kind in the nation, has been examining history and studies to establish its case for reparations to descendants of enslaved Black people in California. The committee has until July 1 to make a choice regarding restitution.

Max Fennell and fellow activist Deon Jenkins pictured following the meeting; Jenkins requested that $800,000 in reparations be distributed.

The committee gathered in City Hall in Oakland on Wednesday, a city that was the birthplace of the Black Panthers but has lost a portion of its African American population due to rising housing costs.

At the meeting, Deon Jenkins, a candidate for the senate in California, stated that any funds intended to combat housing discrimination should be proportional to the state’s median home price of $800,000.

A member of the Richmond City Council, Demnlus Johnson III, remarked that it is astonishing that the topic is even being discussed publicly.

“You must identify a problem in order to solve it,” he remarked. ‘Of course we want to see it resolved immediately, the urgency is now, but just bringing it all to light and putting it on the table is a significant accomplishment.’

Wednesday’s meeting at Oakland City Hall drew a meager number of activists.

Kerby Lynch, foreground, and Patrice L. Taraji, both representing the city of Vallejo, California, speak at a meeting of the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans during a witness panel for local municipal reparation initiatives.

During a meeting, Task Force member Dr. Jovan Lewis speaks to the left of Task Force Chair Kamilah Moore.

During a meeting break, vice-chairman Dr. Amos Brown speaks with outgoing Richmond, California, city council member Demnlus Johnson III.

Sister Kamilah Moore, Chair of the California Reparations Task Force, appeared on #BTP to clear up the misinformation around the $233,000 figure that the media incorrectly reported, and everyone who’s trying to be somebody ran with the picture.

The day before the hearings began, the committee chair criticized rumors that the organization intends to suggest that each applicant for the program receive $225,000.

In a series of interviews conducted on December 13, Kamilah V. Moore stated that the figure supplied by an economic study team to the committee represented California’s’maximum liability’ for housing discrimination.

It applies solely to those affected by housing discrimination between 1933 and 1977, and not simply to black individuals.

Moore stated, “In actuality, that number would be significantly reduced when you consider that the task force concluded in March that the community of eligibility would be determined by genealogy rather than by race.”

She continued, “When you examine who was truly affected by housing discrimination at that time period, it was probably not all black people.”

In an interview on Tuesday, Kamilah Moore stated that the maximum award only applies to anyone affected by housing discrimination in California between 1933 and 1977.

In a second interview with Spectrum News, Moore emphasized the need for a Bureau of African American affairs in order to manage the payments, citing the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ record of success in addressing similar matters with Native Americans.

Moore began Wednesday’s session by stating, ‘September’s meeting in Los Angeles and today’s meeting in Oakland represent a stage of development. Now, we are not actually seeking personal and expert testimony from individuals.’

She stated, ‘It is crucial that we do this right because we are creating a precedence for other states and municipalities, as well as the federal government.’

Oakland Councilmember Carroll Fife highlighted the issue of homelessness in California.

These are the five “key questions” that the task committee intends to explore at its Wednesday and Thursday meetings.

Fife stated, “Homelessness in California is off the charts. And this is partially due to the fact that certain populations, specifically African-Americans, have been denied access to homes.

In an effort to reduce discrepancies in how Black people are treated, committee members will submit preliminary policy recommendations, such as audits of government organizations that deal with child welfare and jail.

The panel addressed how the state should mitigate the impact of eminent domain on Black families whose land was taken. Last year, lawmakers voted to return the oceanfront land known as Bruce’s Beach to the descendants of the Black citizens who owned it prior to its confiscation in the 20th century.

Officials from Oakland, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and other cities in California discussed local reparations initiatives.

This includes Khansa T. Jones-Muhammad, the vice-chair of the Los Angeles Reparations Advisory Commission, which was established under former Mayor Eric Garcetti last year. The commission’s aim is to advise the city on a pilot program for distributing reparations to a subset of Black people, but it has no firm deadline for completing its task.

In September, economists began providing early estimates of what the state may be liable for due to discriminatory practices. However, they stated that they need more information to generate more accurate numbers.

Shirley Weber, the secretary of state of California and a former assemblywoman, wrote the measure that established the state’s task committee, which began its work last year.

After a summer of countrywide protests against racism and police brutality following the shooting of a Black man by a white police officer in Minnesota, the bill was signed into law in September 2020.

In June, the task force issued a 500-page report detailing the discriminatory practices that led to housing segregation, disparities in the criminal justice system, and other realities that have plagued Black Californians in the decades after the abolition of slavery.