A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/virginia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Virginia</a> state senator has said he was oblivious to the fact that his fraternity held a “slave auction” fundraiser while he was its president, but new evidence obtained by The Daily Wire casts doubt on his claim. 
When Democrat legislator Monty Mason was president of his Pi Lambda Phi fraternity at College of William and Mary in 1989, the college yearbook shows the fraternity held a “slave auction.” When pressed on the event by the school newspaper in 2019, Mason said nobody called it a “slave auction” and he had “no idea” who was responsible for the error in the yearbook.
“We called it a pledge auction to raise money for our fraternity,” Mason <a href="https://flathatnews.com/2019/02/07/monty-mason-89-yearbook-pages-depict-pi-lambda-phi-slave-auctions/">told</a> William and Mary’s student newspaper in an email back in 2019 when the story first broke. “I have no idea who is responsible for using other terminology to describe it in the Colonial Echo. I washed cars to fulfill my fundraising obligation.”
Mason’s ignorance, however, seems to be contradicted by a newly unearthed flier put out by the fraternity obtained by The Daily Wire. 
<div id="attachment_623369" style="width: 250px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-623369" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-623369" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/09/image-240x300.png" alt="Fraternity Flier" width="240" height="300" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/09/image-240x300.png 240w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/09/image-461x576.png 461w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/09/image-768x960.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/09/image.png 798w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" />Fraternity Flier / The Daily Wire</div>
The flier for the March 31, 1989, event shows promotion of the fraternity’s “long awaited slave auction” featuring an illustration of a man, with his hands and feet shackled to a block. According to the flier, the event was set to feature an “abundance of fine cheeses and the opportunity to purchase the services of upright and wholesome young men.”  
The flier appears to show that the fundraiser was widely referred to as a “slave auction,” contrary to what Mason suggested to his alma mater&#8217;s newspaper back in 2019. During the fundraiser, members of the fraternity would be “auctioned off” for an hour of labor. 
Mason did not respond to requests for comment from The Daily Wire.
This isn&#8217;t the first time Virginia Democrats have faced criticism over racially-charged yearbook photos from the 1980s. In 2019, former Virginia Governor Ralph Northam faced calls for his resignation after pictures in his 1984 medical school yearbook placed him in a racist picture of a man in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan outfit. Northam admitted he was in the picture, but would not say which costumed individual was him. Northam was able to sidestep the firestorm and finish out his term. 
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Mason, who worked in real estate and business before his government career and escaped unscathed from widespread backlash, has thus far also been able to sidestep criticism of his fraternity&#8217;s slave event, largely due to his 2019 denial that the event even happened. Others have been less successful — an entire high school football team in Northern California was <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/river-valley-high-slave-auction-apology/">forced to forfeit</a> its entire 2022 season after a prank video of the students “auctioning” off three black students emerged. And former “Bachelor” host Chris Harrison was forced by ABC to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bachelor-host-chris-harrison-steps-aside-over-accusations-of-perpetuating-racism-for-speaking-out-against-cancel-culture">leave the show</a> after he was blasted for defending a contestant on the show after it was reported that she went to an antebellum-themed party back in 2018. 
Mason is up for re-election this year in a race that could prove pivotal for control of the Virginia Senate, where Democrats currently have a four-seat advantage. He is running in the 24th Senate district against Republican retired Sheriff Danny Diggs in a race that <a href="https://www.vpap.org/offices/state-senate-24/elections/?year_and_type=2023regular" target="_blank" rel="noopener">is slated</a> to be competitive. Diggs has raised about $1.3 million while Mason, who has been a senator since 2016, has raked in just over $2 million. 
During a <a href="https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/local/candidates-for-virginias-24th-district-face-off-in-debate-danny-diggs-monty-mason/291-1862e544-5e64-496f-8f75-3dde455aa540" target="_blank" rel="noopener">debate</a> between the two on Tuesday, Mason said he would govern as a &#8220;moderate&#8221; while Diggs said he would &#8220;uphold&#8221; conservative values.
Early voting in Virginia starts on Friday and will determine control of both the state House and state Senate. Republicans currently hold a narrow lead in the House, and the elections will determine whether Virginia Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin will be able to pursue conservative legislative priorities in his final two years in office.

Mason And Flier

Virginia Democrat Says Nobody Called His Fraternity’s Event A ‘Slave Auction.’ New Evidence Casts Doubt On His Claim.

Democrats

Slavery

Virginia

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/california" target="_blank" rel="noopener">California</a> voters are against cash reparations for slavery by a 2-to-1 margin, according to a new poll.
Nearly 60% of California voters said they oppose cash reparations payments, compared with 28% who said they would support it, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-09-10/new-poll-finds-california-voters-resounding-oppose-paying-reparations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to a University of California Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll.
More than 4 in 10 voters said they were “strongly” opposed to cash reparations, the poll found.
“It has a steep uphill climb, at least from the public’s point of view,” <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-09-10/new-poll-finds-california-voters-resounding-oppose-paying-reparations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Mark DiCamillo, the poll&#8217;s director.
California has been examining the possibility of reparations since 2020 when the country was reeling from George Floyd&#8217;s police custody death and the violent protests that followed.
In September 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom (D) signed the law that set up the California Reparations Task Force, whose goal was to determine what cash slavery reparations could look like for black Californians.
In June, California’s task force sent its final report to the legislature after a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/chaos-at-californias-black-reparations-public-hearing-report-sent-to-legislature" target="_blank" rel="noopener">chaotic last public hearing</a> where advocates shouted for a national “divorce” settlement for black Americans.
The reparations task force&#8217;s <a href="https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/full-ca-reparations.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> recommended several remedies for the country’s legacy of slavery, including suggesting that monetary payments are owed to the descendants of African American slaves, <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/06/30/sparks-fly-at-californias-final-reparations-task-force-meeting-nows-the-time-for-a-divorce/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">amounting</a> to $1.2 million for some people.
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The report did not recommend an exact dollar amount for every black Californian, but it did give several examples.
A 71-year-old black person who has lived in California all their life, for example, would be entitled to $967,000 due to health discrimination, the panel <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/california-reparations-task-foce-read-final-report-rcna91452" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. Black people who had suffered due to aggressive policing and prosecution in the “war on drugs” from 1971 to 2020 and lived in California during that time would be entitled to $115,000, the report said.
It is unclear whether the legislature will adopt any of the reparations task force’s recommendations, even though Democrats have a supermajority in the legislature.
Governor Gavin Newsom supports the task force, but Newsom has been careful not to comment on specific recommendations for reparations, including cash payments to black Americans.
“I am very mindful of our past,” he <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/29/california-slavery-reparations-00104249" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in June.
Meanwhile, San Francisco has its own reparations effort, the African American Reparations Advisory Committee, which was also set up in 2020 by the city&#8217;s board of supervisors.
The San Francisco committee eventually came up with the idea of giving each qualifying black resident $5 million in reparations.
The chairman of the committee <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/02/27/san-francisco-reparations-black-5-million/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admitted</a> they did not use a mathematical formula to come up with the $5 million number.
John Dennis, chairman of the San Francisco Republican Party, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/02/27/san-francisco-reparations-black-5-million/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in February that he was open to a conversation about reparations, but criticized the committee&#8217;s report as unserious.
“This is just a bunch of like-minded people who got in the room and came up with a number,” Dennis said. “You’ll notice in that report, there was no justification for the number, no analysis provided. This was an opportunity to do some serious work and they blew it.”
Across the country, only about 30% of Americans say descendants of slaves should be repaid in some way, while 77% of black Americans say so, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/11/28/black-and-white-americans-are-far-apart-in-their-views-of-reparations-for-slavery/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to a 2021 Pew Research poll.

TURKEY-ECONOMY-CURRENCY-DOLLARS-FEATURE

Nearly 60% Of California Voters Oppose Cash Reparations For Slavery: Poll

California

Economy

Reparations

U.S.

A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/colorado">Colorado</a> middle-schooler who was kicked out of class for wearing a patch of the Gadsden flag on his backpack said that his school “tried to tread” on his rights <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1799-there-s-no-such-thing-as-free-medicine-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">during an interview</a> with Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro.
Jaiden Rodriguez, a 12-year-old who was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/colorado-7th-grader-kicked-out-of-class-for-gadsden-patch-because-of-slavery-origins" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pulled from class</a> at The Vanguard School in part for having the iconic flag on his backpack, told Shapiro that other kids at his school are allowed to display Pride-themed pins, but that he was punished for his Gadsden flag patch because a teacher thought that it was associated with slavery.
“They don&#8217;t know what they&#8217;re talking about at all. It&#8217;s a revolutionary flag. It has nothing to do with slavery,” Rodriguez told Shapiro on his podcast. “It was meant as a warning sign not to tread on our rights in the revolution. Which is funny because they tried to tread on my rights and then they found out they [could] not.”
The Gadsden flag, a yellow flag depicting a coiled rattlesnake with the words “Don’t Tread On Me,” was flown during the Revolutionary War. The flag was designed in 1775 by U.S. brigadier general Christopher Gadsden, who critics have pointed out was a <a href="https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/2949/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">slave owner</a>.
Rodriguez said that he expected to win a race for student council in a “landslide” due to the controversy and that he was now “Mr. Popular” at his school.
On Monday, Vanguard School Director of Operations Jeff Yocum emailed Jaiden’s mother an explanation that cited several news articles about the flag.
Yocum cited a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/08/03/wearing-dont-tread-on-me-insignia-could-be-punishable-racial-harassment/">decision</a> by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which said that while it is “clear that the Gadsden Flag originated in the Revolutionary War in a non-racial context,” nevertheless, “it also has since been sometimes interpreted to convey racially-tinged messages in some contexts.”
The school board of Vanguard <a href="https://www.koaa.com/news/covering-colorado/colorado-springs-mom-says-son-kicked-out-of-class-over-gadsden-flag-patch" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> a decision to allow Rodriguez to wear the Gadsden patch after a board meeting on Monday night.
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&#8220;Last week, a student came to school with patches affixed to his backpack, with a half dozen patches depicting guns/weapons and one referencing alcohol,&#8221; the school told parents, adding that one of the patches was the Gadsden flag.
“From Vanguard’s founding we have proudly supported our Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the ordered liberty that all Americans have enjoyed for almost 250 years,&#8221; an email from the school board reportedly said. &#8220;The Vanguard School recognizes the historical significance of the Gadsden flag and its place in history. This incident is an occasion for us to reaffirm our deep commitment to a classical education in support of these American principles.&#8221;
The school added that the district had informed school administrators that the flag was not allowed. According to a Tuesday statement from Harrison School District 2, another issue was several patches that referenced guns.
“The student returned to class without incident after removing the patches of semi-automatic weapons from the backpack. The Vanguard School and Harrison School District 2 worked in collaboration to resolve this matter,” the district said in a statement.
Rodriguez said that other kids were allowed to support “Pride,” but he wasn’t allowed to wear the historic Gadsden flag.
“There&#8217;s kids with pride pins and the teachers don&#8217;t say a thing. But I wear a Gadsden flag and it’s the end of the world. I see them in the hallways. It saddens me that they can do whatever they want, but I can&#8217;t wear a Gadsden flag,” he said.
When asked by Shapiro if he had any political ambitions, Rodriguez said that he would hope to run for governor of Colorado.

Federal State Of Emergency Declared In Flint, Michigan Over Contaminated Water Supply

Colorado Student From Viral Video Tells Ben Shapiro School Tried To ‘Tread’ On His Rights, But Failed

Colorado Student From Viral Video Tells Ben Shapiro School Tried To 'Tread' On His Rights, But Failed

American History

American Revolution

Colorado

Education

California&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gavin-newsom-praises-reparations-task-force-doesnt-endorse-plan-for-1-2-million-payouts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reparations Task Force</a> raised eyebrows with a few of its recent proposals — namely suggesting that black residents should not be held responsible for back child support debt and public urination laws should not be enforced at all.
According to the task force&#8217;s <a href="https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/full-ca-reparations.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">final report</a>, &#8220;discriminatory laws&#8221; are responsible for the large number of black children born to unwed mothers — resulting in a higher percentage of black fathers who owe child support.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
California Reparations Task Force calls for eliminating child support debt for Black residents <a href="https://t.co/zqK1ZPGkCn">https://t.co/zqK1ZPGkCn</a>
&mdash; Fox News (@FoxNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/1676199189166915587?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 4, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Additionally, the report determined that the state&#8217;s 10% interest applied to back child support debt makes it more difficult for black fathers to further their educations while trying to keep ahead of payments. For those reasons, the task force has called for the interest on such child support payments to be waived and for back child support debt to be erased if the debtor is black.
&#8220;The Task Force recommends that the Legislature enact legislation to terminate all interest accrued on back child support, requiring only the payment of the principal owed. At a minimum, the proposal recommends that the Legislature eliminate the prospective accrual of interest on child support debt for low-income parents,&#8221; the report read.
Additionally, the report called for a total ban on police enforcing public urination laws.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
California reparations task force calls to ban police from enforcing public urination laws <a href="https://t.co/NGzR8VvpjO">https://t.co/NGzR8VvpjO</a>
&mdash; Fox News (@FoxNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/1676225641765560322?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 4, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/california-reparations-task-force-calls-ban-police-enforcing-public-urination-laws?intcmp=tw_fnc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Arguing</a> that the enforcement of public urination laws — as well as other &#8220;public nuisance&#8221; offenses — amounted to &#8220;criminalizing poverty,&#8221; the task force found that having police as the first point of contact raised the risk of a confrontation that could turn violent.
Advocating for a &#8220;public health&#8221; approach rather than one rooted in law enforcement, the task force said, &#8220;This disconnect often results in the use of excessive and sometimes fatal force that falls disproportionately on Black individuals. Given the devastating impacts of this kind of over-policing, the Task Force recommends that the Legislature prohibit law enforcement from criminally enforcing public disorder infractions and other low-level crimes.&#8221;

The Definition of Reparation

California Reparations Task Force Wants Black Residents Free To Skip Out On Child Support

Gavin Newsom

Politics

Racism

Social Issues

Systemic Racism

Democratic New York City Mayor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/you-might-as-well-ban-books-in-nyc-because-our-kids-cant-read-charles-payne-torches-eric-adams" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Eric Adams</a> referred to a white woman as a &#8220;plantation owner&#8221; during a heated conversation over rent increases at a recent town hall event.
The <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/news/nyc-mayor-torches-irate-white-woman-at-town-hall-event-with-jaw-dropping-slavery-reference/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">event</a>, which <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nyc-mayor-says-shoppers-in-masks-are-hiding-from-cops-not-covid-and-should-be-barred-from-stores" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Adams</a> touted as a &#8220;Community Conversation,&#8221; was held on Wednesday evening at Gregorio Luperon High School for Science and Mathematics — and Adams was asked several times to clarify his position on housing — both for local homeless families and asylum seekers — and recent rent increases.
WATCH:
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.<a href="https://twitter.com/NYCMayor?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NYCMayor</a> Adams deflects woman complaining about rising rent costs by telling her she&#39;s treating him like he&#39;s on a &#39;plantation&#39;
READ: <a href="https://t.co/YQKs4norJx">https://t.co/YQKs4norJx</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EricAdams?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EricAdams</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Plantation?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Plantation</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Explore?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Explore</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ExplorePage?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ExplorePage</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ViralVideo?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ViralVideo</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ViralVideos?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ViralVideos</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Politics?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Politics</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/News?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#News</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/US?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#US</a> <a href="https://t.co/qerVLq2Y7J">pic.twitter.com/qerVLq2Y7J</a>
&mdash; Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) <a href="https://twitter.com/dcexaminer/status/1674498465701720066?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 29, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Manhattan Community Board 12 Chair Katherine Diaz referenced the growing homeless population and asked Adams what the plan was with regard to helping families who were in dire straits to make sure that they had a safe place to live.
&#8220;That is probably in the top three issues in in our city right now. Housing. It keeps mixing between public, say, the asylum seekers and housing. What is very important is for all of us to understand how we get housing. We are creatures of the state. The governor and I put in place an aggressive housing plan,&#8221; Adams said, but a woman in the audience interrupted several times, apparently waving and pointing at the mayor.
&#8220;You raised the rent!&#8221; she shouted.
&#8220;I think there was a 3% recommendation. I don’t control the board. I make appointments. They made the decision. Everyone knows I don’t control the board,&#8221; Adams said, referring to the Rent Guidelines Board.
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&#8220;We’re not talking about that. We’re talking about the Rent Guidelines Board. You said before and after that you supported those rent increases,&#8221; the woman objected. &#8220;In Nassau, they had a 0% rent increase. Why in New York City, where the real estate is controlling you, Mr. Mayor, why are we having these horrible rent increases last year and this year?&#8221;
Adams pushed back then, scolding the woman for pointing at him while she talked.
&#8220;Okay. First, if you’re going to ask a question, don’t point at me and don’t be disrespectful to me. I’m the mayor of this city and treat me with the respect I deserve to be treated. I’m speaking to you as an adult. Don’t stand in front like you [sic] treating someone that’s on the plantation that you own,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Give me the respect I deserve and engage in a conversation.&#8221;
&#8220;Treat me with the same level of respect I treat you. So don’t be pointing at me,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;Don’t be disrespectful to me. Speak with me as an adult because I’m a grown man. I walked into this room as a grown man, and I will walk out of this room as a grown man. I answered your question.&#8221;
He abruptly moved on then, asking to take the next question.

New York Mayor Adams Makes Announcement Related To Gun Violence

NYC Mayor Calls White Woman ‘Plantation Owner’ In Heated Exchange

NYC Mayor Calls White Woman 'Plantation Owner' In Heated Exchange

Eric Adams

General

New York City

Former President Donald Trump is the only living president who is not directly descended from slave-holders, according to a recent genealogical study.
The study, <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/americas-political-elite-family-links-101417821.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">undertaken by Reuters</a>, determined that every living president except for Trump – including Joe Biden and former presidents Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and even Barack Obama through his white mother&#8217;s side — was the descendant of slave owners.
Of course, it should be noted that Donald Trump&#8217;s family <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-family-history-from-immigrants-to-americas-first-family-2020-6#in-1936-fred-trump-married-mary-anne-mcleod-a-scottish-immigrant-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">came to the United States</a> years after slavery was abolished. The former president&#8217;s grandfather, Friedrich Trump, came to the United States from Germany in 1885 — and his mother, Mary Anne McLeod, immigrated from Scotland in 1929.
Former presidents were not the only ones to be named in the outlet&#8217;s deep dive — they also looked at the number of members of Congress who had direct ancestral links to slave owners. According to the report, 100 of the 536 members of the last Congress were descended from slave owners — and some were among the most powerful and influential leaders in both parties.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) topped the list. Sitting Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch were also listed as being descended from slaveholders.
The report also took a deeper look at the state of South Carolina — where not only is Republican Governor Henry McMaster descended from slave owners, but every U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator has some ancestral tie to the institution of slavery. Republican Senator and presidential candidate Tim Scott is descended from slaves, as is Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn. The remaining seven legislators — all of them white – are the direct descendants of slave owners.
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Donald Trump

Every Living President But One Is Descended From Slave-Owners, Investigation Finds

Barack Obama

George W. Bush

Joe Biden

The U.S. Army base Fort Bragg in North Carolina is being renamed to Fort Liberty in accordance with the Biden Defense Department’s <a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-carolina-government-and-politics-2c635453129124a462ea79691e634ce9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">push</a> to scrub the military of Confederate memorabilia, garnering harsh pushback from some veterans.
The renaming occurred in a small ceremony on Friday at the base, with signs being changed and the fort’s website <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/army-renames-fort-bragg-fort-liberty" target="_blank" rel="noopener">edited</a> to reflect the new name “Fort Liberty,” which was chosen out of 188 names by the Naming Commission. The base has been named after Confederate General Braxton Bragg since 1918.
The removal and/or replacement of Confederate statues and memorabilia, such as the name &#8220;Fort Bragg,&#8221; has been the subject of debate for decades. The Fort’s website attempts to assuage the concerns that many veterans have that their heritage is being erased by the renaming, <a href="https://home.army.mil/liberty/index.php/fortbragg-renaming" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explaining</a> to veterans:
&#8220;No act can take away from the heritage this installation’s service members created while stationed here or anywhere else, serving our nation. We understand the original name’s prestige in the eyes of some of the Soldiers, Families, and our nation, was built upon the bravery and dedication of those who served here, not because of an obscure, incompetent, ill-tempered Confederate general’s legacy. Nevertheless, our nation’s representatives felt a need to move on from that name and put the redesignation into law, and we are abiding by that law.&#8221;
Despite the fort’s reassurances, many soldiers who serve at the fort or have served previously are heavily critical of this decision, as many see it as a part of their history, with many feeling their service has been dishonored as the Fort where they served is being erased by bureaucrats in Washington.
This sentiment is shared by soldiers of all races, as black Army veteran George Postell Jr., who served at the base for more than four years, explains, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/army-base-renaming-fort-bragg-liberty-dcfe8bd9eeaa8373d2338bf99a4cac69" target="_blank" rel="noopener">per</a> the AP, “I shared my blood, and I know a lot of my other brothers that did the same for the namesake of Fort Bragg,” Postell said. “To me, it will always be Fort Bragg, no matter what they call it.”
U.S. Army veteran and president of the Fayetteville chapter of the NAACP James Buxton Jr. agrees with the renaming, but calls the replacement name “Liberty” an “off the wall” decision. Buxton had a creative solution: To keep the original name of Fort Bragg and instead dedicate the fort to Union General and accomplished U.S. representative Edward Bragg as a compromise that both retains the historical significance of Fort Bragg while acknowledging the suffering that that name might have caused to many African Americans.
This is just the first base to be rebranded by the Naming Commission appointed by Congress with the ultimate goal of renaming nine military bases across the country featuring Confederate soldiers and generals as part of their titles. The project is estimated to cost about $62.4 million, according vice chairman of the Commission and retired Army Brigadier General Ty Seidule.
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According to The American Battlefield Trust, Braxton Bragg was a <a href="https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/braxton-bragg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">key figure</a> in the Confederate war effort in the Deep South, scoring minor victories in the early war against the Union in battles such as Chickamauga and Stones River, but rarely scoring a decisive blow against the Union. Bragg resigned as a general in the Confederate army as he suffered a crippling defeat in the Battle of Chattanooga, removing any possibility for Confederate control in Tennessee and losing thousands of men. Bragg served the rest of the war as a military advisor and plantation owner, where he owned over 100 slaves.
The renaming process is set to be completed by December 31.

Fort Bragg Sign

Fort Bragg Renamed As Biden DOD Pushes To Remove Confederate Memorabilia

Biden Administration

Confederacy

Military

Race

U.S. Army

The following is a transcript excerpt from Dr. Jordan Peterson’s conversation with Dr. Nigel Biggar on the ethics of colonialism, its relationship with slavery, and the role of empire. You can <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast/lcclcg">listen to</a> or <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/kh">watch</a> the full podcast episode on DailyWire+.
Start time: 49:09
Jordan Peterson: You already laid out the opposition to your work that arose when you started to investigate the ethical pros and cons of colonialism, and you decided to undertake a moral assessment of the British Empire Project. You lay that out in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?k=colonialism+a+moral+reckoning&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjw4NujBhC5ARIsAF4Iv6e6HWJ-Zdlndrm6kPJwqS8aODq932is2qCGnSOtp33gYqiCWZQwjKQaAmXXEALw_wcB&amp;hvadid=646900191249&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvlocphy=9013184&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvqmt=e&amp;hvrand=3018720837546715793&amp;hvtargid=kwd-1670986658521&amp;hydadcr=7879_13471657&amp;tag=googhydr-20&amp;ref=pd_sl_1zgj8s84wm_e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the introduction</a>. In chapter one, you start with motives, good and bad, and the question you put forward is: Was the imperial endeavor driven primarily by greed and the lust to dominate? Well, that is the ultimate in postmodern questions, you might say, allied in that sense we discussed with the Marxists. Was the imperial endeavor driven primarily by greed and the lust to dominate? Tell us what you concluded and why. 
Nigel Biggar: This phrase — the lust to dominate — is the one that Saint Augustine used in the early 400s to describe the Roman Empire. That’s why I used it. If you take your cue from Augustine, then that was the kind of essence of the Roman Empire. When I came to think about the history of the British Empire, that was in my mind, and it seemed to me, certainly as far as the British Empire goes, to be completely inadequate to describe it as driven by either the simple lust to dominate or greed. In fact, if you look at the variety of motives that moved Britons to travel all over the world and to take control of those territories, the reasons are various. 
I make a point here that no one woke up in London one day and thought to themselves, “Oh, let’s go and conquer the world.” It wasn’t like that. It was much more ad hoc in response to circumstance. I mean, there may be empires where someone wakes up in Berlin and decides to go conquer Eastern Europe, but it wasn’t always so. And there may be empires that are entirely about the lust to dominate. Maybe, you know, Genghis Khan and his Mongols were of that kind. But one needs to be careful — very careful, I think — not to import a kind of one-fits-all theory and to say, “Well, this was an empire, so this must have been like that.” And a lot of my critics, their reading of historical data is kind of preprogrammed by a theory as to what empire must be. 
But if you look at the history of the British Empire’s motives, an early and persistent motive was trade. The East India Company went out to India in the 1600s to trade and make money. Other people, at the same time, went westwards across the Atlantic and pitched up on the coast of North America. Why did they do that? Partly because they were there to harass Spanish shipping bringing gold back for the Americas to Spain. Why? Because Spain was the dominant empire and England was a Protestant country at the wrong end of power at that time, ironically. 
The beginnings of the English-British Empire in that case were actually anti-imperialist. Then people like Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh [were] keen to find gold in the Americas. And yes, they abuse the natives. But there, you’ve got trade, which I think is innocent. You’ve got actually a desire to defend yourself against overwhelming imperial power, which could be innocent. The lust for gold that leads you to abuse other people is not so innocent. Later on, in the 19th century, one reason the British ended up in West Africa and East Africa — one reason — was lobbying by humanitarians to suppress the trading in slaves, so there was a humanitarian reason. So the historical phenomena tell you there are a variety of motives here — some good, some bad.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/kh" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: Separating Good from Evil in the British Empire with Dr. Nigel Biggar</a>
[The following section appeared a few minutes later in the discussion at 58:45.]
Jordan: My sense, historically — and you can correct me if you think I am wrong here — is that slavery is a ubiquitous feature of human societies. The conscious realization that slavery itself is intrinsically wrong — even in the case, let’s say, of prisoners of war or debt or debtors — emerged with great difficulty. And it manifested itself most profoundly in the U.K. — probably in the person of [William] Wilberforce and the Christian Protestant evangelists, who made a very strong case that slavery itself was intrinsically immoral. The consequence of that was eventually that the British Navy fought for about 175 years on the high seas to make slavery a counterproductive enterprise. 
One of the things that sort of terrifies me about the radical leftist enterprise is that they really risk throwing the baby out with the bathwater because whatever it was that impelled Wilberforce and then the entire U.K. to stand against slavery is the only thing we know of in the entire history of the world that actually did stand against slavery with any degree of success.
So what other cases do you think can be made that colonialism and slavery were not the same thing? And why do you think there is this insistence on the radical Left side to deny the very process that actually did free slaves insofar as they have become free in recent times? 
Nigel: So, Jordan, I think the identification of colonialism with slavery is similar to the 1619 Project in the United States, which identifies the foundations of the U.S. with “fundamentally racist” and, therefore, “fundamentally illegitimate.” I think what’s happened is that — probably through Black Lives Matter, the killing of George Floyd in 2020 Minneapolis — Black Lives Matter movement came across the Atlantic with no change of clothes, landed in Britain, and our equivalent is to say: Contemporary Britain is systemically racist, and the reason we are systemically racist is that we continue to revere our colonial past — let’s say, by having a statue to Cecil Rhodes — and as we all know, colonialism was essentially about slavery, which was based on a racist view of Africans as subhuman. So, colonialism equals slavery equals racism. And that’s the foundation of Britain. And that’s why we have to repudiate our colonial past. Pull down Cecil Rhodes, pull down Johnny Macdonald in Canada, and somehow, therefore, we liberate ourselves from systemic racism. That’s the logic behind the colonialism and slavery mantra. In this country, those two things are commonly talked about as if they were the same thing. 
My very simple point in that second chapter is to say, wait a moment — as you’ve just said, Jordan — yes, for 150 years some British people, by no means all, were involved in slave trading and profiting from slavery in the West Indies. But from 1807 onwards, first the slave trade then slavery itself were abolished by the British, and for the rest of the Empire’s existence for another 150 years, roughly, the British were involved in anti-slavery. So you cannot identify British colonialism with slavery because for the second half of its life, it was anti-slavery.
And yes, slavery, in one form or another — and some forms were more humane than others — has been around since virtually the dawn of time, practiced on every continent by black- and brown- and red-skinned and yellow-skinned people, as well as white-skinned people. The Comanche nation in the southwest of the U.S. ran what one historian has called a vast slave economy in the 1700s. The Arabs were involved in slavery. Africans were selling African slaves to the Romans and the Arabs before they ever sold to Europeans. So, we may be dismayed at the fact that so many Europeans and British people up until the late 1700s accepted this institution and the fact of slave trading. But we have to put it in context: Everyone did it, including slaves who escaped from the plantations of Jamaica into the forested interior. Some of them kept slaves of their own so common was the practice.
So, yes, what happened in the late 1700s was, for the first time in history, some nations — not just Britain, also Denmark and France — came to the view that owning other people as your property without them having any rights was morally abhorrent. And for the first time in history, these nations — eventually led by Britain — abolished the slave trade and slavery. Then Britain used its imperial power — its power — for humanitarian purposes to abolish slavery from Brazil, across the Atlantic, across Africa, India to Malaysia. So power can be a good thing, and in that case, it was used for humanitarian purposes.
To continue, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast/lcclcg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listen</a> or <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/kh" target="_blank" rel="noopener">watch</a> this episode on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/watch" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DailyWire+</a>.
<a href="https://www.jordanbpeterson.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr. Jordan B. Peterson</a> is a clinical psychologist and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. From 1993 to 1998 he served as assistant and then associate professor of psychology at Harvard. He is the international bestselling author of Maps of Meaning, 12 Rules For Life, and Beyond Order. You can now<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> listen to</a> or<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/watch/jordan-peterson" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> watch</a> his popular lectures on DailyWire+.

GREGORYWOODMAN_DW_GREECE2022198

Colonialism, Slavery, And Separating Good From Evil In The British Empire

Great Britain

Jordan Peterson

Podcast

Readers Pass

United Kingdom

California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom&#8217;s office said conservative media incorrectly presented his previous comments that appeared to indicate he did not support paying reparations to black Californians who were descendants of slaves and he is, in fact, open to the idea.
&#8220;The sensationalized framing in pieces published by outlets like Fox News and others is inaccurate,&#8221; Anthony York, chief communication advisor for Newsom, told <a href="https://archive.ph/pETLA#selection-1505.71-1505.120" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Sacramento Bee</a>. &#8220;The Governor looks forward to reviewing the final report — and all recommendations — when complete.&#8221;
Last week, the nine-member <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-reparations-task-force-approves-plan-giving-up-to-1-2-million-to-each-black-resident" target="_blank" rel="noopener">California Reparations Task Force</a> recommended that the state issue a formal reparative monetary apology, including distributing up to $1.2 million to eligible black California residents based on calculated dollar figures in categories ranging from mass incarceration to housing discrimination and other alleged injustices.
Newsom, who appointed five of the nine task force members, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gavin-newsom-praises-reparations-task-force-doesnt-endorse-plan-for-1-2-million-payouts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">praised the committee&#8217;s work to &#8220;advance systemic changes&#8221;</a> — but stopped short of endorsing its recommendation for cash payouts.
The governor told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that finding a way to address the &#8220;legacy&#8221; left behind by the institution of slavery was a complicated issue that was &#8220;about much more than cash payments.&#8221;
York told the Bee that Newsom has not declined to support issuing cash reparations payments to black residents, and he will meet with state lawmakers and review the final report.
California Democratic Sen. Steven Bradford, a task force member, told <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/10/california-officials-response-on-slavery-reparations-00096312">POLITICO</a> he wouldn&#8217;t count on state lawmakers to approve payments and that the comments from Newsom were &#8220;acknowledging political reality,&#8221; as reported by the outlet.
&#8220;I&#8217;m realistic enough to know that we might not have colleagues who are willing to do that,&#8221; Bradford said.
&#8220;I think he&#8217;s setting a real realistic expectation that there probably won&#8217;t be check payments in the tune of or the amount that we&#8217;ve batted around for the last two years since we started this process,&#8221; he added.
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Newsom signed Assembly Bill 3121 into law in 2020, authored by then-Democratic Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, which created a task force to explore how eligible black California residents could receive compensation for an exhaustive list of injustices since the state entered the Union in 1850. Although California joined the Union outlawing slavery, the draft states that it did not pass laws at the time to guarantee freedom.
Panel members recommended an apology from the California legislature that should include a &#8220;censure of the gravest barbarities carried out on behalf of the State.&#8221;
&#8220;Reparations are not only morally justifiable, but they have the potential to address long-standing racial disparities and inequalities,&#8221; Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) told The Associated Press.
According to the task force&#8217;s report, black communities impacted by mass incarceration and over-policing aligning with the national War on Drugs could receive about $115,260 per person, or $2,352 each year they lived in California from 1971-2020.
Panel members said black residents impacted by lending and zoning redlining by banks between 1933 and 1977 could receive $3,366 for each year they resided in California, capping at $148,099. Another method created by the panel calculated gaps between black and white &#8220;housing wealth&#8221; at $145,847 per person. Other alleged injustices and discriminations in health estimated $13,619 per person for each year lived in California.
Based on a New York Times analysis, a black person living in California for 71 years — the average life expectancy of black residents in California in 2021 — could receive up to $1.2 million. Some economists projected to The Associated Press that California could owe more than $800 billion in reparations, which more than doubles the state&#8217;s annual budget.
Newsom&#8217;s clarified stance on the reparations plan comes days after he announced a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gavin-newsoms-revised-budget-will-make-californias-budget-deficit-worse-even-as-state-mulls-enormous-reparations-package" target="_blank" rel="noopener">greater-than-anticipated state budget deficit</a> of roughly $31.5 billion — a $9 billion increase from the $22.5 billion deficit in the budget he proposed in January.
Task force members are scheduled to release the finalized report by July 1. If lawmakers approve the plan, the state will create a new agency to oversee the program, determine eligibility, and distribute funds.

California Governor Gavin Newsom

Newsom’s Office Now Says He’s Open To Reparations Payouts, Media ‘Sensationalized’ Previous Remarks

Newsom's Office Now Says He's Open To Reparations Payouts, Media 'Sensationalized' Previous Remarks

California Democratic Governor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gavin-newsom-celebrated-svb-bailout-without-mentioning-his-wineries-are-clients" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gavin Newsom</a> praised the work of his state&#8217;s appointed <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-reparations-task-force-approves-plan-giving-up-to-1-2-million-to-each-black-resident" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reparations Task Force</a> – which he said had done important work to &#8220;advance systemic changes&#8221; — but stopped short of endorsing its recommendation for cash payouts of up to $1.2 million.
Newsom, who appointed five of the nine members of the task force, told <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/california-gov-newsom-declines-back-reparations-checks-says-slaverys-legacy-more-cash-payments" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox News Digital</a> on Tuesday that finding a way to address the &#8220;legacy&#8221; left behind by the institution of slavery was a complicated issue that was &#8220;about much more than cash payments.&#8221;
&#8220;The Reparations Task Force’s independent findings and recommendations are a milestone in our bipartisan effort to advance justice and promote healing. This has been an important process, and we should continue to work as a nation to reconcile our original sin of slavery and understand how that history has shaped our country,&#8221; Newsom told the outlet.
&#8220;Dealing with that legacy is about much more than cash payments. 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,&#8221; Newsom continued. &#8220;This work must continue.&#8221;
&#8220;Following the Task Force’s submission of its final report this summer, I look forward to a continued partnership with the Legislature to advance systemic changes that ensure an inclusive and equitable future for all Californians,&#8221; he said, noting that while some of the work had already begun, he was committed to continued efforts to &#8220;advance systemic changes that ensure an inclusive and equitable future for all Californians.&#8221;
The task force, as Newsom noted, is set to submit a final report later this summer — and the California State Legislature could then determine a path forward for their recommendations, sending it to Newsom for his signature after that.
The recommendations as they stand currently are based on how long residents have lived in California — and what kind of discriminatory policies may have affected them in that time — and call for payments ranging from several thousand dollars to more than $1 million.
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As the Fox News Digital Report <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/california-gov-newsom-declines-back-reparations-checks-says-slaverys-legacy-more-cash-payments" target="_blank" rel="noopener">breaks down</a> some of the numbers, black residents who were impacted by bank red-lining and lived in California between the early 1930s and the late 1970s could receive $3366 per year — up to $148,099. Similarly, black residents who lived in the state between 1970 and 2020 could receive an additional $2,352 per year because of &#8220;over-policing and mass incarceration.&#8221; For some black residents, the total payout could be as high as $1.2 million.
According to a <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/05/07/california-task-force-oks-reparations-plan-that-could-cost-state-800b/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from The New York Post, the total reparations bill could land in the neighborhood of $800 billion — more than double California&#8217;s annual budget.

Governor Gavin Newsom

Gavin Newsom Praises Reparations Task Force — Doesn’t Endorse Plan For $1.2 Million Payouts

Gavin Newsom Praises Reparations Task Force — Doesn't Endorse Plan For $1.2 Million Payouts

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
While the most famous passage from the Declaration of Independence stands today as a rallying cry for freedom and the bedrock of American commitment to civil liberties, when a committee first drafted it, the symbolism was not so simple.
“At the time they presented a serious challenge to the founders of our nation,” Robert George, professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University, explained. “Could they create a governing structure that would match the high moral standards they had set for themselves?”
Their initial attempt, the Articles of Confederation, was largely unsuccessful: while it did see America through the Revolutionary War, the government was toothless and had no real power over the states – and since significant changes were not possible unless all the states were on board, nothing got done. At the time, many observers at home and abroad believed the entire system would collapse.
The Constitutional Convention was called in 1787 to rectify this – its stronger federal government was checked with a separation of powers between the branches of government and between the federal government and the states to balance the need for central authority against the danger that authority might pose to individual rights.
The First Congress would ratify a Bill of Rights soon after the new Constitution was adopted to further enshrine and defend those individual liberties. But the centrality of freedom to the American project posed a fundamental problem to the burgeoning nation.
“How could America espouse freedom, and also permit slavery?” George asked.
Many of the Founding Fathers, including Presidents Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, were slaveholders who had inherited sizable plantations themselves, although they were keenly aware that slavery was a gross contradiction of the ideals of liberty they had bled for. 
Both men condemned slavery in their own time and made limited efforts to combat it or halt its spread – Jefferson pushed for an end to the international slave trade, and Washington freed all his slaves in his will and set aside financial support for them.
“I tremble for my country when I think that God is just,” Jefferson said, “That his justice cannot sleep forever.”
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While some have condemned the Constitution and other founding American documents as corrupt because of the moral impurity of their authors, George points out that every known civilization in human history up until that point had practiced slavery and that human beings are flawed and limited creatures. The founders did not perfectly condemn slavery, but they instantiated ideals that were fundamentally opposed to it, at great sacrifice and personal risk, and their ideals and example would be used to ultimately bring the practice to an end.
“We do not celebrate these and the other founders for their personal moral failures,” George said. “We celebrate them for their unique moral achievements….To judge these documents [The Declaration of Independence, The U.S. Constitution, and The Bill of Rights] as corrupt because imperfect men wrote them is, to say the least, foolish.”
WATCH:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="The Constitution: A Moral Challenge" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Gz7wsz-Q8YM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;

PragerU Constitution

The Constitution: A Moral Challenge

Constitution

Declaration of Independence

Founding Fathers

Media

PragerU

Black California residents could receive up to $1.2 million based on how many years they have lived in the state after its official reparation task force approved <a href="https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-agenda9-ch16-recomm-apologize-05062023.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recommendations</a> on Saturday to issue a formal reparative monetary apology.
The nine-member panel, which became the first task force in the United States to form in September 2020, advanced the plan recommendations in Oakland, California. The draft includes calculated dollar figures based on categories ranging from mass incarceration, housing discrimination, and other alleged injustices.
According to the latest data from the <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/CA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">U.S. Census Bureau,</a> more than 2.5 million Californians— about 6.5 percent of the state&#8217;s population— are black and could be eligible to receive reparations based on certain requirements.
&#8220;Reparations are not only morally justifiable, but they have the potential to address long-standing racial disparities and inequalities,&#8221; Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) told <a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-reparations-task-force-apology-de0b43dd237c47113554a9aae56ca9f5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Associated Press.</a>
According to the final report, black communities impacted by mass incarceration and over-policing aligning with the national War on Drugs could receive about $115,260 per person, or $2,352 each year they lived in California from 1971-2020.
Panel members said black residents impacted by lending and zoning redlining by banks between 1933 and 1977 could receive $3,366 each year they resided in California, capping at $148,099. Another method created by the panel calculated gaps between black and white &#8220;housing wealth&#8221; at $145,847 per person.
Other alleged injustices and discriminations in health estimated $13,619 per person for each year lived in California.
Based on a New York Times analysis, a black person living in California for 71 years — the average life expectancy of Black residents in California in 2021 — could receive up to $1.2 million. Some economists projected to The Associated Press that California could owe more than $800 billion in reparations, which more than doubles the state&#8217;s annual budget.
&#8220;Apologies alone are inadequate to provide justice to victims or redress wrongs,&#8221; the draft reads. &#8220;But when combined with material forms of reparations, apologies provide an opportunity for communal reckoning with the past and repair for moral, physical, and dignitary harms.&#8221;
One woman attending Saturday&#8217;s meeting said $1.2 million in incremental payments &#8220;is nowhere near enough.&#8221;
&#8220;We want direct cash payments just like how the stimulus [checks] were sent out,&#8221; the woman said, according to <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12055465/California-panel-approves-reparations-proposal-life-long-black-residents-1-2million.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Mail</a>. &#8220;It&#8217;s our inheritance, and we can handle it.&#8221;
She added that the plan should resemble San Francisco&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/san-francisco-reparations-committee-proposes-5-million-lump-sum-payment-debt-forgiveness-to-qualified-black-residents" target="_blank" rel="noopener">newly formed reparations committee</a>, which proposed that longtime black residents of the Northern California metropolitan city would receive up to $5 million each for facing decades of &#8220;systematic repression.&#8221;
Panel members recommended the apology from the California legislature should include a &#8220;censure of the gravest barbarities carried out on behalf of the State,&#8221; which consists of an exhaustive list of notes since California entered the Union in 1850.
Although California entered the Union outlawing slavery, the draft states that it did not pass laws at the time to guarantee freedom.
The California Supreme Court enforced the federal Fugitive Slave Act, which allowed for the capture and return of runaway enslaved people until the official end of enslavement in 1865.
California has previously issued apologies for placing Japanese Americans in internment camps during World War II, mistreatment of Native Americans, and abuses in its eugenics sterilization program that forcibly sterilized patients in state hospitals and homes without true consent.
Task force members are scheduled to release the report by July 1. If lawmakers approve the plan, the state will create a new agency to oversee the program, determine eligibility, and distribute funds.

California Reparations Task Force meets to hear public input on reparations at the California Science Center in Los Angeles on Sept. 22, 2022.

California Reparations Task Force Approves Plan Giving Up To $1.2 Million To Each Black Resident

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