A member of California’s state legislature introduced legislation that could give a leg up to descendants of slaves in university admissions.
Democratic Assemblymember Isaac Bryan sponsored the legislation on Monday. His bill would grant the University of California and California State University permission to favor students descended from slaves during the admissions process at the two schools, according to The Associated Press.
Bryan told the AP: “For decades universities gave preferential admission treatment to donors, and their family members, while others tied to legacies of harm were ignored and at times outright excluded. . . .We have a moral responsibility to do all we can to right those wrongs.”
He continued, explaining that he introduced the legislation as part of the campaign to provide reparations for slavery, which was abolished in 1865: “When folks think about reparations, they think about just cash payments,” he said. “But repairing the harm and the inequality that came from slavery and the policies thereafter is a much bigger process.”
The idea of providing “reparations” is nothing new in higher education.
In 2022, for example, Harvard University promised to pour $100 million into a “Legacy of Slavery Fund” that promotes “reparative efforts” to make up for the “profound harm caused by the University’s entanglements with slavery and its legacies.” Despite the massive sum, Nikole Hannah-Jones, author of the widely-criticized and controversial “1619 Project,” said the sum was too small. “A true investment would be hundreds of millions more,” she claimed.
In 2023, Harvard Divinity School also recommended for summer reading several books regarding reparations, including one that recommends a reparations scheme “rooted in a hopeful future that tackles the issue of climate change head on, with distributive justice at its core.”
[RELATED: The Constitution ‘serves white supremacy,’ pro-reparations law professor argues]
Reparations have been discussed for years, and have even gained the support of former presidential candidate Kamala Harris, though they have faced broad opposition and criticism.
Most Americans oppose reparations, and many believe that reparations plans would be unfair given the fact that the U.S. abolished slavery more than a century and a half ago, among many other reasons.
Campus Reform has reached out to Assemblymember Isaac Bryan for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
This article was originally published at campusreform.org
