News

Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer, D-Los Angeles, joined Inside California Politics co-host Frank Buckley to discuss the initial report released by the California Reparations Taskforce. Asm. Jones-Sawyer is a member of that task force. The report, released in June, offers preliminary recommendations for reparations. A final report is due next year.

SACRAMENTO — At least 10% of California’s public school classrooms are overseen by teachers who are not properly credentialed, according to a first-of-its-kind reportreleased by the Department of Education on Thursday.

California’s reparations task force will today release its first of two reports detailing the state’s history of slavery and racism — and recommending ways the Legislature might begin a process of redress for Black Californians, including proposals to offer housing grants, free tuition and to raise the minimum wage.

The 500-page study describes decades of state and federal government actions that harmed Black Americans — from slavery to more recent factors that include redlining, mass incarceration, police actions and the widening wealth gap between Blacks and whites.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The slavery reparations movement hit a watershed moment Wednesday with the release of an exhaustive report detailing California’s role in perpetuating discrimination against African Americans, a major step toward educating the public and setting the stage for an official government apology and case for financial restitution. 

While the severe lack of affordable and accessible housing has hurt Californians across the board, communities of color have been the most impacted. Black and Latino households are rent burdened at much higher rates than white households, and own their homes at more than 20% lower rates than Whites.

FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26 NEWS) — Tuesday, FOX26 News reported on a group of bounty hunters arresting a man in Fresno. Fresno Police say the man they were after threw a hatchet at the bounty hunters, so one of them shot at him; no one was injured in that process and the man was arrested.

That happened at Latresa Hamburger’s house in a neighborhood near Shaw and West

For two California lawmakers, April 29, 1992 became a day that continues to impact their legislative careers three decades later.

Assemblyman Mike Gipson was a police officer and Assemblyman Reggie-Jones Sawyer was working as an emergency preparedness coordinator.

The video that captured the beating of Rodney King was profound in so many ways. For the very first time, the nation witnessed police brutality in a raw form as filmed, not by a member of the media, but rather from an average citizen.

And marginalized communities of color now had evidence of what we had been saying for years – law enforcement used unlawful tactics and tended to target Black males and used excessive force without cause or care of discipline.

By Reggie Jones-Sawyer

Imagine you are home asleep at 2 a.m. and you hear violent banging on your front door. You see from your video security camera someone who looks like a single police officer attempting to break down that door. As you call 911 for police assistance, the individual at your front door enters your home and tries to arrest you.

Now imagine that when police arrive, they see you struggling with the person who broke into your home. The officers, believing he is a fellow officer, begin to assist him in your arrest, which ends with your being killed.

To the editor: We, the members of the California Legislative Black Caucus, want to directly address NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to express our outrage over the claims of discrimination made by fired Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores.