California’s Reparations Committee Wants State To Apologize For Ronald Reagan Coining ‘Welfare Queens.’ Except, He Didn’t.

California’s committee on reparations for the descendants of slaves wants the state to apologize for the term “welfare queens.”

Part of the committee’s proposal for a reparations package to California residents who descended from American slaves is for the state to issue a formal apology. Besides slavery, the proposal highlights a large number of policies and societal outcomes that negatively affected black people. Among them is then-Governor Ronald Reagan coining the term “welfare queens.”

“As California Governor (1967-1975), Ronald Reagan coined the term ‘welfare queen’ as racist coding to promote his philosophy preferring a limited government,” the committee wrote. “This terminology conjures stereotypes of single Black women as hypersexualized, aggressive, and dependent on government income with frivolous spending habits. Despite that the majority of welfare recipients are

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