California Gov. Gavin Newsom delivered a mixed bag Monday for proponents of bills aimed at addressing the state’s legacy of racist and discriminatory policies against Black Americans.

He signed a law authorizing $6 million for California State University to study how to confirm an individual’s status as a descendant of an enslaved person.

But he vetoed other bills the California Legislative Black Caucus championed as tools to atone for the state's history. 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.

One of them would have authorized public and private colleges to give of enslaved people. Another would have required the state to investigate claims from families who say their

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