Brianna Noble : “George Floyd’s Murder Sparks Solidarity and Reparations Movement in California”

Police Brutality Sparks Social Unrest in Bay Area

Even though the social unrest was more than a half-century apart, the catalyst was the same: police brutality.

In the Bay Area, the protests began peacefully, with demonstrators marching on Broadway in Oakland on May 29, 2020, during a protest over the Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd.

In Oakland four years ago, the energy was palpable. And that was before Brianna Noble showed up in style on a horse. My colleague, Beth LaBerge, took one of the photos of Noble that went viral as Noble led the march down Broadway. Anchored by LaBerge’s photos, this commentary documents the Oakland protests and examines what resulted from the weeks of racial uprisings that swept the Bay Area, California and America.

Peaceful Protests Turn Into Turmoil

Highways were shut down as peaceful protesters voiced their frustrations. People shouted, “Hands up, don’t shoot,” and “I can’t breathe” as they marched. They demanded a portion of city budgets reserved for policing be instead earmarked for community programs to address systemic issues such as poor schools and lack of opportunities.

Most people wore masks because the pandemic was raging. But get this: the crowds were a representation of America, as Black, white, Latino and Asian people marched shoulder-to-shoulder for racial justice.

The response by police — pepper spray, rubber bullets and baton swipes — caused frustration to erupt into vandalism and theft. Storefront windows were broken, and buildings and cars were set on fire. This was the racial reckoning America needed, I thought.

Moving Towards Reparations

One elected official did more than listen. The social upheaval from four years ago led then-Assemblymember Shirley Weber to write Assembly Bill 3121, which created a task force to study and develop reparation proposals for African Americans. It was enacted on Sept. 30, 2020.

“I just knew that we had had enough conversation in the nation about reparations at the federal level that it wasn’t going to happen immediately,” Weber, who was appointed secretary of state in December 2020, told me in 2022. “I didn’t ask permission from anybody. I didn’t coordinate and collaborate. I informed the Black Caucus what I was doing. I didn’t even ask their permission.”

The California Reparations Task Force, the first statewide body to study reparations, wasn’t a performative gesture.

“We know the damage has been done,” Weber said. “So I didn’t want to spend my years talking about whether there was or not damage. We needed to talk about how much was done and what we need to do to rectify it.”

Progress Towards Reparations

Last June, the task force released a 1,000-page report on how the state government had supported slavery and dozens of discriminatory laws. The report included more than 100 recommendations to right the wrongs instituted in the past and continue today. In January, the California Legislative Black Caucus introduced 14 reparations bills.

Earlier this month, the state Assembly passed a bill apologizing for California’s role in supporting slavery. We need more than an apology, but I’ll save the argument for another column.

Continued Efforts for Reparations

At KQED, my colleagues have been chronicling the reparations movement. With our reparations tracker, we’re keeping tabs on the bills as they move through the Assembly and the Senate.

In 2021, the state passed historic legislation that provided financial reparations to people who were forcibly or involuntarily sterilized while incarcerated in state prisons after 1979 or at state-run hospitals, homes and institutions during the eugenics era between 1909 and 1979.

That’s why we’re investigating how the state is rolling out reparations for people who were forcibly sterilized. Among the applicants who volunteered their demographic information, the majority self-identified as Black or African American. Of the almost 600 people who applied, roughly 70% were denied reparations.

Advancing Racial Justice

In February, a Contra Costa County superior court judge threw out sentence enhancements in a criminal case where Antioch police officers sent racist text messages about four men accused of murder. Strengthening the act was part of the state reparations task force’s recommendations.

It seems like Floyd’s death indeed sparked a national reckoning on racism — until we look at the backlash.

Ongoing Conversations About Race

Critical Race Theory and DEI programs have been villainized in some states, and the teaching of Black history has come under fire. In so-called progressive cities like Oakland, tough-on-crime rhetoric has handcuffed political races and spread fear even as crime is declining.

Sarah Jackson, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication, emphasized the importance of having hard conversations about race and the issues that affect everyone dearly.

“We want good schools. We want good jobs. Everybody wants that stuff,” she said. “But some of those things are unique, like police brutality, like reparations, like some of these other issues that many media institutions and many members of the public just aren’t used to having to talk about.”

Four years after Floyd’s death, the conversation about race in America is ongoing, with strides towards reparations and racial justice being made.