The vice chairman of the California reparations task force is calling on the state to pay what it can in the task force's proposed $800 billion plan, or what he calls the "sin bill."
Amos Brown told Fox News that the state should pay out what it can of the reparations even if it is unable to provide the full proposed amount.
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"You cannot put a dollar sign on what has been done to black people," Brown told the outlet. "Our sin bill in this nation has been so high, and because of the long years of doing nothing, the interest has grown."
"All we did was evaluate the harm and state the case of what it might mean in terms of dollars and cents. But if you can't pay all of that, say what you can pay. That's the point," he added.
California's reparations task force approved an estimated $800 billion plan to give black residents reparations. The final report of the plan is due to the Golden State's legislature, where lawmakers will decide if it gets enacted. The proposal, however, faces an uncertain future because the state is currently dealing with a $31.5 billion budget deficit, meaning various programs could be cut this year and beyond.
Brown said the state should pay out the reparations in multiple installments if it cannot afford to pay them in one installment.
"They ought to say, ‘this is what we can afford.' And if we can't pay it now, we do like the Germans did — pay for it over installments," Brown said to the outlet.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) had remained mostly quiet on the task force's work but finally broke his silence earlier this month by saying that the work was about "dealing with the legacy of slavery" and "is about much more than cash payments."
A spokesperson for Newsom further clarified to the Washington Examiner that he had not declined to endorse the reparations payments and would evaluate the final report once it is completed and submitted to him.
"The governor looks forward to reviewing the final report — and all recommendations — when complete," the spokesperson said.
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Newsom will likely have the final say in whether the various proposals in the plan become law, whether it is signing a bill or via executive action.
One of the recommendations included in the plan is to repeal a law that outlaws discrimination based on race or other characteristics. Voters recently rejected a proposition to repeal the constitutional amendment that banned affirmative action by not permitting the state to consider race, gender, or ethnicity in hiring decisions, by a 57%-42% margin in 2020.