Westside Story Newspaper – Online The News of The Empire – Sharing the Quest for Excellence
By Tanu Henry and Joe W. Bowers Jr. | California Black Media
On Jan. 16, a day after America celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day, California Attorney General Rob Bonta hosted a conversation with a diverse group of state leaders to commemorate the National Day of Racial Healing.
“The National Day of Racial Healing is typically observed each year in January, and it is intended to be a time to reflect on our shared values – what brings us together and what unites us,” said Bonta.
“It is also an opportunity to discuss the real lasting and present harms of racism in our society,” continued Bonta. “But more importantly, it is about healing. That takes acknowledgement of the pain and harm. It takes accountability, and it takes justice-oriented solutions.”
The panel’s participants were Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly Mitchell; California reparations task force members Don Tamaki and Cheryl Grills; Orange County Human Relations Commission Chair Jo-Anne Matsuba; and Asian American Senior Citizens Service Center Executive Director Jennifer Wang.
Mitchell thanked Bonta for not shying away from difficult conversations on anti-racism initiatives, especially as “we acknowledge the role government has played and will continue to play – unless we stand in the gap – in promoting racially biased policies,” she said.
Mitchell, who served in the State Legislature as an Assemblymember and Senator from 2010 to 2020, is also the founder of the created the Second District Racial Justice Learning Exchange.
Grills and Tamaki shared their experiences serving on the on the California Task Force to Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans.
“The number of those taking up the cause of reparations is growing, and I believe our efforts in California has contributed to that. While this has been a painful and necessary journey, I appreciate the allies who have stepped up from various racial and ethnic groups, standing up in solidarity, rolling up their sleeves to educate their communities,” said Grills.
Bonta thanked the Department of Justice and its Racial Justice Bureau for the work it does to confront hate that affects all Californians.
“Whether it is tackling the ongoing effects of systemic discrimination and the legacy of slavery or confronting our state and nation’s history of prosecution of Native Americans — the destruction of their homes or confronting the recent rises of pandemic-fueled hate and bias, we all have work to do,” said Bonta. “There’s no single solution, but what I do know is we can solve these challenges together.”
