OAKLAND, Calif.—U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, a 1973 Mills College graduate, was emotional when she called on California—as well as other states and the federal government—to pass reparations legislation.
“We bear witness to this historic moment. Reparations are not only morally justifiable, but they have the potential to address long-standing racial disparities and inequalities,” Lee said during a meeting of the California Reparations Task Force at Mills College at Northeastern University on Saturday.
The task force voted to approve recommendations for the state to publicly apologize for slavery and pay reparations to Black residents for generations of financial loss and discrimination.
Lee—a former Black Student Union president who invited the first African American congresswoman, Shirley Chisholm, to speak at the college in the 1970s—welcomed…
