Gavin Newsom Signs Bill to Make Companies Operating Before 1965 to Search Records for Ties to Slavery

TRANSCRIPT:

NEWSOM: "Before we get into my episode with Bryan Stevenson, the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, some news reflecting on our conversation. He got me thinking a lot about a lot of issues, and I think he’ll get you thinking as well. I have a bill in front of me, privileged to have this opportunity, a bill in front of me that I’m signing, quite literally, right now.  This is a bill that requires large companies that operated before 1965 to search their records for ties to slavery going back to 1849. And then we make it public. These are insurance policies on enslaved people, human beings used as collateral, quite literally as collateral for loans. Accountability, as Bryan said, starts with the truth. And that’s what the two of us get into, what repair actually looks like."