Many of us have wished for something that was either impossible to happen or extremely unlikely to occur, yet we were utterly convinced that our determination for its existence would surely manifest.
While this scenario is common at least once in our lives, what makes a situation like this even worse is when someone who knows the truth of its unlikeliness encourages us to remain optimistic about our delusion.
This is the dynamic in the state of California, where the CA Reparations Board have come to their conclusion for reparations to become a reality for select black California residents, but the man who formed this board, Governor Gavin Newsom, never had any intention of validating their wish.
The reparations task force submitted its final recommendations on how the state could approach repaying black people for slavery committed over a century ago. The task force’s recommendation price tag ultimately came to a total of $1.2 million per person in cash payments.
Dr. Amos Brown, the vice-chair of California's reparations task force, stated that the reparations task force came to the recommended grand total after tediously evaluating the harm that has been imposed on black Americans in the US.
"All we did was evaluate the harm and state the case of what it might mean in terms of dollars and cents," Brown stated. "But if you can't pay all of that, say what you can pay. That's the point."
Brown answers the detractors who say that the state can’t afford such a steep toll with one keyword: installments.
"They ought to say, 'this is what we can afford’. And if we can't pay it now, we do like the Germans did - pay for it over installments."
Brown continued, "We need to stop making excuses and come to a reasonable plan that shows that we have good intentions.”
"All we're saying is let's just chill out and pay your debt – your sin bill of enslavement. Of discrimination. Of intimidation. Of terrorizing Black people.”
What Dr. Amos Brown and many others in favor of reparations being passed in California fail to realize is that Governor Newsom is that malevolent figure who created this environment that encourages them to enthusiastically grasp onto the delusion of reparations being passed in California.
Governor Newsom established this task force in September 2020 after signing a bill authored by Assemblymember Shirly Weber, currently California’s first African-American Secretary of State.
At the height of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) riots and racial tensions driven by the media, Newsom signed this bill to give a nod to his black constituents showing how virtuous he is for being willing to go further than any other state in the union to explore reparations.
However, Newsom had no intention of following through and his dismissal of the task force’s recommendation shouldn’t shock anyone: this is what Democrats do. Democrats will always do just enough to give the impression that they care about the plight of black Americans without following through. They will give the metaphorical “shout out” to black people and make meaningless gestures to give the illusion of caring, but they will rarely, if ever, follow through with their lofty agendas to help black Americans as they promised.
Newsom now wants black people to reimagine reparations as being him investing in fair housing, improving schools, and a variety of other government measures to improve the lives of black Californians as reparations when he knows damn well that it was always about receiving direct cash payouts.
“Many of the recommendations put forward by the Task Force are critical action items we’ve already been hard at work addressing: breaking down barriers to vote, bolstering resources to address hate, enacting sweeping law enforcement and justice reforms to build trust and safety, strengthening economic mobility — all while investing billions to root out disparities and improve equity in housing, education, healthcare, and well beyond,” stated Governor Newsom on Fox News Digital.
Newsom encouraged the possibility of reparations because it was politically advantageous to do so at the time, and he never cared about the disappointment that reparation advocates would experience when he closed the checkbook on their wishful endeavor.
Newsom was never the star they should have wished upon.
