Plans to provide black San Francisco residents with a $5 million lump sum and $1 worth of homes as reparations drew vocal support at a public hearing by the board of directors Tuesday — despite the uncalculated plan likely to be will sink the struggling city, where a deficit of $728 million is already forecast for the next two fiscal years.
Black residents are eligible if they meet two of eight criteria – including being incarcerated or descended from someone incarcerated on drug charges, or being price evicted from a neighborhood.
Tuesday’s hearing was the first since the controversial plan began, and it saw enthusiastic San Franciscans line up to take the microphone and address the board – with several chanting their support. One sang a verse from Sam Cooke’s 1964 civil rights anthem, A Change is Gonna Come.
Sgt. Yulanda Williams, the president of the Police Association Officers for Justice, told them: “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.’
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.
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
Sgt. 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 with us: make us whole.
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.
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
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.
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.
Activists demanding reparations held a rally ahead of the 3pm board meeting on Tuesday where the public could share their views
“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?’
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
Eric McDonnell, Chair of the African American Reparations Advisory Committee (AARAC)
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.
San Franciscans lined up Tuesday to share their views on the proposal – all in support
Participants had been encouraged to voice their views by AARAC, which held a rally ahead of the hearing
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.”