San Francisco is one of the few cities that appears to be seriously considering reparations for its Black residents — and there are some hard figures on the table … from $1 to millions.
SF’s Board of Supervisors — consisting of 11 members — heard a proposal this past week that was put forth by a reparations committee — which formed a few years back, at the behest of the City, in the wake of the George Floyd protests across the country.
San Francisco could become the first major U.S. city to fund reparations.
City supervisors are taking up a draft reparations proposal that includes a $5 million lump-sum payment for each eligible Black person. https://t.co/6thsdfQb8H pic.twitter.com/hKk6Estke2
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 14, 2023
@AP
On Tuesday, those folks shared their suggestions on how to make things right with the African-American community … and they landed on $5 million per eligible Black resident. There’s certain criteria they have in mind … including being at least 18 years old and having identified as Black/African-American in public documents for at least 10 years, among others.
There’s more that folks could receive under the draft reparations plan. In addition to the one-time $5M payout, the committee recommended a guaranteed basic income thereafter … in the amount of $97,000/year, for 250 years.
Plus, they’d have all their debts and tax burdens wiped clean, no questions asked. And finally … single-family SF homes for just a buck. It seems each family would be allowed to buy just one, although it’s not entirely clear.
In terms of paying for all of this … the reparations committee didn’t have any answers, instead putting that burden on the supervisors themselves. The BOS, in turn, actually supported the proposal unanimously — and said they could figure out funding later.
The Board’s only Black supervisor, Shamann Walton, has been leading the charge on this … and says he wants the reparations package to be included in future City budgets.
BTW, not everyone agrees with the terms laid out by the committee — which is made up Black leaders/community members in and around SF. One opponent is actually the NAACP — which, while supporting the idea of reparations, is not on board with the $5M cash payouts … instead calling for the focus of investment to be in institutions, like schools/housing, etc.
The NAACP does NOT represent the views and values of the 40 million Foundational Black Americans who are qualified for cash payment reparations pic.twitter.com/6PQAtyDJyG
— Tariq Nasheed 🇺🇸 (@tariqnasheed) March 15, 2023
@tariqnasheed
Of course, actually getting this passed would be a mountain of a task … and while there’s some movement, it could be a while before any of this is actually realized. The committee will submit a final report in June, and the Board will convene on this again in September.
