>> building a better bay area. moving forward. finding solutions. this is abc7 news. ♪ >> hello, everybody. you are watching "getting answers." live on abc 7 come on facebook as well. what we do is we asked experts your questions every day at 3:00 to get you answers in real-time. a jampacked show fortoday we are debate over reparations for african americans in california. the state's first of its kind task force has decided who would be eligible to receive compensation. we are talking to a member of that group about the decision and what comes next. also we are honoring labor and civil rights activists says her chavez. we are talking about his lasting legacy.

today is transgender day of visibility. which celebrates the lives of trans people. at the dado raise awareness, -- it is a day to raise awareness, address discrimination about this community, and talk about their contributions. president biden tweeted the message to americans of all ages, i want you to know that you are so brave, you belong. i have your back. here's a clip of the video he posted to go with it. >> our entire administration sees you for who you are. made in the image of god and deserving of dignity, respect and support, but we know it's hard, when there are those out there who don't see you and don't respective. for example -- don't respect you. for example, the onslaught of laws attacking you and your families is simply wrong. >> such a clear message, that to be seen and to be heard is so important in america today. with that, i want to bring in powell crago, the acting executive director of the office of transgender initiatives for

san francisco. thank you for joining us. >> thank you so much for having me. >> right away, what were your thoughts on biden's remarks today? did we hear this kind of messaging with the previous administration? >> definitely not, i can say that. i do think it is so major to have the president of the united states addressing trans communities, physically telling us that we are valid, that we deserve respect, we deserve protection. that relate transgender equity is a priority in this administration. it's amazing. >> we will talk about those measures in a second. before we get to that, what was it like for you hearing those words coming from the president? i even got chills hearing it. >> yeah, absolutely. especially in the context of anti-trans gender legislation right now, throughout the country, throughout the world, we know that in a lot of countries being transgender is

illegal, it is punishable by law. and so, you know, as an immigrant myself to the u.s., it definitely is very inspiring to have kind of the highest office of the u.s. really validate that trans people are who we are, that we deserve recognition, to be seen, and to be respected. so it definitely brings me chills as well. larry: where did you emigrate from, by the way? >> i'm originally from spain pay would have been in the u.s. for about 15 years. i moved to san francisco specifically because i knew and i felt that being trans in spain was not going to be an option in the same way that it was here, so i really wanted to have the opportunity to be out as trans and to work from a community -- do work for my community. i'm honored to have a chance to do that with the office of trans initiatives. >> i appreciate the work that you do for our community.

i did not know that about spain and europe, i assumed that you see sometimes lgbtq parades, things like that, that they were as advanced with their transgender issues, but it tends like not really. >> yeah, there's a lot of work everywhere. i won't say that there is at work to do in san francisco, because there is. but i also think it's one of the best places to be if you're a trans person. >> let's talk about that work. president bennett touched on mental health care, improving data, among other things. can you give me an idea of what you would like to see happen, not only on a national scale, but also here in the bay area? >> yeah, i mean, i think president biden touched on really important points. because first of all, we know that trans communities experience really intense inequities, in all aspects of life, health, economic development, education,

employment, etc. kind of the first step and one of the biggest barriers for trans people has been that data doesn't always reflect that. we know as trans people that we experience all these barriers. but data doesn't always ask about trans identities and therefore doesn't reflect the depth of those inequities. so i think really improving data collection is a key piece. but also using that data for action. and i think in san francisco, we have made great strides in the last few years. and historically is one of the places where trans history is kind of strong, and has been well and alive. and i think we really do need to do better in terms of addressing economic inequities. addressing trans people

experiencing homelessness. addressing the issues that generally affect a lot of black, indigenous, and other people of color. >> it is having those discussions that opens a door to compassion and understanding -- that's what i've always said for minorities. same thing applies for the trans community. speaking of the bay area, we are very proud, because oakland's own amy schneider made a historic run on jeopardy, she spoke about her own concerns as a trans woman, given the nj -- anti-lgbtq bills happening in various states. let's listen to what she said earlier. >> it is really scary. some of them in particular are denying medical services to trans youth. those are life-saving medical treatments. and these bills will cause the deaths of children. and that's really sad to me and really frightening. >> on twitter, amy was so

excited, she and her partner had gone down to the white house -- he saw her getting ready behind the scenes. this really was historic. what are your thoughts on amy's sentiments? they seem to be shared by many in the community. >> absolutely. i think amy is totally on point. in the sense that these bills and these legislations have really dire consequences. right? i feel like to some extent, the legislations saying that trans youth should be protected from their supportive parents at schools are to some extent saying that they would rather have trans people not exist or even have us be dead than have us become thriving adults, because we know that when trans people have the support of their families and their schools and their surroundings, we build

the resiliency to survive in a world that can be really harsh for us. by just really stumping that from the beginning, it has really dire consequences and we know that trans youth in particular are extremely vulnerable to mental health issues and suicidality. >> shout out to everybody watching on facebook, we are getting some comments -- supportive once, too. philip moya says, breaking bread with siblings, they are transgender, i still love them, i know we have a couple of minutes, powell, but your office is hosting an event tonight to celebrate today. tell us what's going on. >> trans day her visibility as a you today for the community nationally and globally, some organizations are putting together this event this evening -- it will include

performances, a lot of fun, liquid like to do it in trans communities. it really is a day for celebration for us to come together and build that resiliency in order to them go out into the world and face what sometimes can be really challenging -- then to go out into the world and face what sometimes can be really challenging. >> we will put information on our facebook link as well. her-- heather says, i came out in 2013, my life growing up was rough, i have experience homelessness and poverty, hoping to purchase a home in august, i am doing well know, we need more protections for lgbtq people -- i think that is so brave for this person to come out and say that in such a public way. i like to think that perhaps you being here has encouraged people to speak out as well. so much appreciation to you and the work you are doing. >> thank you. >> coming up next -- we are talking to a member of california's task force on reparations about the decisions it made this week about who

would actually be eligible to receive those

okay care coalition, alaska airlines is still frontrunner for most caring airline. funshine bear, you did some of your own research, right? i sure did. ♪ according to the web, their program's number one, ♪ ♪ earning alaska miles is quicker and more fun! ♪ cute! ooh, that was wonderful, sweetie! oh, oh, oh, i have a song about their cheese plates. ♪ cheese please! cheese please! cheese please! cheese please! ♪ uh- it's time for lunch. aw... ♪ ♪

with us. it's been a big week for california's first on the nation task force on reparations. on tuesday, the group debated and voted on who exactly should be eligible to receive that compensation. after hours and hours of discussion, the task force voted to base reparations on lineage. joining me not to break down what all of this means is one of the members of that task force, dr. jovan scott lewis. thank you for being here spending some time. >> thank you for having me. >> i would like for you to set the record straight on exactly what this outcome of the

vote means. what does that mean to base reparations on lineage? what was the other option on the table? >> sure, happy to explain that. i introduced a motion that passed ultimately which was that we agreed to basically a community of eligibility -- on those who can establish their descendancy, from individuals enslaved in the u.s. or who descended from free black people who lived in a country prior to the end of the 19th century. the other option is what we can consider a largely race-based framework. which was something that can be easily understood as, whatever counts as being black, according to the u.s. census. the reason why i advocated for a lineage based model is that the state of california, while not working towards a program of reparations for slavery, and it's important that i make that clear, the task force is not

advocating for reparations for slavery -- that is a federal project. the issue is that the injuries of slavery, the harms of slavery were reproduced through state policies, so the community of eligibility are african-americans who would be seen as existing in the country at the time when many of these federal policies were developed, and then were enacted locally at the state level. so we wanted to determine a community of eligibility based on lineage for that reason -- to recognize the historical kind of tragedies and consequences of this particular community. but it's also very important to understand that both at the federal and state level, it is really challenging to introduce legislation that focuses on race as the primary basis of the termination of a claim. so these are the two reasons really why we advocated for and ultimately passed a lineage based model. >> i want to ask you, because

this was a very close vote. 5-4. this is a topic obviously that's been up for discussion. it's been moving for several months. can you talk to us about the evolution of the debate? there are so many people on both sides of the discussion. >> sure. so, there is an idea that the motion i introduced and ultimately passed would effectively leave out individuals who consider themselves like -- and on the basis of being black -- themselves black and on the basis of black, we are talking about police violence, we are talking about other forms of discrimination in in areas like housing, etc. it was quite reasonable to think that a lineage based model only what in fact leaf out a significant portion of the black residents in the state of california. however, the idea is that we have to really attend to and

give recognition to the foundational injuries. and the communities that faced these injuries in the history of this country. what we are talking about is up until the 1940's, the state of california and the country as a whole only then began to see an increasing arrival of black, non-american immigrants to the country. so therefore, the idea is that we have to be able to aggregate what it means to be black in this country, because the histories are very varied. how we evolved was really a very challenging process. because what we were effectively debating was, what does it mean to be black in the state of california? i think that really was at the heart of a lot of the consternation and challenge of the day. >> not to mention, it is a complicated question to answer. when things are complicated,

people are not always want to see i die. and others been -- see eye to eye. and others have been contentious about the issue. the issue of lineage, how on earth can someone trace their lineage? that's the first thing that comes to mind, when ancestry -- one ancestry type website. who is paying for this? it sounds like it will be time-consuming. >> if it is time consuming, that is a matter of opinion. we have software, we have records, we have the ability to trace these things on a personal level. this is one of the reasons why i introduced the second part of the motion. which was that someone would also have to be able to trace their ancestry to someone, a black person who was in the country, prior to the end of the 19th century. we are talking about someone finding their great-grandparents. so, in having this as an option, meaning to be able to trace

yourself back to somebody that was enslaved might be challenging, but when talking about the 1890's, talking about the year 1900 specifically, that becomes quite easy. as far as, how do we pay for a mass subscription to some kind of genealogical service? that is something that we will have to talk about. the idea however is that we needed to first determine the community of eligibility. we are talking about, who are we recognizing as the injured party? i don't think we need to go into concerning ourselves with the kind of minute details of how we can establish the kind of process for determination. that would be the job, to determine those processes. however, we wanted to begin with a genuine recognition of the community that we believe to be harmed. >> we only have about a minute left -- i know that junem

2023 is when you have to come up with that reparations proposal, so people need to be patient here. are you on track to hit that next goal? >> absolutely. so up until this month, what we have been doing is we have been effectively creating a record of the various injuries that the state of california has been privy to when it concerns the impacts and determinations of african-americans in the state. the vote of eligibility is the first major milestone, then determining what reparations proposal will be. the life of the task force will be closely looking at the issues of reparations. how we identify compensation. how are we thinking about apology and atonement? what are the various practices and policies around redress, that we believe this community deserves? we are getting started on the actual reparations process. yesterday's vote -- this meeting's vote was simply about determining the eligible community. >> i see, so the first of many

further steps to come. thank you so much for your time. we really appreciate it. >> thank you for having me. >> coming up next -- stay with us, we are honoring sizer chavez -- ces

>> welcome back. it is cesar chavez day here in california. a state holiday to honor the life and legacy of the civil rights and american labor leader. chavez founded the first successful farm workers union in american history. joining us now to talk about the importance of this day is the president of the farmworkers of america, teresa romero. thanks for being with us. >> thank you for having me. >> this is such an important day. i would love for you to talk about cesar chavez's work and his lasting impact. his work affects all of us,

because the work that is done in the farms, we feel it on a daily basis. >> yes, that is true. this year, we are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the united farmworkers union -- cesar chavez started the union 60 years ago. it is hard to believe. we ensure farmworkers are treated with respect and they have a way of making a living to support their family, like all of us. unfortunately, it's been very difficult for farm workers. [indiscernible] -- it was something that we have to fight even harder. so, we are honoring cesar chavez today, the day of his b irth.

-- the day of his worth. we are here, continuing to work he started 60 years ago. >> i always say people are compelled to do work and advocacy because there's a personal connection. do you have a personal story as to why this is a cause that you want to honor, and why you want to share his story? >> you know, i never work in the fields -- worked in the fields, but i am an immigrant. and i understand the struggles they go through, just by being in this country away from the family come away from the people that they love -- i know how important that is. and that is why i talk to them constantly. i see them in the field. we have meetings, and i hear their stories and their struggles. they learn how difficult farmworkers.

because they do it. we learn how difficult farmworkers, because we talk to them, we listen to them. we understand that unfortunately, things -- the fight continues, in order for them to accomplish things, to have the benefits that most other workers have. >> i know we are short on time, but i really want to get to this question -- let's pull up a tweet from your organization to illustrate this next question. ufw's holding big events across california today to urge the governor to sign the agricultural labor relations voting choice act. can you tell me about that? why it is important? we see a tremendous amount of support out there. >> yes, we introduced the bill nastier to make it easier and more accessible -- bill nastier

to make it easier and more acceptable. -- the bill last year to make it easier and more acceptable. we have options, and right now farmworkers are only able to vote for union representation in person. on the premises of the employer for the most part. >> i see. >> last year, we introduced a bill, now we introduced the bill again, we have 50 co-authors, and we are making sure that the governor listens to how important this is for farmworkers. >> that's like voting accessibility and how when you reduce the barriers to it, and encourages more people to come out and make their voices heard. i do want to give a shout out once again to philip, our super viewer today on facebook. he says, thanks to cesar chavez, we have bathrooms, shade, water.

when i picked, we had neither. he gives me chills to hear that, because the working conditions of not having those basic rights must be so tremendously hard. >> we are talking about basic needs. when you are on the fields, 10-12 hours a day, there is is no access to bathrooms -- >> we want to take a commercial break, but stay with us. we will finish

care coalition, it's so good to see you all!

alright! let's brainstorm. any ideas for new members? i'd like to nominate alaska airlines. this neck pillow i'm dating says great things! a caring airline?! wait, those exist?! it says here they were the first airline to switch from plastic bottles to boxed water. they also hire a lot of people from caring professions. i'm seeing former teachers and nurses. it's settled! alaska airlines is officially in the running! round of applause! >> so much appreciation for all of you joining us on this interactive show, "getting answers." we will be here everyday at 3:00 on air and on livestream, answering your questions. "world news tonight"

is coming up next. i hope you will join us for abc 7 news later today at 4:00. breaking news as we come on the air. tornado watches and severe storms from florida to new york. sirens blaring in the south with at least 35 reported tornadoes in ten states. a deadly tornado touching down in florida. at least two people killed. widespread damage reported across the south. homes destroyed. and dangerous thunderstorms tonight from d.c. to philadelphia to new york city. winds gusting up to 70 miles per hour. at least 50 million people in the storm zone. ginger zee tracking it all. gas prices at a 40-year high. president biden under pressure to slow inflation and lower energy costs. the president announcing he's tapping into the nation's strategic oil reserve with the largest ever release. up to 180 million barrels over