People line up to speak during a reparations task force meeting at Third Baptist Church in San Francisco on April 13, 2022. (Credit: Janie Har)

By Jane Har // Reparations // Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California’s first-in-the-nation task force on reparations will release a report Wednesday documenting in detail the harms perpetuated by the state against Black people and recommending steps to address those wrongs, including expanded voter registration, making it easier to hold violent police accountable and improving Black neighborhoods.

It also recommends the creation of a special office that would, in part, help African Americans document their eligibility for financial restitution.

The report, which runs 500 pages, will be the first government-commissioned study on harms against the African American community since the 1968 Kerner Commission report ordered by then-President Lyndon Johnson, task force Chair Kamilah Moore said.

“I hope that this report is used not only as an educational tool, but an organizing tool for people not only in California but across the U.S. to educate their communities,” she said, adding that the report also highlights “contributions of the African American community and how they made the United States what it is despite ongoing oppression and degradation.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation creating the task force in 2020, making California the only state to move ahead with a study and plan. Cities and universities are taking up the cause with the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois, becoming the first U.S. city to make reparations available to Black residents last year.

The task force voted in March to limit reparations to descendants of Black people who were in the United States at the end of the 19th century, overruling reparations advocates who want to expand compensation to all Black people in the U.S.

The report, to be released by the state Department of Justice, marks the halfway point for the two-year task force's work. The draft report does not provide a comprehensive reparations plan, which is due to lawmakers next year.

The report is expected to lay out how California supported slavery before it was technically abolished and oppressed Black residents through discriminatory laws and practices in education, home ownership, employment and the courts.

African Americans make up nearly 6% of California's population yet they are overrepresented in jails and prisons. They were nearly 9% of people living below the poverty level and made up 30% of people experiencing homelessness in 2019, according to state figures.