Berkeley school district pushes for reparations for Black students, creates task force

Berkeley school district pushes for reparations for Black students, creates task force

Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) is aiming to become the first school district in the U.S. to offer reparations to Black students following a task force meeting.

The Berkeley community is intending to create a task force to study paying reparations to African-American students who were the descendants of slaves, according to the California school district’s website.

"In response to the legacy of the system of enslaving Black people on American soil, BUSD seeks to establish a program of true reparations for BUSD students with ancestors who were enslaved in the U.S. To do so, two key questions of implementation need to be answered: how to pay for such a program and how to structure and implement it. BUSD is creating the Reparations Task Force to provide recommendations in response to these questions," the website read.

"More specifically, the Task Force will be directed to provide a written set of recommendations by January 2024 on how to fund or finance a true reparations program for BUSD students with ancestors who were enslaved in the U.S. The Task Force may then be subsequently directed to provide a written set of recommendations (by a date to be decided) on how to structure and implement such a program," it continued.


This announcement followed a nine-member task force formed by Gov. Gavin Newsom providing projections for how to provide reparations for slavery to Black residents in December. The team found that to close the gap caused by housing discrimination would require paying over $200,000 per Black citizen.

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