[MissEdie]

Ummm correct me if I’m wrong, but California wasn’t a slave state was it? Did they allow slavery???

[Verginius Rufus]

California was admitted as a free state in 1850 (it skipped the normal territorial stage because the population grew so quickly with the gold rush). So under American rule it never had legal slavery.

The Spanish probably had some slaves there when they were in control, and maybe some of the Indian tribes practiced slavery (I don't know one way or the other). So maybe reparations need to be paid by Hispanic Californians only.

James B. Utt was a conservative Congressman from Orange County and a member of the John Birch Society. His ancestor arrived in California with a slave--who immediately became free when they got to California. I guess the ancestor had not read the fine print about California.