At their January 28th, San Diego meeting, the California Reparations Task Force voted to "direct resources of the California Freedmen's Affairs Agency to community organizations when 'it makes sense' ".

It is important to note that this was already factored into the Bureau's formulation, per the task force's preliminary recommendations: 2022 - AB3121 Interim Report Preliminary Recommendations (ca.gov) e.g, “A business affairs office to provide ongoing education related to entrepreneurialism and financial literacy; to provide business grants; and to establish public-private reparative justice-oriented partnerships.” 

This vote was preceded by a discussion wherein member Cheryl Grills suggested that the Freedmen Affairs agency take on a more 'supervisory role' in the repair, to which Assemblymen Reggie Jones Sawyer, and Steven Bradford expressed reservations--citing the fact that many supervisory organizations simply 'write letters about wrongdoings' rather than redress them. 

Member Montgomery Steppe, and Chairperson Kamilah Moore expressed concern about the implications of limiting the California Freedmen Affairs Agency in the Task Force's recommendations, as it may face additional cuts and structural changes in the legislature itself, leaving it essentially powerless. 

Californians and Black-Americans across this country have seen the corruption, and lack of accountability of community organizations such as Black Lives Matter. We do not want a repeat in the form of reparations. 

We understand concerns in regard to possible waste and inefficiencies in bureaucracy, but the entire conception of the Freedmen's Agency is that it would handle the affairs of enslaved descendants, not the government which harmed them, or non-profits structures which are difficult to hold accountable, but the 'Freedmen's Agency'. To undermine that, is to deny Black-Americans agency in our own repair. 

We ask that the task force reconsider the motion made on January 28th's task force meeting, as outsourcing should be a decision made by the California Freedmen Affairs Agency itself.