For more than 400 years, 12.5 million people in Africa were ripped from their homes and families, chained in pairs, packed into cargo holds at the bottom of ships and trafficked to the Americas.

On the other side of the two-month journey through the middle passage was the horror of chattel slavery.

Today, the continued impacts of that reality are all around us. In America, we see it reflected in every system — from our economy to our health care system.

Last month, the United Nations General Assembly passed a landmark resolution that declares the transatlantic slave trade the "gravest crime against humanity." It also calls for reparations beyond symbolic acknowledgement.

We talk about what the resolution could mean for reparations proposals in California.

Guest:

• Monica Montgomery Steppe, San Diego County Board Supervisor, District 4