Donald Tamaki initially hesitated when asked to join California’s Reparations Task Force, questioning his role as someone who is not Black and has no lineage to enslaved African Americans. However, Tamaki, a San Francisco-based lawyer whose family endured Japanese American internment during WWII, ultimately accepted. “I don’t have the lived experience to be Black, but we do know something about racial profiling,” he reflects. His perspective stems from both his family’s history and his own experience growing up in 1960s Oakland amidst Black Consciousness movements advocating for fair housing and workplace equality.
Tamaki sees parallels between the struggles of Black Americans and Japanese Americans, though he acknowledges the differences. “There’s no equivalence between 400 years of oppression and four years in a concentration camp,” he explains, but adds, “the histories do intersect.” He notes how the racial prejudices faced by Japanese Americans were part of a broader “racial pathology” predating their arrival in the U.S.
California’s Reparations Task Force, the first of its kind in the nation, explores reparations for Black descendants of enslaved people. Its nine members, primarily Black leaders, appointed Tamaki for his legal expertise and history of championing civil rights. In the 1980s, Tamaki helped overturn Korematsu v. United States, securing reparations for Japanese internment survivors.
The task force has conducted 27 hearings since 2021, guided by an international framework addressing restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction, and guarantees of non-repetition. In 2023, they issued a 1,100-page report outlining historical harms to Black Californians and recommending solutions such as wage increases and climate resilience measures. However, Tamaki acknowledges that defining reparations remains contentious. “The report, in and of itself, was a compromise,” he says, adding, “What we did say is, ‘Legislature, here’s 115 recommendations. Legislate and come up with an approach spanning years.’”
For Tamaki, public education about reparations is essential. Addressing common criticisms, he emphasizes, “It’s a matter of justice for people who have suffered historical wrongs.” He remains committed, stating, “The last two years won’t mean anything unless the next two years and the years to follow mean something.”
Link: St. L American
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