US state seeks $360k per individual in slavery reparations.

(RT) ⸻ A California task force studying reparations for black Americans descended from slaves wants the state's taxpayers to shell out $360,000 for every affected individual. This is an increase of more than 50% from the task force's December proposal of $220,000 for each qualifying member of the state's historically disadvantaged black population. The payouts could cost California as much as $640 billion, and the group has not yet decided whether the payments will go directly to qualified black Californians or be invested in education, healthcare, and homeownership for black communities in the state. California Governor Gavin Newsom formed the task force in 2020, heralding it as the largest reparations effort since Reconstruction, but the state is currently facing a $22.5 billion budget deficit. The task force's preliminary report from last year explained that centuries of discriminatory policies have left black Americans in poorer physical, mental, and especially financial condition, segregated in less desirable neighborhoods, receiving a worse education and paid less for more precarious jobs, and suffering greater abuse by authorities than their white counterparts. It listed over 100 ways the state could make amends for this litany of injustices, among which are banning for-profit prison companies, redrawing electoral district lines to "prevent dilution of the black vote," ending the abuse of the foster care system in breaking up families, and compensating those harmed by medical experimentation.