Thread by @sharkfinney

🧵 Threading today's #AB3121 notes here! 🧵

California's #reparations Task Force is meeting in ✨San Francisco✨ today and tomorrow at @ThirdBaptistSF.

This morning begins with public comment from 9:05-10:05.

Live Stream: oag.ca.gov/ab3121

Things are were off to a slow start at @ThirdBaptistSF this morning, but now roll call is getting started.

Rev. Dr. Amos Brown says he is "peacock proud and elephant elated" to have the first in-person reparations task force meeting here at @ThirdBaptistSF, where he is the Pastor.

Public comment is now beginning! 🗣️ If you'd like to share your experiences of anti-black discrimination or your vision for #reparations by phone ☎️:
🔹Call 877-226-8215
🔹Enter participant code 5981272
🔹An operator will give you instructions from there!

So far we've heard the voices of 4th generation Californians, members of the Nation of Islam, organizers with @cjecofficial, daycare operators and grads of SF State.

Oakland resident Josiah Williams gave public comment:

Williams and other commenters have spoken in opposition of #AB2296, a bill introduced by Task Force member @JonesSawyerAD59, that would extend the work of the Task Force a year longer—into 2024.

The proposed bill is here: bit.ly/3KGEdbT

Some commenters are thanking the Task Force for voting to limit #reparations to people who can prove a connection to enslaved people in America.

For more on eligibility and the controversial vote last meeting ⬇️

✍️: @lakitalki

bit.ly/3JGANnY

Public comment has ended, now approving minutes from the last meeting at the end of March.

If you missed the March meeting but want to catch-up, you can find video recordings here:
oag.ca.gov/ab3121/meeting…

Now we are hearing from the first panel of the day. The theme is Pre-K to 12th Grade Education Institutions.

We'll be hearing from:
🔸 Dorothy Hines
🔸 Dr. Etta R. Hollins, Professor of Education @UMKC
🔸Maisie Chin, Executive Director of @CADREparents

“All of these institutions have been shaped by Euro-centric values and practices...and that is a very difficult thing to change.”

Dr. Hollins is talking about what an educational system inclusive of African American culture and values might look like.

Maisie Chin is discussing @CADREparents work organizing with African American parents in South LA.

Here is a summary of what she and colleagues heard from parents how about they are treated at their children's schools:

Dorothy Hines is a retired Special Education Teacher at East Side Union High School District in San Jose. @esuhsd_SGB

"If our children don't learn to read, their education is over."

Dr. Hollins is advocating for community based literacy programs that use African American texts and oral traditions as the teaching source material.

Context on Black literacy rates in CA: bit.ly/3xmNz8V

After an hour long lunch break, the Task Force is back in session!

Should the State pay #reparations for harms caused by the national government, some of which took place before CA became a state? Or should it only address harms that took place in CA?

That's one of the questions being debated now by a panel experts including @SandyDarity.

A brief interlude to say that 64 years ago today, W.E.B. Du Bois, founder of the NAACP, spoke in this very room. bit.ly/3JBDvv3

"We shouldn't just look at cash payments, it can be a combination of things,"

Task Force member Bradford (@SteveBradford) is encouraging the group to think broadly—he says #reparations could include free tuition at UCs and CSUs or interest-free home loans.

Task Force member Jovan Scott Lewis (@JovanLewis) is reminding the group that they already voted to move forward with a model of #reparations focused on harms perpetrated in California.

They are calling this the "State model" of reparations.

As part of the State model, the Task Force will look at 13 different areas of harm (slide 273 from the March Task Force meeting):

The Task Force's economic advisors' must figure out the monetary value of each harm.

The Task Force decided by consensus to have the advisors cluster these areas by theme (ex. houselessness, with housing discrimination, and eminent domain), and to start with the housing group.

Now on to expert panel two!

Theme: College to Professional Education Institutions.

We'll be hearing from:
🔸 Dr. Joyce E. King, Professor of Teacher Education at @GeorgiaStateU
🔸 Sylvia Drew Ivie, Mental Health Advocate @cdrewu
🔸 Simone Anderson, Chair of @BlackBruins

Task Force member Dr. Cheryl Grills: I'm hearing three trends in what panelist are saying Black students need to thrive:

1⃣ Relational ties with teachers + administration (belonging)

2⃣ Seeing ourselves in the curriculum (identification)

3⃣ Place-based learning (grounding)

The Task Force is now taking a short break until 3:30pm.

I'll take this opportunity to say that today is the Task Force Chair's birthday! 🥳

Not ideal to work on your birthday, but pretty cool to be the Chair of this historic Task Force, @KamilahVMoore.

📸: @bethlaberge

We are back with Panel 3: The School to Prison Pipeline.

We'll be hearing from:
🔹 Dr. Pedro Noguera, Dean and Professor of Education at @USC
🔹 Dr. Angelo Williams, Professor of Sociology at @SierraCollege
🔹 Joseph Williams, Marshé Doss and Mau Trejo from @LA_StudentsDsrv

“Schools are most likely to punish the students they serve the least well.”
- Dr. Pedro Noguera on the school to prison pipeline.

Marshé Doss, Mau Trejo, and Joseph Williams from @LA_StudentsDsrv flew up from LA to be here today.

They are sharing their own experiences being criminalized in around school...and how their experiences are not unique in LA: (Slide 122)

As school enrollment in LAUSD has dropped, spending on school police has risen as other programs were cut: (Slide 123).

A 2019 @ACLU study found that Black students are more likely than white students to be targeted by school police.

For example: In Stockton schools, Black students were 6.5 times more likely than white students to be booked or cited by district police. bit.ly/3roNuNU

In California, school police have even killed students.

Raheim Brown Jr. in Oakland: @sfbayview bit.ly/3jExpPW

Manuela Rodriguez in Long Beach: @latimes lat.ms/38ExhOa

In some places people are fighting against school police.

@LA_StudentsDsrv surveyed 5,433 LAUSD students and found that 88% wanted to defund school police.

Oakland Unified School District got rid of its school police in 2020. More on how that's going: bit.ly/3uGJudG

Hey Dr. Grills (@tawede), this is the study by Amir Whitaker (@DrKnuckyEsq) with @ACLUSoCal about school police that Joseph Williams with @LA_StudentsDsrv is talking about.

"Pretty much the only trade school we have left is the police academies"

Joseph Williams with @LA_StudentsDsrv says divestment in trade schools has hurt Black and Brown communities—teaching, plumbing, mechanics, and programming training provides pathways to meaningful employment

Now on to updates, first from Task Force Member Tamaki:

The Task Force will send a survey to all 58 CA DA's offices asking whether or not they track the racial demographics of the people they charge with crimes.

Without data, Tamaki says, it's hard to prove discrimination.

"This is the 1st step on the road to guaranteed non-repetition," - Donald Tamaki (@minamitamaki)

The next step will be to ask DA's that don't track this data, why not?

Ultimately, Tamaki says, this data will be used to help enforce the 2020 CA Racial Justice Act #AB2542.

And it's a wrap! We'll be back tomorrow for day 2 of the Task Force's April meeting.