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Black Dems fume at Newsom, threaten Kamala after Calif. reparations bill takes last-minute turn

September 2, 2024 | | Print Article

It was not a happy weekend in Sacramento as protests broke out at the California State Capitol when two key reparations bills were denied a vote out of concern that they would be vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

While the state legislature did pass other bills to remedy alleged past racial injustices related to human slavery, the two that would have established a state fund for payouts along with an agency that would oversee the doling out of the money didn’t make the cut, infuriating activists who threw a temper tantrum.

(Video Credit: KCRA3)

Senate Bill 1331 would have created a fund for the cash-strapped state to dole out the freebies to blacks and Senate Bill 1403 would have created the agency that would be in charge of the payments as well as determining eligibility.

The bills which were authored by State Senator Steven Bradford, a Democrat from Inglewood, were pulled after hours of heated debate and protesting, leaving supporters fuming.

“We’re at the finish line, and we, as the Black Caucus, owe it to the descendants of chattel slavery, to black Californians and black Americans, to move this legislation forward,” Bradford told colleagues on Saturday afternoon.

Last week, Newsom’s office requested changes to the bill that would have established the state agency to instead turn it into a study of reparations recommendations by the University of California which Bradford balked at, saying that the Legislative Black Caucus feared the governor would veto the bills.

Assemblymember Lori Wilson, who chairs the Legislative Black Caucus Chair said that they pulled the two bills because they needed more work.

“We knew from the very beginning that it was an uphill battle. … And we also knew from the very beginning that it would be a multiyear effort,” she told reporters on Saturday.

In a statement posted to X, the CLBC said, “There has been interest regarding the status of Senate bill 1403. The caucus was unable to participate in the legislative process collectively and only recently became aware of the concerns and issues with the bill.”

“We are well past the amendment deadline; therefore, the decision has been made to continue working on this bill and reintroduce it in the next session,” the statement read. “Regarding the status of Senate Bill 1331, the CLBC will not be moving it forward this year.”

The activist organization the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California accused the CLBC of betrayal over not allowing a vote on the bills despite having the votes for passage.

“This type of betrayal cannot go unanswered. There must be a political price to pay. Gone are the days when politicians of any race or party can disrespect Black Americans and expect no political consequences. We are not captured. We do not belong to any party or special interest. We are the living embodiment of our Ancestors who built this state and this country over 400 years ago and who are owed Reparations. We’re coming…No…We’re HERE, to get our checks and more,” the group said.

“The speaker needs to bring the bills up now, now, now. These are their bills. They have their names on the bills. They’re killing their own bills because they’re scared of the governor,” said one black member of the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California in the Capitol Rotunda.

“Now listen, they’re gonna see this, and they’re gonna get mad at us. They killing their own bills, and then they’re gonna get mad at us. They’re killing their own bills because they’re scared of the governor. We don’t care. Bring the G– d— bills up now, now, now,” the activist said, according to the New York Post.

Another threatened Newsom that the non-vote would have a “direct impact” on his “friend” Democratic Party nominee Kamala Harris who was democratically installed after Joe Biden was ousted in a coup by the party elite.

As the reparations push continues on the left coast, a 2020 video of Harris at an event hosted by Rev. Al Sharpton where she pledged to sign a bill making reparations the law of the land has resurfaced on X.

The Golden State has been at the forefront of the push for cash payments, a form of wealth confiscation from whites who have never owned slaves to give to blacks who never suffered human bondage.

The racist redistributive scheme that has blacks clamoring for free money gained momentum as a part of the “racial reckoning” demanded by leftists after the death of career criminal and drug addict George Floyd ignited fiery national race riots during the summer of 2020.

California lawmakers did pass other proposals related to reparations but they were largely symbolic gestures and not the free money that is being demanded by activists.

Chris Donaldson
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