The creation of a Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery in California is a first-in-the-nation step toward moving reparations from theory to reality.

State Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson (D-CA 39) authored the bill, which was signed into law Friday.

“In a time where many people in many states are doing things that are contrary to what we know in our hearts and our souls is the right thing to do, it is our moral obligation to continue to move in the right direction. And with the governor signing , that is us acting on our moral obligation to do the right thing,” she said.

It took more than a century and a half since emancipation for a state to begin an official process toward comprehensive reparations. But Weber Pierson said once California got the ball rolling, it rolled fast.

The stat

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