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Posts tagged as “Shirley Weber”

California Becomes 1st U.S. State to Create Proposals for Reparations to Descendants of Enslaved People

California Becomes 1st U.S. State to Create Proposals for Reparations to Descendants of Enslaved People

By goodblacknews on September 30, 2020

[Photo: Reparations bill author and CA Assembly member Shirley Weber (D-San Diego)]

According to latimes.com, California Governor Gavin Newsom today signed Assembly Bill 3121, which makes the Golden State the first in the U.S. to formally adopt a law to study and develop proposals for potential reparations to descendants of enslaved people and those impacted by slavery.

Newsom said the new law, authored by CA Assembly member Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), and  the bipartisan support for its passage are proving “a paradigm that we hope will be resonant all across the United States.”

To quote the Los Angeles Times:

In a year of national protests against racial injustice, state lawmakers approved Assembly Bill 3121 to force the state to begin to confront its racist history and systemic disparities that persist today.

Although California entered the Union as a “free state” in 1850, slavery continued there after the state Constitution outlawed it the previous year. Slavery was abolished by the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1865.

The new law creates a task force to recommend appropriate remedies to the state Legislature and determine who should be eligible to receive compensation, which advocates hope will become a model in a country where movements to make amends for centuries of slavery have failed to gain traction at the federal level.

“California has come to terms with many of its issues, but it has yet to come to terms with its role in slavery,” said Weber. “We’re talking about really addressing the issues of justice and fairness in this country that we have to address.”

California State University Trustees Vote to Make Ethnic Studies or Social Justice Class Mandatory for Students Statewide

California State University Trustees Vote to Make Ethnic Studies or Social Justice Class Mandatory for Students Statewide

By goodblacknews on July 22, 2020

According to the Los Angeles Times, all 430,000 undergraduates attending California State Universities will be required to take an ethnic studies or social justice course, a curriculum change approved by CSU trustees today.

To quote latimes.com:

The board of trustees voted in favor of the requirement, which will take effect starting in 2023 in the nation’s largest four-year public university system. Five members voted against it, including State Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and social justice activists Lateefah Simon and Hugo Morales. One trustee abstained.

Two questions dominated their debate: How should ethnic studies be defined? And who gets to decide: faculty, trustees or state lawmakers?

The new requirement, advanced by the office of the chancellor, creates a three-unit, lower-division course requirement in “ethnic studies and social justice.” The requirement could be met by a traditional ethnic studies course or by courses focused on social justice or social movements.

The measure was opposed by some faculty and students who argued it was too broad and developed without appropriate consultation with ethnic studies faculty.

They contended that adding the social justice option diluted the core mission of ethnic studies, which focuses on the history and experiences of four oppressed groups in the U.S.: African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos and indigenous people.

California Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), has drafted an alternative plan that is currently making its way to the governor’s office, which would more strictly define how the requirement could be fulfilled.