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Hakeem Jeffries, "Remedial Assistance" and Reparations: What He Said on PBS

Campaign · California

Hold California to Its Reparations Task Force

California's reparations task force finished its report in 2023. The California Legislative Black Caucus carries the bills that follow — and direct compensation has still not reached a vote. Make sure your legislators know you are watching.

California State Capitol building in Sacramento, June 2019
California State Capitol, Sacramento, July 2019. Photo: Frank Schulenburg / Wikimedia Commons. Institutional context, not a photograph of California Legislative Black Caucus members.CC BY-SA 4.0, credit Frank Schulenburg; share-alike applies to adaptations. Resized and converted to WebP; original framing retained.Photo credits & permissions
Task force created
AB 3121, signed 2020
Final report
June 2023
Direct cash payments
Not yet voted on
Find your lawmaker Track the bills

Three things you can do this week

  1. Contact your legislators

    Ask your Assembly member and state senator where they stand on each Black Caucus reparations bill — including direct compensation.

  2. Show up at hearings

    Committee hearings are public. Written and spoken testimony from descendants puts the record on the record.

  3. Follow the series

    Our five-part Black Caucus series explains who carries the bills, why cash bills die without a vote and how a vote can be forced.

Use this call or email script

—

readers report they've called or emailed

I am a constituent in [district]. I am asking [Legislator] to state their position on the California Legislative Black Caucus reparations bills, including direct compensation for descendants of American slavery, and to support bringing them to a recorded vote. Please send me a written answer.
Who do I call?California Legislative Information ↗

Read the reporting

California State Capitol building in Sacramento, June 2019

Forcing the Vote

Who Is the California Legislative Black Caucus? The Bloc Carrying the Reparations Fight

California State Senate chamber in the State Capitol, Sacramento, 2013

Forcing the Vote

Why Reparations Cash Bills Die Without a Vote — and How the Black Caucus Can Force One

California State Assembly chamber in the State Capitol, Sacramento, January 2025

State Policy

Did California Pass Reparations? Inside the Direct Cash Impasse

Get campaign alertsSupport this reporting

Civic action dispatch

Now act on it

A debt documented is not yet a debt collected. See it, prove it, force it.

  1. 01Federal + state bills

    Step 01 · Monitor

    Track the bills

    Follow active reparations measures in Congress and the states.

    Open tracker
  2. 023,142 counties

    Step 02 · Document

    Verify the receipts

    Find slave schedules, Freedmen's records and land deeds in your county.

    Search your county
  3. 03Scripts + caucuses

    Step 03 · Mobilize

    Organize your district

    Call your lawmaker, reach your Black Caucus and start a local group.

    Get the playbook

Priority action · 30 seconds

Call your state lawmaker today

Copy the script, then find your representative's number on the community page.

Find my lawmaker →