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A28 u.s. news
Diaranson 30 Maart 2022

Black reparations panel could decide who gets compensation

(AP) - California’s first- U.S. descendants with mere fornia and local governments
in-the-nation task force pennies, she said. were complicit in stripping
on reparations is at a Black people of their wages
crossroads, with members But members at February’s and property, preventing
divided on which Black meeting — nearly all of them from building wealth to
Americans should be eli- whom can trace their families pass down to their children.
gible for compensation as back to enslaved ancestors — Their homes were razed for
atonement for a slave sys- questioned the need to rush redevelopment, and they
tem that officially ended on a pivotal question bound were forced to live in pre-
with the Civil War but re- to shape reparations delibera- dominantly minority neigh-
verberates to this day. tions across the country. borhoods and couldn’t get
bank loans that would allow
Some members want to limit Task force member Lisa them to purchase property.
financial and other compen- Holder shared a poignant
sation to descendants of en- story of losing her child at Today, Black residents are
slaved people while others delivery, because the medi- 5% of the state’s popula-
say that all Black people in cal staff did not take serious- tion but over-represented in
the U.S., regardless of lin- ly the concerns of a young jails, prison and homeless
eage, suffer from systemic race would attract “hyper-ag- Black woman who knew populations. And Black ho-
racism in housing, education Compensation could in- gressive challenges that could something was wrong with meowners continue to face
and employment. The task clude free college, assistance have very negative implica- her baby, she said. In the discrimination in the form
force could vote on eligibility buying homes and launch- tions for other states looking U.S., Black mothers are far of home appraisals that are
on Tuesday after putting it off ing businesses, and grants to to do something similar, or more likely to experience a significantly lower than if the
last month. churches and community or- even for the federal govern- pregnancy-related death than house were in a white neigh-
ganizations, advocates say. ment,” she said. white women. borhood or the homeowners
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed are white, according to testi-
legislation creating the two- Yet, the eligibility question “Everyone’s looking to what “No one asked me if my an- mony.
year reparations task force in has dogged the group since we’re going to do,” she said. cestors were enslaved in the
2020, making California the its inaugural meeting in June, United States or if they were Nkechi Taifa, director of the
only state to move ahead with when viewers called in plead- California Secretary of State enslaved in Jamaica or if they Reparation Education Proj-
a study and plan, with a mis- ing with the nine-member Shirley Weber, who authored were enslaved in Barbados,” ect, is among longtime ad-
sion to study the institution group to devise targeted pro- the legislation creating the said Holder, a civil rights at- vocates who are thrilled the
of slavery and its harms and posals and cash payments to task force, had argued pas- torney. “We have to embrace discussion has gone main-
to educate the public about make whole the descendants sionately in January for pri- this concept that Black lives stream. But she’s baffled by
its findings. of people enslaved in the U.S. oritizing descendants for matter, not just a sliver of the idea of limiting repara-
generations of forced labor, those Black lives, because tions to people who can show
The committee is not even a Kamilah Moore, the com- broken family ties and police Black lives are in danger, es- lineage when ancestry is not
year into its two-year process mittee’s chair, said she ex- terrorism. The daughter of pecially today.” easy to document and slave
and there is no compensation pects robust discussion at sharecroppers forced to flee owners frequently moved
plan of any kind on the table. Tuesday’s meeting, which Arkansas in the dead of night, Critics say that California has people among plantations in
But there is broad agree- will include testimony from she recalled how the legacy of no obligation to pay up given the U.S., the Caribbean and
ment among advocates of the genealogists. She favors eligi- slavery broke her family and that the state did not practice South America.
need for multi-faceted rem- bility based on lineage, rather stunted their ability to dream slavery and did not enforce
edies for related yet separate than race, saying it will have of anything beyond survival. Jim Crow laws that segregat- “I guess I tend to be more
harms, such as slavery, Jim the best chance of surviving a ed Black people from white inclusive rather than exclu-
Crow laws, mass incarcera- legal challenge in a conserva- Opening up compensation people in the southern states. sive,” she said, “and maybe
tion and redevelopment that tive U.S. Supreme Court. to Black immigrants or even it’s a fear of limitation, that
resulted in displacement of descendants of slaves from But testimony provided to there’s not enough money to
Black communities. A reparations plan based on other countries would leave the committee shows Cali- go around.”

New York AG asks appeals court to enforce Trump subpoena

(AP) — New York’s at- and other business interests the true facts warranted, to criminal investigation. office said, and are free to
torney general is asking a constituted fraud and, if so, secure economic benefits exercise their Fifth Amend-
state appeals court to up- who committed that fraud. to which Mr. Trump might While upholding the sub- ment right against self-in-
hold a lower court ruling not otherwise have been en- poenas would require the crimination — as another
requiring former Presi- James is also seeking to up- titled.” Trumps to sit for question- Trump son, Eric Trump, did
dent Donald Trump to an- hold a ruling forcing Trump’s ing, they can’t be forced to more than 500 times during
swer questions under oath two eldest children, Ivanka Trump’s lawyers argued in provide information that a 2020 deposition in the civil
after a civil investigation and Donald Trump Jr., to tes- appeal papers filed March 21 could be used against them in investigation.
into his business practices tify. Both of them have been that the lower court judge, a future criminal case, James’
uncovered evidence that executives at their father’s Arthur Engoron, failed to
he may have misstated the company, the Trump Orga- properly weigh constitution-
value of assets like golf nization. al and ethical concerns about
courses and skyscrapers James’ investigation.
on financial statements “The evidence collected to
for more than a decade. date suggests that financial In its response, James’ office
statements, tax submissions, rejected the Trumps’ argu-
In papers filed late Mon- loan guarantees, and other ments that the attorney gen-
day, Attorney General Letitia documents contain mate- eral, a Democrat, had a politi-
James’ office said it has ev- rial misstatements and omis- cal vendetta against Trump, a
ery right to question Trump, sions,” James’ office said in Republican, or that requiring
who is appealing the lower court papers. “These mis- the Trumps to testify un-
court ruling, as it seeks to representations appear to der oath would violate their
determine whether the mis- have been aimed at portray- constitutional rights because
represented values shown to ing Mr. Trump’s net worth their answers could be used
lenders, taxing authorities and liquidity as higher than against them in a parallel