On 8.31.24 the California Legislature was faced with passing historic bills that could have changed the trajectory of a past crime that still plagues the American foundation. Reparations is a debt owed. Advocates, allies and others who may not share the same sentiment know that slavery was wrong and the United States still benefits off the payment owed to the descendants of those who were enslaved and emancipated in the United States also known as American Freedmen. What happened on this day will go down as a betrayal to the community they serve and the American public as a whole.