S1: Welcome in San Diego , it's Jade Hindman. On today's show , the United Nations recently signed a resolution acknowledging the transatlantic slave trade as the gravest crime against humanity. What could that mean for current proposals for reparations in California ? This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. For more than 400 years , 12.5 million people in Africa were shipped from their homes and really , their families just taken kidnapped. They were chained in pairs , packed into cargo holds at the bottom of ships , and then trafficked to the Americas. What waited on the other side of the two month journey through the Middle Passage was the horror of chattel slavery. Well , today , the continued impacts of that reality are all around the globe in America. You see it reflected in every system , from financial to health. Well , last month , the United Nations General Assembly passed a landmark resolution that calls the transatlantic slave trade the gravest crime against humanity. It also calls for a route to reparations , to reparations , rather , and reparative justice beyond just symbolic acknowledgement. Here's Esther Phillips , the first poet laureate of Barbados , speaking before the assembly.
S2: There are spirits of the victims of slavery present in this room at this moment , and there are listening for one word only justice. Because for them and for the world , there can be no peace without justice. Repository justice. And that call is answered only when words are turned into action.
S1: Well , the resolution spearheaded by Ghana received 123 votes in favour. Three countries voted against the resolution Argentina , Israel and the United States. 52 countries abstained from the vote , most of them European. I'm joined now by San Diego County Supervisor Monica Montgomery. Step. She represents district four. She also served on California's Reparations Task Force , which studied and developed reparation proposals for descendants of the enslaved currently living in California. Supervisor. Welcome to Midday edition. Jade.
S3: Jade. Always good to be with you.
S1: Always glad to have you on.
S3: I'm very , very grateful that the majority of the world , um , sees the chattel enslavement of Africans as the gravest crime against humanity in the entire world. And I'm very. You know , that type of acknowledgement is extremely important for community. But also , you know , I had to reckon with the fact that the United States. Um , not only did , uh , they did not abstain , they actually voted no on the record. Right. And so that is , of course , my country , the country that I do still have hope for. Right. That , um , refuses to acknowledge it , acknowledge what the world now sees as the gravest crime against humanity. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. Let's talk more about that. I mean , what do you make of the countries who voted against the resolution being Argentina , Israel , and , of course , the U.S. ? Yeah.
S3: You know , I'm going to focus more on the U.S. because , of course , that is my country. And that's where I have the most experience of enslaved people essentially having a large role in building this country to what it is today. Building the wealth off of the free labor of enslaved people , and just seeing systemically how the root of this crime against humanity it takes it really takes precedent in our systems. And it has since , you know , 16 , 19 and even before then , we we have seen throughout history that this system keeps , keeps sort of reiterating itself or , um , showing itself in new ways. And until we do have a reckoning about that , until we have those hard conversations , until we broaden our perspective about what our history as a country is , then , you know , we can expect to see , you know , votes like this. Mhm.
S1: Mhm. You know , and I know that the U.N. sort of came out with this , its ideas of what reparations could look like.
S3: Again , our our proposal , while our report was about 1100 pages. Right. And at the end of each chapter , we had recommendations to cure that particular subject of the chapter. You know , so , you know , for example , we had political disenfranchisement. We talked about the criminal legal system. There were many we talked about our financial system. So we we had those very specific recommendations that resulted in that 1100 page report for this resolution. I understand , you know , as the report was it is nonbinding , but it also talks about it has more of sort of a global response to chattel enslavement. It talks about the artifacts that were stolen , you know , recovery of those. And I thought it had some very interesting language around the chattel enslavement. Um , but again , I just go back to defining. That that crime against humanity. And that is really based on , you know , this type of system at scale. And for the time that it lasted , for the way that it still infiltrates our systems , for the brutality that was attached , that it really stands , you know , above the rest. Um , this is what the United Nations said , that it it deserves that type of recognition.
S1: You know , just for those who are are less familiar with the argument for reparations , how would you lay it out for them ? Well.
S4:
S3: Reparations is simply reparative justice , right ? And what that means is there was a harm done. And reparations allows for the system to repair the harm. That's essentially what it means. It means repair of harm. And so in our discussions of reparations during the task force in California was the first state of its kind in the nation to to do so , we really based our definition of reparations off of the United Nations definition , and that United Nations definition has five components to it. Um , one component is restitution. Uh , another component is rehabilitation. Uh , another component is a guarantee of non repetition. Right. And so we also have the discussion around compensation. Um , it is not the only prong that we use to establish our reparations framework. Um in the conversations we had as a task force. But it certainly was one of them. Right. And so this connection to the UN is something that I did experience through the work of the task force in defining what reparations could be. It's really , again , it is repairing that harm. What we see in this nation in particular is , um , you know , we saw the system of slavery , and then we saw Jim Crow era and Jim Crow laws. We saw a sharecropping , and then we saw redlining of certain communities that kept African-Americans out of , uh , many , many communities in the nation. Um , and then we see mass incarceration. So the point of that is that , you know , slavery is not a sort of an abstract historical event , right ? This is a , a , a reflection of our system that continues to perpetuate itself in art , in , you know , in the systems that we create in America. Right. And so that is really the repairing of harm is so important to the betterment of really all people in our nation. Acknowledging that harm and then being thoughtful about how we move forward constructively , I think is important for us.
S1: And , well , speaking of repairing harm and those recommendations that you all came with. Last fall , Governor Gavin Newsom signed several laws advancing reparations , but vetoed five others.
S3: You know , during the conversations that we had at the Reparations Task Force meetings , I believe that it was extremely important to have some sort of bureau that could begin to. You , uh , monitor the way that we were sort of doing this work of reparative justice in California , and I believe in office has been established. I believe that it maybe does not meet all of the criteria that was in the recommendations or in the report. Um , I'm grateful that this is a part of the conversation still. Right. Like , you know , a decade ago there , we would not have been discussing bills that deal with reparative harm and that deal with reparations that were passed in California or anywhere else in the nation. But we have taken those steps. Right ? It's just the work is not over. It is really just beginning. And it keeps evolving. And so , you know , I support the fact that the state is on board with reparations. It is important , though , that we ensure these bills work to repair harm. That is extremely important. And so I will continue , you know , to support the legislature as they make decisions. The Black Caucus also advocates the advocacy community that really was a part of bringing this issue to at the time. Assembly member Webber , now Secretary of state. Bring it to her. You know , maybe seven years ago now at this point to start to start this work. It's an ongoing process. And , you know , we all need to be committed to that.
S1: Cause , you know , 2026 marks America's 250th anniversary since the Declaration of Independence was signed.
S3: It's another I have mixed feelings about it. You know , it's another one of those subjects that gives me mixed feelings , because this is the country that I know. This is where I was raised , and I have seen it do a lot of good things , you know , for my family and others at the same time celebrating. And in the US approaching its 250th anniversary , uh , makes me also think about Juneteenth , um , where not until 1865 of the the last group of enslaved people found out that they were free. Right. And so that wasn't 250 years ago , um , so many of us here living , you know , in the same country , have a very different experience about what independence and freedom is. And when it , it was given , um , uh , and so that , you know , the , the , the current resolution , um , that was just passed by the United Nations. Again , it shows us that the world is now ready to acknowledge this type of harm. We still have a lot of work to do in America when we look at , you know , a federal government right now that is literally taking money from poor people and from the mouth food from the mouths of babies to give to the top 1%. You know , that's really where we are at our 250th anniversary. And this UN resolution really couldn't come at a better time to remind us that the world is seeing some of the hypocrisy that we have had to deal with in this nation. But there is a way to repair that harm. And so I hold on to the hope that , you know , great minds will get together , moral minds will get together , and we will address this very big un , no longer an elephant in the room , But there's a very big issue in which our country laid its foundation upon and create a new foundation for future generations. Right.
S1: Right. Well , finally , you know , this UN resolution calls attention to the transatlantic slave trade and the exclusion also of African Americans from the power , you know , just from power structures that followed. You know , in many ways that exclusion continues to unfold today , as you alluded to , as the first black woman to be a supervisor for San Diego County.
S4:
S3: Moment with a lot of opportunity. Um , there is a lot of chaos , but there is certainly opportunity. There is an opportunity to address these issues head on with so many amazing people that , you know , put me into office that voted for me , that trusted me to make lives about their make decisions about their lives. You know , that was a broad coalition of a lot of different people , different backgrounds , um , and different identities. And so I hold with that , you know , that I hold to that. I am very grateful for this opportunity. I also know that , you know , the truth is glaring at us and in waiting for us to take hold of it. You know that we need to create a foundation of of truth here , not only in district four , but in San Diego , in California , in the nation. Um , I'm grateful to have this opportunity and to be in government at a time like this where I still feel that even among the chaos , that our community is so much greater and we have the opportunity to really create something different.
S1: All right. So while the resolution may not have legal teeth , it will be interesting to see what kind of political influence it has. Moving forward. I've been speaking with San Diego County Board Supervisor Monica Montgomery. She represents district four and was also on California's Reparations Task Force supervisor. Thank you for all the work that you do , and thank you for joining us today.
S3: It's so good to be with you. Thank you for having me.
S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
