Los Angeles Area Bar Associations Support Reparations for African Americans
A coalition of bar associations led by the Japanese American Bar Association (JABA) and the John M. Langston Bar Association of Los Angeles, Inc. (Langston) announced their support for the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans.
The Task Force issued its interim report in June 2022, which examines the ongoing and compounding harms suffered by African Americans because of slavery and its various permutations of racial oppression and exclusion.
In addition to JABA and Langston, the bar associations supporting the Task Force
include the Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, Mexican American Bar
Association, Thai American Bar Association, Asian Pacific American Women Lawyers
Alliance, Philippine American Bar Association, Southern California Chinese Lawyers
Association, Korean American Bar Association of Southern California, Asian Pacific
American Bar Association of Los Angeles County, and the South Asian Bar Association
of Southern California.
“The Task Force’s Interim Report confronts the horrific and systemic injustice against
African Americans today and for the past four centuries,” said Staci Tomita, President of
the Japanese American Bar Association. “From our own reparations experience,
Japanese Americans know that we create opportunities for our country to advance
when it acknowledges its wrongs, repairs them, and becomes more inclusive.”
“We believe the work of the Task Force will lead to innovative solutions based upon a
constructive dialogue,” said Daniel Prince, President of the John M. Langston Bar
Association of Los Angeles. “We can look to the example of the effort led by two of our
Langston lifetime members to return Bruce’s Beach to descendants of the Bruce family
nearly a century after it was seized through eminent domain by the City of Manhattan
Beach.”
The Interim Report identifies some preliminary recommendations aimed at, for example,
addressing the racial wealth gap and disparities in the legal system. However, the Final
Report, which is expected in July 2023, will include the Task Force’s final
recommendations based upon further hearings, community engagement, and
consultations with experts.
Learn more about the task force interim report at
https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-reparations-interim-report-2022.pdf.
Founded in the 1920s as the Blackstone Law Club, Langston seeks to empower
leadership, advance the professional development of its membership, and to promote
the administration of justice in the African American community and the community at
large. https://www.langstonbar.org
JABA was founded in 1977 in Los Angeles, California. Over the years, JABA has
provided a special forum for members of the legal profession with interests and ties to
the Japanese American community to discuss issues, network, and serve our
community. https://www.jabaonline.org
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