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By BoTefu | California Black Media
In an unexpected alliance, Kamilah Moore, who served as the chair of California’s Reparations Task Force, joined forces with Republican Assemblymember Bill Essayli (R-Corona) to advance reparations efforts in the state.
Although Essayli has expressed his opposition to taxpayer-funded reparations, he has introduced a bill to establish the California American Freedmen Agency, which would provide genealogy services to identify Californians who are descendants of enslaved African Americans.
Moore, who chaired California’s historic reparations task force, has endorsed the bill, calling it a crucial step forward.
“I stand in strong support,” said Moore. “As former chairperson, I’m going to support any piece of legislation from any legislator that speaks to the task force’s report.”
The proposal closely mirrors a measure introduced last year by former Democratic State Senator Steven Bradford, Senate Bill(SB) 1403, which did not advance to the floor of the Assembly for a vote during the last legislative session.
Advocates outraged about the bill’s failure blamed Gov. Gavin Newsom and members of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) for the bill’s failure.
Essayli claims Democratic lawmakers told him Newsom wanted to avoid the issue due to national political concerns. Newsom’s office declined to comment on the claim.
The CLBC has recently proposed a separate initiative that would allocate $6 million for a two-year genealogy study before launching a Bureau for Descendants of American Slaves. However, Moore argues that the task force has already conducted sufficient research and that the focus should now be on implementation.
The state has allocated $12 million in the 2024-25 budget for reparations-related initiatives. Last year, the Legislature issued a formal apology to the descendants of people, which includes a $500,000 memorial plaque.
Essayli emphasized that his bill would not require new funding, as the existing budget could support the Freedmen Affairs Agency.
“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,” said Essayli.
“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,” he said.
