Reparations

In the 1940s, U.S. politicians used racial prejudice and fear to justify deporting and detaining Japanese residents, including U.S. citizens. Today's playbook is similar.

Federal and state laws challenge the taking of Native American bones and cultural items. Yet too little has been returned, a curator says.

A scholarship meant to repair racial terror now must include descendants of those who were never targets of it. Critics now say such programs are discriminatory.

Since creating California's reparations task force five years ago, Newsom has signed few of its bills while slowing most that would have directed money or benefits to Black Californians.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed five laws advancing reparations for the descendants of enslaved people in California, but he vetoed five others. It's a mixed record two years after the California Reparations Task Force issued its seminal report.

Hundreds of California’s incarcerated firefighters will see an increase in pay, a new death benefit and a faster path to expungement of their criminal records under laws Gov. Gavin Newsom signed.

California sent incarcerated firefighters to battle blazes in Los Angeles this year. It's moving toward paying them minimum wage for their work in emergencies.

Many people in California prisons and jails work for less than $1 an hour. Lawmakers are advancing two bills that could lead to wage increases for some of them.

Some reparations advocates are pulling their support of California's Legislative Black Caucus agenda. It signals a growing rift in the movement, and allowed one of the Capitol's most controversial figures to pounce.

In the UC Davis Black History Month Student Essay Contest, a graduate student argues that investing in education and economic programs that aid Black communities can help dismantle inequality more broadly.