A former Black Lives Matter activist who lived in the Bay Area has called San Francisco’s reparations proposal “unrealistic” and “disgusting” and described it as a means to “indoctrinate people with a victim mentality.”
The San Francisco board of directors held its first public hearing on Tuesday night on a plan that included proposals such as a $5 million lump sum for each eligible black person; a $1 house; and a guaranteed income of $97,000 per year for 250 years.
Hillary Ronen, a board member, said at the hearing: “You have my 100 percent support and commitment to frankly implementing all 111 of those recommendations. They are all justified.’
However, critics have called it financially impossible, noting that it would cost an estimated $600,000 per household for the lump sum payment alone, according to an analysis by the Hoover Institute, and questioned why it was debated without regard to how it would be paid for .
“That’s never really going to happen,” said Xaviaer DuRousseau, a conservative activist who used to support the BLM.
“It’s so unrealistic to think that the average family in San Francisco can pay an extra $600,000 a piece.”
DuRousseau said he felt the reparations plan was designed to “indoctrinate people with a victim mentality.”
Hillary Ronen, one of the 11 members of the Board of Supervisors, said she supports all 111 recommendations on the African American Reparations Advisory Committee (AARAC) plan.
DuRousseau, who was born in Chicago but moved to California at age 19 and lived in the Bay Area, told Fox News host Laura Ingraham he was “disgusted” that homeless people were on the streets in large numbers during the city discussed distributing $1 houses.
The city would also pay any Home Owners Association fees or taxes associated with the property, the plan recommended.
“When people look at this list of things they recommend, the most disturbing thing for most is the $5 million going to every black person,” DuRousseau said.
“But for me, as an American, I look at the list and I see that they want to sell houses to black Americans for $1.
“As an American and someone who used to live in the San Francisco Bay Area, I find it disgusting that we focus more on slavery that ended in 1865 than on the veterans who are homeless and on the streets of San Francisco 2023 begging for spare change.
“That’s where they need to start sending their money.”
DuRousseau said he saw the campaign as part of an attempt to “indoctrinate” black Americans into addiction.
“These are 111 ways to get black Americans to believe that we must depend on a system of handouts to be successful,” said DuRousseau, who previously spoke about being raised a Democrat and then “that to see light”.
Hillary Ronen was among the board members who commended the recovery plan
Ronen said she thought the reparations proposals were “justified”.
He now works as a commentator for PragerU, an advocacy group that creates videos and content to represent a conservative point of view.
“Black Americans have been indoctrinated with these lies for too long, and I fell for the lies until I delved deep into the videos on PragerU.com and realized how easily these fraudulent narratives of systemic racism can actually be debunked.”
He concluded that it was a “virtue signal” from “white liberals”.
“People are taking full advantage of that, they’re selling their books, they’re selling their own oppression to black people because it’s profitable to indoctrinate people with a victim mentality,” he said.
Reparations are being considered in various Democratic cities across America as a means of compensating the descendants of enslaved African Americans.
Many say they are owed not only for the time their ancestors were enslaved but also for generations afterward because African Americans were imprisoned disproportionately more often than white Americans.
The proposals, presented Tuesday night in San Francisco, are among the most generous yet heard.
Those who spoke up for her last night did so with all their hearts.
Activists are seen Tuesday expressing their support for the reparations plan
Shamann Walton, who originally proposed the idea of redress, is the only black person on the 11-member board
One sang a verse from Sam Cooke’s 1964 civil rights anthem, A Change is Gonna Come.
The Board of Directors, having heard the proposals, may vote to accept some or all of the recommendations.
Of the 11 people on the board, one — CEO Shamann Walton — is African American.
Who is Eligible for Compensation under the AARC Plan?
You must be:
1) A person who has identified themselves as “Black/African American” in public documents for at least 10 years
2) 18 years or older
You must also meet and be able to demonstrate two of these eight criteria:
** Born in San Francisco between 1940 and 1996 with documented residency in San Francisco for at least 13 years
** Immigrated to San Francisco between 1940 and 1996 and documented residency in San Francisco for at least 13 years
** Personal or the direct descendant of someone imprisoned by the failed War on Drugs
** Records of attendance at San Francisco public schools during the time of the Consent Decree fully desegregating the school system
** Descendant of a person enslaved by US slavery before 1865
** Displaced from San Francisco by Urban Renewal between 1954 and 1973, or direct descendant of displaced person
** Listed or direct descendant of a preference certificate holder
**Member of a historically marginalized group who experienced loan discrimination in San Francisco between 1937 and 1968 or subsequently suffered loan discrimination in formerly segregated San Francisco communities between 1968 and 2008
The board will not decide whether or not to accept the recommendations until later this year, when the committee that drafted the plan has submitted a final report.
Another meeting is planned for September.
However, the board signaled its enthusiasm for the project.
“If you look at the (draft) report, you’ll see so many examples of black people being wronged here in San Francisco, and all of that can really be traced back to the negative effects of slavery,” Walton said.
Sergeant Yulanda Williams, the president of the Police Association Officers for Justice, told the board: “My father always taught me never to beg. And I’m not begging you today.
“It’s time you did the right thing and made amends: make us whole.”
Tinisch Hollins, vice chair of the African American Reparations Advisory Committee, alluded to those comments, and several people who lined up to speak reminded the board that they were watching closely what supervisors did next.
“I don’t need to impress you that we are setting a national precedent here in San Francisco.
“What we’re asking for and what we’re asking for is a genuine commitment to what it takes to move things forward,” she said.
Encouraged by the San Francisco African American Reparations Advisory Committee (AARAC), which offered a free lunch to all attendees, the mostly black crowd shared how racist policies impacted their ancestors and their own lives.
The AARC, a 15-member panel, convened in December 2020 amid a soul-searching following George Floyd’s death and was given two years to come up with proposals for redress.
Their 60-page draft plan was released in December 2022.
The 100 recommendations included payments of $5 million to every eligible Black adult, elimination of personal debt and tax burdens, guaranteed annual incomes of at least $97,000 for 250 years, and homes in San Francisco for just $1 per family.
To be eligible, an individual must be over the age of 18 and “have identified themselves as Black/African American on public documents for at least 10 years.”
They must also meet two of eight criteria — including being born or immigrated to San Francisco between 1940 and 1996 and having 13-year proof of residency; or to be able to prove descent from someone who was enslaved before 1865.
Other criteria include “personal or direct descendant of someone imprisoned by the failed War on Drugs,” or proof of being “evicted from San Francisco through Urban Renewal between 1954 and 1973, or direct descendant of someone who was evicted.”
A final plan will be unveiled in June and then possibly voted on. AARC disbands in January 2024.
On Tuesday, board members – some of whom had expressed skepticism in the weeks leading up to the meeting – unanimously backed the plan.
The requirements for black San Francisco residents to be eligible for the payments. You must hit two out of eight
Some said they were shocked by critics who said it was financially ruinous.
“Those of my constituents who have lost their minds at this proposal, it’s not something we do or would do for other people.
“It’s something we would do for our future, for everyone’s collective future,” said Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, whose district includes the heavily LGBTQ Castro neighborhood.
Supervisor Myrna Melgar said before the hearing that she believed the Reparations Committee “did exactly what we asked them to do.”
“This report is good. I’m ready to accept it,” she told the San Francisco Chronicle.
“That doesn’t mean we’re approving the $5 million for each person.
“But I think it’s important that we recognize that as a city we haven’t done the right thing with some of our citizens.”
Even supporters of the plan, like Melgar, admit they haven’t worked out how to fund it – but insist that doesn’t make it unreasonable.
“I resist people who think this is too much or ridiculous,” Melgar said.
“It’s all well documented in history. We know that people have been systematically excluded from educational opportunities, homeownership opportunities and everything else. How much is it? How can we quantify that?’
The Board of Directors who decides to accept some or all of the redress
Supervisor Shamann Walton, center left, speaks during a special hearing by the Board of Supervisors on reparations in San Francisco on Tuesday. Walton first proposed the plan in February 2020, and Tuesday saw the first public hearing to discuss a reparations proposal presented in December
Activists demanding reparations held a rally ahead of the 3pm board meeting on Tuesday where the public could share their views
Aaron Peskin, the chairman of the board of supervisors, previously said the $5 million idea was unfeasible.
“San Francisco doesn’t have the financial resources to get into the reparations business, even though we thought it was a good policy,” he said.
“But that shouldn’t cut off a conversation about how this society and its government should address past ills.”
He told the newspaper he doesn’t think lump-sum compensation payments are feasible, but thinks some of the other ideas are interesting.
“That’s the bigger, more difficult conversation, and I think we’d be doing a disservice if we got bogged down in the politics of a one-time reparation payment,” he said.
At least two of Peskin’s colleagues, supervisors Joel Engardio and Hillary Ronen, have previously expressed similar views, telling The Chronicle that they thought the city probably couldn’t afford $5 million in individual reparations.
Aaron Peskin, chairman of the board of supervisors, has said he thinks the $5 million per person lump sum is impossible – but he’s open to some of the other 100 recommendations
On Tuesday, AARAC Vice Chair Tinisch Hollins alluded to those comments.
“I don’t need to impress you that we’re setting a national precedent here in San Francisco,” Hollins said.
“What we ask for and demand is a genuine commitment to what we need to move things forward.”
The idea of paying compensation for slavery has gained traction in cities and universities.
In 2020, California became the first state to form a redress task force and is still struggling to put a price on the debt.
The idea was not taken up at the federal level.
In San Francisco, black residents once made up more than 13 percent of the city’s population, but more than 50 years later, they make up less than 6 percent of the city’s residents — and 38 percent of the homeless.
The Fillmore District once thrived with nightclubs and black-owned shops until government redevelopment forced residents into it in the 1960s. A man wore a Fillmore T-shirt Tuesday.
Critics of the plan say the payouts don’t make sense in a state and city that never enslaved blacks, and taxpayers who never owned slaves shouldn’t have to pay money to people who didn’t enslave them.
Proponents say this view ignores a wealth of data and historical evidence showing that long after US slavery officially ended in 1865, government policy and practice worked toward incarcerating blacks at higher rates, giving them access to Denying home and business loans and restricting their job and job opportunities live.
San Francisco Republican Party leader John Dennis said he doesn’t support reparations and called the city’s current talk “completely frivolous.”
The $5 million lump sum payment “seems ridiculous,” he said.
He added: “It also appears that this is the only city where it could possibly happen.”