Transcript
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Kamilah Moore is a well-respected
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activist who is serving as chairperson
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for the california reparations task
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force
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she earned a degree in law at columbia
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university where she specialized in the
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study of reparations she is committed to
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a reparations package that is in line
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with international standards and repairs
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the sentence of the american enslaved we
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will interview her now on six zeros
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[Music]
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hey folks i’m jay with six zeros and i’m
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here with the chairperson of the
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california reparations task force camila
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moore how are you this morning i’m doing
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great jay thanks for having me how are
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you i’m wonderful thank you for joining
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so for those that are unaware can you
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explain what the california reparations
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task force is and how the members were
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selected
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yeah absolutely so the california
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reparations tasks for scopes and powers
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are predicated on a legislative statute
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called ab3121
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the formal title entitled california
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reparations task force to study and
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develop reparation proposals for african
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americans with special consideration for
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african-americans who are descendants of
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persons enslaved in the united states
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and essentially there’s a nine member
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task force
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we are mandated to meet over a period of
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two years to study reparations proposals
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and develop them
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and five members of the task workforce
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were selected by the governor gavin
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newsom uh two were selected by the
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speaker of the california
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assembly and then the two other task
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force members were selected by the
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speaker of the california senate nice so
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how were you selected to be in such a
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prestigious role as the chairperson of
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this task force
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yes so i was appointed to the task force
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by anthony rendon who’s the speaker of
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the california assembly and at the task
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force first meeting in june of 2021 we
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actually um
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voted for who would be the chair and the
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vice chair of the task force amongst the
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nine members
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and um you know i made a speech to be
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considered for chair
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um and i was elected by my fellow task
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force members to lead the way that’s
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awesome now does the
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weight of that really weigh on you
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because think about if we take this all
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the way to the end zone your name is
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going to be etched in history has that
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really sat on you yet
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no it has not um we have a report that’s
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going to be released soon in june and i
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had to draft a forward for that report
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and i think in drafting that forward it
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kind of started to hit me that okay this
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is real
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it’s very real that’s awesome so
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the last the sessions in march they were
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very passionate very passionate sessions
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and the reason why they were so
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passionate is because the conversation
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of eligibility came into play and the it
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was very polarizing because one side
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wanted the the party that is eligible
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for reparations to be
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race-based and then another side wanting
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it to be lineage based now can you
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explain for the audience the difference
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between those two and the ramifications
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of choosing race-based versus lineage
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yes so the difference between
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race versus lineage based so
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a race-based standard for reparations
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for the institution of slavery and their
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legacies would
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detail or entail all black people
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regardless of national or immigrant
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origin being eligible for reparations in
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the state
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a lineage-based requirement which would
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entail
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the only people who would be eligible
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would be black americans who descend
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from child slavery so
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if you’re able to trace your lineage to
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an enslaved or free person living in the
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united states friday nights
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prior to the 19th century then you would
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be eligible for reparations and so from
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a 5-4 decision the majority of the task
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force members voted for lineage-based
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approach
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and so
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i think some of the ramifications of a
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race-based approach for me which is why
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i didn’t support that one is the
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constitutional law ramifications we had
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a uc berkeley dean
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uc berkeley law dean eric morinski come
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to provide expert testimony to the task
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force and essentially he stated that no
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racial classifications are inherently
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suspect to the u.s supreme court and
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automatically trigger strict scrutiny
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which is the highest form of scrutiny
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under judicial review standards
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and so he advocated for a lineage-based
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standard because you know lineage-based
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standard is not a race standard and thus
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would not trigger strict scrutiny but
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would trigger rational basis review
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which is actually the lowest standard of
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judicial review and it has the easiest
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um
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path forward um and potentially won’t
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probably get struck down
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um but i think the negative the other
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negative implications around race for me
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is the question of well how do you
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improve your blackness a lot of people
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are asking the questions of how do you
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trace your lineage
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but
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how do you prove your blackness how you
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know knowing that blackness is a
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self-selecting category right anyone can
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can check black on the forms you have
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people like rachel dolezal and actress
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mindy kaling’s brother who’s of the
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indian descent who actually wrote a book
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about
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how he pretended to be black to get into
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medical school and so now that was also
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just a more another reason why i was
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against the race-based approach because
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of a potential proliferation
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of black fishing um
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but yeah and then on to add to that is
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you have individuals that run from
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blackness
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and then when it’s time to get repaired
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then they’ll run into the blackness fold
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but then they’ll still take those
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anti-black sentiments out into the world
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but then have additional resources so it
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would kind of in a lot of ways it would
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be like typical rising tides lift all
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boats you know
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yeah so that would that
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and the thing is a lot of the proponents
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one of the things i wanted to ask is
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what were where did your convictions
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come from because you were so staunch in
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in the lineage base so not only is it is
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it wrong from a legal perspective but
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from a social perspective how do you
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feel about it because
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there was a lot of like guilt trip and
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shaming tactics used against the
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individuals that were for a
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lineage-based approach so why were you
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so why
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why is your conviction so strongly
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outside of the legal ramifications and
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so outside of the legal ramifications
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one reason i was so passionate about it
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was that secretary webber who was the
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lead author of the bill she came to
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provide extra testimony to the task
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force as well in january of 2022 and
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essentially she says that her intent
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was for the bill to be lineage-based so
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along with her testimony
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the legal testimony
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but to your point more directly if you
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look at the statute
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it’s very clear in terms of who the
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state of california is authorized to
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apologize to doesn’t say the state of
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california’s authorized apologize to all
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black people it verbatim says to free
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african slaves and their descendants
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where they’re talking about the task
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force um
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requirement to develop reparation
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proposals even for contemporary or
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present day harms
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it’s still tailored and uniquely
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tailored to you know those freed african
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slaves and descendants and their
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descendants it doesn’t say all black
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people and so you know i i as a you know
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a descendant of child saver myself you
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know
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i have my own conviction my own you know
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personal convictions but
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i mean just more objectively i think the
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stock the statute itself
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um the legal advice and
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the legislative intent from secretary
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weber was definitive for me that makes
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sense that makes sense so staying true
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to the spirit of ab3121
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all together so that’s perfect so and
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april 13th i believe that’s your next
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session correct yes so the task force
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meets again but for the first time in
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person
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april 13th and april 14th at third
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baptist church which is vice chair
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brown’s uh church where he’s a pastor
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nice and so you’re going to be talking
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about
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how the educational system has been
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weaponized against us like for instance
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the school-to-prison pipeline right
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that’s a way to funnel us into a system
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where then they can use us as
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slave labor again so so what what is the
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takeaways from this session how how is
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the findings from this session going to
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be used to embolden our reparations
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claim
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absolutely so at the april 13th and
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april 14th hearings as you noted we’ll
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be having a series of panels on
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education from you know pre-k to 12th
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grade um a specific panel as you noted
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on the scooter visit pipeline and even a
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panel on you know college education
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professional education
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where we hope to hear from you know
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college students but also black college
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administrators
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about what the state can do
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to provide reparations in the
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educational context for black american
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citizen from child slavery understanding
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the history of
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you know us in this country with
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education you know when we were enslaved
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we were forbidden to read and write and
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you know how do we make repairs for
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the educational gaps and funding and
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um the
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not seeing ourselves in the curriculum
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and so you know so many questions and so
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many issues will probably be
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discussed at the april 13th and 14th
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hearing we hope that whatever is
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discussed the nine member task force is
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able to
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find some solid reparation proposals to
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implement into our report
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awesome
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and so
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to pivot away from that point
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when we saw
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you and and uh
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javon lewis and scott lewis
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we really felt like we had advocates for
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us in the room can you talk about the
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importance of us being in those rooms so
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that we can make sure that our agenda
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and our opinion is being uh asserted
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into the conversation yeah absolutely so
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i’m a repertory justice scholar i study
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international criminal law and wrote a
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thesis on repertory justice for the
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transatlantic slave trade the
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institution of slavery and its legacies
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and under international human rights law
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there is a common understanding
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that repertory justice processes are
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supposed to be victim-led
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right so in this domestic human rights
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context that is reparation for the
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institution of slavery in the united
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states
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as a repertory justice scholar i think
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it’s important to center the voices of
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the victims and the victims in the
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situation are the descendants of shadow
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slavery and sharecropping and
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jim crow and the new jim crow and so
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that’s why i will always advocate for
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you know extended public comment
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chats to be open
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um
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there are some issues with that
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that folks have been following but i’m
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always going to be a staunch advocate in
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terms of making sure that you know the
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victims um in this process are leading
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the way so what would your advice to
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young
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black american descendants of the
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enslaved
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what would be your advice to the young
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boys and girls that are thinking about
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getting into civics but they’re not sure
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uh you know the economic prospects of it
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or they’re not sure
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the viability of it what’s your advice
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to them
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well my advice would be to stay in
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school
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stay engaged right google is you know a
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free option where you can always look
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into current events
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um into
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current events that may interest you
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but again stay engaged in this process
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because this is something that i was
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actually thinking about earlier this
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morning
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you know what could a reparation
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proposal be
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uh for you know black americans disabled
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child slavery to amplify and boost our
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political participation like can the
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state fund you know model government
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program for black youth so they’re able
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to understand very early on about the
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political process on the local state and
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national level and obviously for black
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american adults you know could a
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potential reparation proposal be you
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know state funding to amplify and
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support potential governmental
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candidates as well who are black and
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very descended of child slavery
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absolutely and i think that some of that
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participation we’re going to see a
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natural uptick in it as politics start
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working for us more and more like in
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that chat room there was i believe on
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the march 30th session there was a
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thousand people in there
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there probably has never been a thousand
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people in any in any like municipal
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meeting a thousand black people there so
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it’s like we hardly see something
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working for us like
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let’s get engaged so
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yeah so thank you for that um and it’s
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important that you know we get involved
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in civics and we make sure our opinions
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are being asserted in those rooms now
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what’s the best way for the community to
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stay involved
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as this task force proceeds
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yes so you can always follow me on
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twitter at camila b moore
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k-a-m-i-l-a-h-v
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m-o-r-e or you can obviously in
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please follow our website
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oag.ca.gov forward slash
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ab3121 you can follow the conversation
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on twitter by searching hashtag ab3121
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or california reparations but stay tuned
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because we have a community engagement
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plan process that will be rolling out
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soon so we’ll have additional resources
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for people to get engaged great and last
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question so what’s the timeline in all
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this so once you know you you do your
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exploration you figure out the the
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injured party what what how they were
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injured and how they should be repaired
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what’s the turnaround from in in in
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modern new black me apartments from
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exploration to cut the check what’s the
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timeline between
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that too so the sunset of the task force
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is july 2023 so that’s when we’re
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mandated to turn over our official
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reparation proposals to the legislature
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it’s up to the california legislature to
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then adopt them
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um but it’s a really quick caveat member
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writer jones sawyer who is an elected
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official and is a part of the task force
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he introduced legislation to extend the
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life of the task force so instead of
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july 2023 we may potentially
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uh not end our responsibilities until
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july 2024 so we’ll see about that
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um but to answer your question more
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directly
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you know it’s up to the california state
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legislature to look at these proposals
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and get to work and turn them into law
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okay awesome well i really appreciate
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your time i really appreciate you uh
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taking the time to talk to the people
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and interview with us it’s been awesome
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thank you camila thank you
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pre-order our lineage matters crewneck
15:30
at shop.6zeros.net
