A report detailing the historical and contemporary harm faced by Black Angelenos is scheduled to be released Tuesday, Aug. 27, in an attempt to guide the development of a future reparations proposal for Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department and its Reparations Advisory Commission will host a news conference at Cal State Northridge’s Student Union to discuss the study, which encompasses survey responses and original historical research conducted by the university, covering from 1930 to 2022.
City Councilman Curren Price, who helped create the commission, will provide remarks alongside Capri Maddox, general manager of the civil rights department. Dominique DiPrima, journalist and host of KBLA Talk 1580’s “First Things First,” will be the moderator.
Last year, the reparations committee held meetings in South Los Angeles to hear from Black Angelenos about their experiences, and discuss what they’d like in a reparations program.
Michael Lawson, CEO and president of the LA Urban League, who serves as the chair of the commission, previously described reparations as a “program of acknowledgement, redress and closure for grievous injustices supported by laws and enforced by governmental agencies.”
The commission was created in 2021 and is tasked with engaging the public, and gathering academic and participatory research to develop a reparations program. A final proposal is expected to be transmitted to the City Council and Mayor Karen Bass by early 2025, according to the civil rights department.
In June, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a motion introduced by Supervisor Holly Mitchell aimed at implementing local reparation initiatives based on the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans.
The report is expected to include recommendations on actions county departments can take to provide reparations to eligible residents, along with proposed language for a board resolution that acknowledges and apologizes to Black residents and their descendants “for the county’s role in structural racism, acts of violence and other such harms.”
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