An unlikely pair of Californians are teaming up to take the first step in passing a reparations-related bill after similar efforts were killed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) during the last legislative session.
Republican Assemblyman Bill Essayli, a hard-line conservative known for his clashes with Democrats, is authoring a bill that would create the California American Freedmen Affairs Agency, which would serve as a starting point on reparations by setting up genealogy services to determine who is a descendant of slaves.
He has gotten support from Kamilah Moore, the Democratic leader of California’s Reparations Task Force, who spent the past two years studying the negative impacts slavery had on California.
Moore’s team has chosen to work with Essayli instead of the Black Caucus, which is focusing its efforts on working with Assemblywoman Akilah Weber Pierson, a Democrat from San Diego. Pierson and the Black Caucus are pushing to establish the Bureau of Descendants of American Slavery.
Moore told KCRA3 she is backing the measure Essayli filed last week.
“I stand in strong support,” Moore said of Essayli’s bill. “As former chairperson, I’m going to support any piece of legislation from any legislator that speaks to the task force’s report.”
Essayli has gone on record to say he does not support reparations. This isn’t a moment in which he’s seen the light and changed his mind. He said he’s simply trying to move the effort along and have “important” discussions on race in California.
The legislation he has proposed is similar to one former Democratic state Sen. Steven Bradford pushed last year. That measure sailed through the state legislature and was on its way to Newsom’s desk when the Democratic Legislative Black Caucus, which had initially supported the measure, chose to block and abandon the bill from its final vote.
The move angered advocates and led to protests at the state Capitol. That’s where Essayli’s and Moore’s paths crossed. Essayli decided to take up the cause after Bradford left the state legislature.
“I only introduced it after [the coalition] came to me and said no Democrat is willing to introduce this bill and asked me to do it,” Essayli said. “The reason I did it is because I think it’s important, we should have these conversations. I think a lot of people have a misconception that there is an effort to hand out checks to all black Americans. That’s not true. It’s also not constitutional. So, this bill is very narrow.”
He added that no Democrats had come forward out of fear they’d get on Newsom’s bad side.
“I was told by multiple Democrats that it was Gov. Newsom who ordered the bills to be killed last year because he did not want the bills on his desk,” said Essayli, the first American Muslim elected to the California Assembly. “He thought it was not a national popular issue, and he’s all about shaping his image for a future presidential run. The California Black Caucus took their marching orders from Newsom, and they killed the bills even though I know they individually support them.”
Moore nodded her head in agreement, according to the news outlet.
Last year, lawmakers set aside $12 million that can only be used for specific reparations related legislation that is enacted into law. Essayli and Moore’s Freedmen Affairs Agency would not require any new money from taxpayers because the money had already been set aside.
It’s unclear how his bill has gone over with other members of his party, but Essayli admitted Republicans didn’t have the best track record at communicating their interest on the topic.
“We are the party that fought to abolish slavery. We were founded to abolish slavery. We fought a civil war. Our first president was Lincoln. This was a natural constituency group for the Republican Party,” Essayli said.
He told Politico he could get his party on board and “support getting resources to disadvantaged communities, in this case, descendants of slavery, whether that’s school choice vouchers or some sort of investment opportunities.”
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“There’s lots of ideas that I think would align with their goals that Republicans can and should support,” Essayli added.
Calls to the governor’s office for comment were not returned.
