Reparations activists in California hope their snubbed bills that were shelved in September will be re-introduced by a legislator during the next special session that Gov. Gavin Newsom called in January.

“That is one of the primary demands or commands from the community and reparations leaders is for a legislator, it doesn’t even have to be a black legislator, but a legislator to reintroduce those two bills that failed,” California Reparations Task Force Chair Kamilah Moore told Fox News Digital in an interview this week.

The bills, SB 1403 and SB 1331, would have established the California American Freedman’s Affairs Agency to oversee reparations programs and create a dedicated fund for implementing reparations policies, respectively. Both were snubbed after backers said the bills would not move forward and be signed by Newsom.

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“I think the reason for Newsom was probably political, like, he didn’t think that these reparations would get so serious so fast,” Moore said. “And then this particular election year when Kamala [Harris] was running for president, and you can’t look too progressive in this political environment we’re in.”

The two bills, authored by members of the California Legislative Black Caucus, were pivotal for the reparations task force to carry out its atoning for what supporters said was a legacy of racist policies that drove disparities for Black people, from housing to education to health.

The Democrat-led California legislature passed a spate of other bills aimed at remedying past racial injustices, but none of them would provide direct payments to African Americans.

“I feel like the caucus and even Newsom were supportive of these bills, and there’s evidence of that. The Black Caucus wrote that letter in June wanting to give $6 million to their friends, the Black freedom Fund, which is problematic,” Moore said. “But the letter also said they wanted to give $6 million to the reparations agency, but then at the last minute, in August, they decided to kill the Reparations Agency Fund bill.”

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Gavin Newsom (Anadolu/Contributor/File)

At the time, then-Sen. Steven Bradford, who is now termed out, said the bills didn’t move forward out of fear they wouldn’t make it past Newsom’s desk.

“We’re at the finish line, and we as the Black Caucus owe it to the descendants of chattel slavery, to Black Californians and Black Americans to move this legislation forward,” Bradford said, urging his colleagues to reconsider the bills.

When the bills got pulled, a group of protesters were outraged inside the Sacramento Capitol after being promised the bills would receive time.

State Republican Assemblyman Bill Essayli accused Democrats in a post on X of going “into hiding” and refusing to bring the bills up for a vote when it came time to pass them despite “promising to pay direct cash reparations to Americans who have been harmed by slavery” for years.

Essayli talked to supporters in the Capitol that day and clarified that he did not support California taxpayers paying for the wrongs of slave states but “believed there should be a debate and a recorded vote on the issue.” He then urged the legislature to bring the bills for a floor debate.

“I don’t think you can constitutionally justify cash payments based on race,” Essayli told Fox News Digital in an interview this week. “[President-elect] Trump created opportunity zones, which resulted in direct investments into minority communities, so I think there’s other [ways] we can get resources and investments to those who have been harmed by racist policies and slavery long ago.”

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Members of the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California protest and demand lawmakers take up a vote on two reparations bills, Aug. 31, 2024, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Tran Nguyen)

There are two new reparations bills on the California docket that were introduced during the Dec. 2 special session.

AB 7, introduced by Democrat Assemblymembers Isaac Bryan and Tina McKinnor, proposes allowing California’s higher education institutions, including the California State University, the University of California, independent colleges and private postsecondary institutions, to consider giving admissions preference to applicants who are descendants of American slavery.

AB 57, introduced by McKinnor, seeks to allot a portion of California’s Home Purchase Assistance Program funds for descendants of slaves.

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Newsom has remained silent on most reparations bills introduced this year but approved a nearly $300 billion budget in June, which included up to $12 million for reparations. The budget did not detail which proposals the funds would support, and his administration has expressed opposition to some of the measures.

However, he signed some reparations-related bills, including a “formal apology for California’s historical role in the perpetuation of slavery and its enduring legacy.”

“The State of California accepts responsibility for the role we played in promoting, facilitating, and permitting the institution of slavery, as well as its enduring legacy of persistent racial disparities,” Newsom said in a statement in September. “Building on decades of work, California is now taking another important step forward in recognizing the grave injustices of the past – and making amends for the harms caused.” 

Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Pham loves the school so much that he enrolled in as many classes as he could, from theory to bebop to jazz history. He’s learned from musicians he admires at the school, including Jeff Denson, Gerald Cleaver, and Mimi Fox, one of his favorite guitarists.

Students and alumni say the CJC gave them the chance to build a foundation in jazz, play alongside talented faculty, and grow into the musicians they are today.

The opportunity to earn a degree at a place like the CJC is rare. The institution is the only private music conservatory in the country solely devoted to the study and performance of jazz. The school, which gained accreditation in 2013, is the vision of Susan Muscarella, an educator and pianist who has sought to establish “the Juilliard of jazz on the West Coast.”

But the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns caused a major dip in enrollment, said Nick Phillips, who became president of the California Jazz Conservatory in October of 2023. The high cost of living in the Bay Area also makes it difficult to recruit students to a smaller California school offering only jazz.

Phillips said in 2014, about 70 students were enrolled in CJC’s degree program. By the fall of 2023, that number had dropped to 20 students.

“For a degree program to be sustainable, you need to have students enrolled in it. That’s just the bottom line,” said Phillips.

About one university or college per week on average this year has announced that it will close or merge, according to an April report from the Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.

The CJC announced the end of the degree programs in July, but made the decision to offer it one final semester to give students and faculty enough notice. The school is also helping students transfer credits.

The organization is also turning its attention to the Jazzschool, the CJC’s community education program, where enrollment numbers are rebounding.

“A place where people can explore and learn jazz — that’s what we want to continue,” Phillips said.

The legacy of the jazz program

As the CJC transitions into its next chapter, students and alumni are reflecting on how the degree program shaped their lives as musicians. Ruthie Dineen, a pianist, composer, and the executive director of the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts, was part of the school’s first graduating class.

“I think about the Bay Area music scene as one large band. I feel like I’m still finding my voice, but that was really how I became part of it,” Dineen said.

The CJC made jazz education accessible for students like Dineen. She remembered being awestruck as a kid seeing Berkeley High’s jazz band perform.

“The group was so diverse. I vividly remember that, because as a young girl coming from a family from El Salvador, none of this seemed very accessible,” Dineen said. “My mom was a nurse, my dad was a firefighter. So it’s just a whole other world.”

Around 2009, Susan Muscarella asked Dineen if she would attend the new jazz degree program she was starting up in Berkeley.

The school offered Dineen a scholarship. She enrolled, taking private piano lessons with Susan, who pushed her hard.

“I cared so much about Susan, and I was so grateful to her in particular for providing that education to me,” Dineen said.

Out with a bang

Now the remaining students at the CJC are preparing for their final concerts and next chapters. Phạm, the international student from Vietnam, plans to continue studying in the United States, and wants to be a teacher one day.

His classmate, pianist Abner Robles, is determined to go out with a bang. He’s also an apprentice at Callahan Piano Service, a shop offering piano care, tuning, and rebuilding. He’s living the life of a tradesman, a musician and — for now — a student.

Robles grew up singing in church choir, and discovered jazz during the pandemic after hanging around musicians in Sacramento who loved to improvise.

“Improvising doesn’t have to mean that it’s this crazy advanced thing that only the chosen ones can do. You can boil it down to the simplest thing ever,” Robles said.

He has no regrets about taking the leap to study at the CJC.

“I knew I wanted to be in a Hogwarts of music,” Robles said. “I enjoy this semester more than the other ones because with the professors, all their focus is on us, and they want to build us up. Now is as intense as it gets and as cool as it gets.”

He knows attracting students is a challenge, especially when so many aspiring jazz musicians want to move to New York. But he’s proud he got the chance to study in Berkeley.

“What I have learned up to this point, and people that I’ve met, I wouldn’t trade that for anything,” he said. “I have a lot of love for that school.”

He’s looking at other schools now, like the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. His friends at CJC are doing the same.

Like any good jazz musician, these students know how to improvise.