How Africa News
According to reports, San Francisco is now one of the few US communities seriously considering reparations for its Black residents.
According to TMZ, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, comprised of 11 members, heard a proposal this week put forth by a reparations committee formed a few years ago at the City’s request, in the aftermath of the George Floyd rallies across the country.
Some of the ideas being discussed about how to make things right with the African-American community include allocating $5 million to each eligible Black resident.
Among the requirements include being at least 18 years old and identifying as Black/African-American in public papers for at least 10 years.
The draft reparations plan includes additional benefits that people could get. In addition to the one-time $5 million award, the group suggested a guaranteed basic income of $97,000 each year for the next 250 years.
They’d also have all of their debts and tax obligations erased, and they could even be able to buy a single-family San Francisco home for a penny. It appears that each family would be permitted to purchase only one, however this is not quite apparent.
On how this can be paid for, the reparations committee didn’t have any answers. They place that burden on the supervisors themselves. The BOS, in turn, actually supported the proposal unanimously and said they will 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.
Not everyone agrees with the terms laid out by the committee which is made up Black leaders/community members in and around San Francisco. 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 committee will submit a final report in June, and the Board will convene on this again in September.
