CALIFORNIA BLACK MEDIA

The Coalition for a Just and Equitable California (CJEC) hosted a California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans-sanctioned community listening session in Vallejo, California on Aug. 20, 2022.

CJEC is a state-wide coalition of organizations, associations, and community members united for reparations for the descendants of enslaved Black American men and women.

With the support of the state’s Department of Justice (DOJ), the event was opened to the public, at Black-owned LaDells Shoes in the heart of historical Georgia Street in downtown Vallejo.

Vallejo is 32 miles north of San Francisco. Geographically, the 2020 United States Census says the East Bay Area city had a population of 22,416 Black people (18.48%) out of total of 121,275. Nearby Fairfield had a Black community of 19,499 (116,544).

The Vallejo Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, founded in 1918, is the second oldest chapter in the state behind Los Angeles' office, speakers at the community listening session said. The Black community grew in the 1910s when the Great Migration began to take shape for many cities in the Bay Area, including San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and Richmond. A few of the people from those municipalities testified at the public event.

Many stories of adversity and success concerning Black life in and around Vallejo surfaced out the community listening sessions. Struggles with employment, decent housings, racism in public schools, homelessness, police brutality, and the challenges of maintaining a businesses were discussed. Native Americans were present at the meeting and cited their close relationship with the Black community.

Black journalist and researcher Sharon McGriff-Payne wrote the 2012 book, "African Americans in Vallejo," documenting Black life, starting with Tennessee native and former enslaved John Grider. Grider arrived in Vallejo in 1850 and was a veteran of the California Bear Flack Revolt of 1846, the Vallejo residents and former staff writer for the New York's White Plains Reporter Dispatch wrote.

"While many 19th-century black pioneers established homes, businesses, and schools, it was during the Great Migration period of 1910 1970s that the bulk of Vallejo s black community took firm root. During this period, black folks from throughout the South tiny towns and big cities alike, from places like Itasca, Texas; Heidelberg, Mississippi; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Lake Wales, Florida made their way west searching for war-industry jobs at Mare Island Naval Shipyard and lives relatively free of unrelenting racial discord. African Americans in Vallejo chronicles this proud and oftentimes complicated journey," McGriff-Payne explained about the essence of the book.

The Vallejo meeting is one of a series of listening sessions presented by Reparations task force Seven “anchor organizations” across the state. The listening sessions are designed to ensure certain communities in the state provide their thoughts and concerns about the work the task force is doing.

Each organization will help the task force evaluate California’s role in slavery and Jim Crow discrimination – and follow that work up with developing resolutions to compensate African Americans for past and ongoing race-based injustices.

All participants are encouraged to fill out a survey form about California Reparations. The form was created by the staff at the University of California, Los Angeles’ (UCLA) Bunche Center.

More information about the Reparations Survey can be viewed at [ Ссылка ]

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