Photo: Nikki Fried, https://secure.actblue.com/donate/nikki-twitter
California became the first state in the country to move forward on reparations by establishing a task force to study and develop a plan for reparations in the state. Could Florida follow?
Nikki Fried is running for governor of Florida, and she recently said she would consider following California’s lead on reparation. As the current Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services, she is Florida’s only statewide elected Democrat.
During a panel discussion on hip-hop legend Luther Luke Campbell Spaces series, she was asked if signing a reparations task force legislation be something she would do if she became governor of Florida. Campbell has endorsed her as a candidate.
“Yes, it would be. I think these are hard conversations…but we have to have them.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom in 2020 signed legislation establishing the task force. In 2019, resolution AB-3121 was introduced and then upgraded to an assembly bill by California Secretary of State Dr. State Shirley Weber. On June 1 the task force released its first interim report after voting that if reparations are given they will be lineage-based, going only to Black residents who could move their had an ancestor who was a slave.
The historic report runs 500 pages and “surveys the ongoing and compounding harms experienced by African Americans as a result of slavery and its lingering effects on American society today,” the introductory summary states.
Fried served as a public defender and is a marijuana legalization advocate, according to her website, which does not include her position on reparations. She also founded her own law firm to advocate for our public schools and foster children.
She is running against fellow Democrat, U.S. Representative and former Governor of Florida Charlie Crist.. The primary is August 23. The winner will go up against Republican Ron DeSantis.
Photo: Nikki Fried, website, https://secure.actblue.com/donate/nikki-twitter
