TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Florida state senator from the Tampa Bay area wants to preemptively ban Florida from paying reparations to Black communities and the descendants of slaves.
Earlier this week, Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, proposed an amendment to the state constitution via a joint resolution submitted to the Senate, "to prohibit the state, a county, a municipality, or any other political subdivision from paying reparations to certain individuals."
The resolution goes further, specifically barring any government official from "paying compensation in the form of reparations to an individual who is a descendant of an enslaved individual who lived in the United States before December 6, 1865," referring to the day the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which formally ended slavery in every state, was ratified.
The proposal, which will be considered during the 2024 Florida legislative session as a possible ballot initiative for 2024, appears to be at least partly a reaction to California and its Black reparations task force which reported the state's role in perpetuating racial discrimination and offered possible forms of atonement earlier this year.
The difference between the two states is historic: While California was deemed complicit in systemic racism and racist actions like police brutality, mass incarceration, and discriminatory practices in housing, income and transportation, it was not a state that allowed slavery. During the Civil War, California supported the Union and drove Confederate troops out of the neighboring states of New Mexico and Arizona.
Florida, however, was a former Confederate state. It allowed slavery before the Civil War. State lawmakers also plan to consider a bill called the “Historical Monuments and Memorials Protection Act,” which would make the “public display of a specified statue,” mandatory. The bill specifically calls for the inclusion of statues honoring Confederates and Confederate generals.
10 Tampa Bay reached out to Ingoglia for comment but has not yet heard back.
