California keeps going out of its way to drive residents to Texas or somewhere else.
We learned that California has set up a panel to study reparations. This is the story:
The panel would study the effects slavery had on California and recommend to the legislature no later than 2023 what type of compensation would be appropriate, how it might be dispersed and who could be eligible to receive it.
The task force could also recommend other forms of redress besides money.
According to a state lawmaker, slavery is responsible for higher rates of incarceration, homelessness, and unemployment for African-Americans. No one asked the lawmaker about March 2020, when the African-American unemployment rate was the lowest ever. I guess that happened in another planet.
The lawmakers took this vote on the 57th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech. My guess is that Dr. King would have a few things to say about incarceration and so many young African-American men growing up without fathers.
“Reparations” faces a big test and it will be Hispanics. It’s possible that many Hispanic legislators supported the creation of the panel but it won’t be so easy when they explain it to their constituents.
In other words, I have not met a single Hispanic who supports the idea. Maybe I’m hanging around with too many Cubans and Venezuelans but I don’t remember any Mexicans crazy about the idea. I do recall a fellow from Guatemala saying this: “Why do I have to pay taxes for something that happened centuries ago”?
We will wait for the panel’s report. In the meantime, more people will leave California behind.
