SAN FRANCISCO– San Francisco oversight bodies have backed the idea of paying reparations to blacks, but the question of whether members agree to a lump sum payment of $5 million to each eligible person, or any of the more than 100 other recommendations made by the advisory committee, wins. will be known by the end of this year.
The idea of reparations for blacks is not new, but the federal government’s promise to provide 40 acres and a mule to newly freed slaves never came to fruition. It wasn’t until George Floyd, a black man, was killed in police custody in 2020 that the reparations movement began to spread across the country in earnest.
The state of California and the cities of Boston and San Francisco are among the jurisdictions trying to atone not only for chattel slavery, but also for decades of racist policies and laws that systematically denied black Americans access to property, education, and the opportunity to create wealth for generations.
WHAT IS THE ARGUMENT FOR A REFUND IN SAN FRANCISCO?
Black migration to San Francisco skyrocketed in the 1940s due to shipyard work, but restrictive racial agreements and redlining limited where people could live. When black residents were able to build a thriving neighborhood in Fillmore, advocates say, government redevelopment plans in the 1960s displaced residents, dispossessed them, and destroyed black-owned businesses.
Today, less than 6% of San Francisco residents are black, but they make up nearly 40% of the city’s homeless population.
Supporters include the NAACP of San Francisco, although it has stated that the board should reject the $5 million payments and instead focus on reparations through education, jobs, housing, health care, and a black cultural center in San Francisco. The San Francisco chapter president is the Rev. Amos S. Brown, who serves on both the statewide and San Francisco indemnification commissions.
WHAT ARE THE ARGUMENTS AGAINST REFUND?
Critics say that California and San Francisco never approved of chattel slavery, and today there is no one who owns slaves or has been enslaved. Critics say it’s unfair that municipal taxpayers, some of whom are immigrants, bear the cost of structural racism and government discriminatory policies.
The conservative Hoover Institution at Stanford University estimates that every non-black family in San Francisco would cost at least $600,000 in taxes to pay the most expensive of the recommendations: a $5 million per person, guaranteed income from at least $97,000 a year for 250 years, liquidating personal debt, and converting public housing to condominiums to sell for $1.
A 2022 Pew Research Center poll found that 68% of U.S. respondents oppose damages, compared to 30% in favor. Nearly 80% of blacks polled supported reparations. More than 90% of Republicans or Republican supporters opposed the reparations, while Democrats and Democratic supporters were divided.
HOW WILL SAN FRANCISCO PAY FOR THIS?
Dont clear. The advisory committee that made the recommendations says it’s not up to them to figure out how to fund the redemption and renovation of San Francisco.
It will depend on local politicians, two of whom on Tuesday expressed interest in bringing the issue to the voters. San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey said he would back a vote to enshrine reparations in San Francisco’s charter as part of the budget. Shamann Walton, Head of Compensation, supports the idea.
WHAT ARE OTHER REFUND RECOMMENDATIONS?
Educational recommendations include the creation of an Afrocentric K-12 school in San Francisco; hiring and retaining black teachers; introduction of a core curriculum on black history and culture; and offering cash to at-risk students for achieving educational milestones.
Health recommendations include free mental health, prenatal care, and rehab treatment for impoverished black San Francisco residents, victims of violent crime, and ex-convicts.
The advisory committee also recommends prioritizing black San Franciscans in terms of employment and training opportunities, and looking for ways to grow black businesses.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT?
There is no deadline for oversight bodies to agree on how to proceed. The board then plans to discuss the reparation proposals in September, after the San Francisco Advisory Committee on African American Redress releases its final report in June.
WHAT ABOUT REFUND FROM THE STATE?
In 2020, California became the first state to form an indemnity task force. But after nearly two years on the job, he has yet to make key decisions about who will be eligible for payment and how much. The task force has a July 1 deadline to submit a final report on its recommendations for redress, which will then be incorporated into law for lawmakers to consider.
The Task Force met several times to discuss the timing and calculation of repayments for five types of harm done to blacks, including state forfeiture of property, housing discrimination, homelessness, and mass incarceration. The task force is also discussing residency requirements in the state.
Previously, a state committee voted to limit financial reparations to people descended from enslaved or freed blacks in the US in the 19th century.
