The task force is considering final recommendations to submit to the California Legislature, which will then decide whether to send them to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk to be signed into law.

The proposal would put the total cost of the program at about $640 billion, but activists claim that even this amount is insufficient. One speaker said, “I believe that 5 million in reparations is too little for the work that foundational Black Americans have done for this country and as well for other countries…I believe that 7.6 million [dollars] is a number that can be used very wisely in our foundational Black American communities.”

Reverend Tony Pierce also expressed his discontent with the current reparations proposals, saying, “Where’s the money? Where’s the cash? Where’s the check? $5 million, San Francisco’s already made a move. $5 million is nothing, and I’ll tell you why.” Pierce argued that $5 million spread over 50 years would only amount to $100,000 per year, and with taxes, “you’ll be lucky if you end up with $40,000 a year.”

Fox News explained:

Foundational Black Americans are descendants of Black people who were enslaved in the U.S. According to the speaker, reparations are overdue for all foundational Black Americans both for the suffering they endured and for helping “every culture get on their feet.” He also called for various other reparations measures, such as giving 40 acres and a tractor and colleges agreeing not raise tuition prices for foundational Black American families.

The $5 million number is similar to what the city of San Francisco is supposedly offering its residents. The city commissioned a group that made the recommendation, but there are doubts about whether the city would be able to follow through on such a promise given that the amount it would have to pay each resident annually would amount to about 15 percent of its GDP.

The California Reparations Task Force was created by state legislation signed by Governor Newsom in 2020. The task force is due to submit its final recommendations to the state legislature by July 1. Meanwhile, the city of San Francisco is considering its own reparations proposals, including a guaranteed annual income of at least $97,000 for 250 years and a home in the area for just $1 a family.

It is difficult to take any of this seriously at this point. One would think that if these activists truly wanted reparations for the descendants of chattel slavery, they would know better than to continue pushing further and further in the face of possibly getting $5 million for each black resident. This is an astronomical figure that most would accept if offered.

What is happening here is that these people seem to be pushing the extraordinary number even higher even though they know this will likely turn off folks that might be willing to support reparations. Perhaps this is the issue.

This is yet another reason why I continually argue that none of these people actually want reparations nor do Democrats actually want to grant reparations. There is absolutely no way San Francisco is truly going to give $5 million to each “qualifying” black resident and the people pushing this farce know it.

All of the fuss over reparations is, from where I sit, a massive grift designed to curry favor with black voters and the white progressives who pretend to love them. By constantly dangling reparations as an enticement, they seek to continue persuading black Americans to support them. After all, why actually follow through when you can continually use reparations to win elections?

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