San Francisco is considering giving qualifying African-American citizens millions of dollars in reparations. The programs continue to be a popular idea across the U.S. but San Francisco’s proposal is one of the most dramatic in the country.
In a unanimous vote last week, the city’s leadership accepted the draft plan. Eligible Black residents would receive a one-time $5 million payment, a complete clearing of personal debt, the ability to purchase home within city limits for $1, plus an annual income of $97,000.
This is about hundreds of years of free labor, about being removed from our homes, not allowed to be educated, not allowed to earn a wage, not allowed to reproduce and raise families, pushed out of San Francisco,” said resident Naj Daniels.
The plan has a long path ahead before anyone sees a check. Some estimate that it will cost to the city more than $100 billion.
“When people ask ‘why are you talking against the woke-craziness?’ Because it’s crazy. Is it not crazy?” tv host Bill Maher questioned.
The idea is stirring up controversy. Even Andrew Yang, who ran for president promoting universal income with a plan called the "Freedom Dividend," which proposed to give every American adult $1000 per month, is critical of the idea.
Even I didn’t go this far,” Yang said during a panel discussion on Maher's show Friday.
The San Francisco chapter of the NAACP also rejected the proposal. They argue that reparations should be disbursed via investments and opportunities for the Black community, not direct cash payments.
"We strongly believe that creating and funding programs that can improve the lives of those who have been impacted by racism and discrimination is the best path forward toward equality and justice," San Francisco NAACP President Amos Brown said in a statement.
Pushes for reparations were reignited after the 2020 murder of George Floyd. In 2021, Evanston, Illinois became the first city to implement reparations through housing grants covering home repairs and property costs.
At the state level, California led the way by creating a Reparations Task Force. They’re expected to release recommendations this summer. According to their website, the task force will "recommend appropriate remedies of compensation, rehabilitation, and restitution for African Americans, with a special consideration for descendants of persons enslaved in the United States."
Critics argue that deciding who pays for harm committed by past generations is a moral and legal slippery slope. Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow with the Heritage Foundation, says reparations don’t address the root causes of poverty for African Americans today.
"Reparations will do nothing to bad schools and the breakdown of the families,” Gonzalez said.
Polling from last fall shows the majority of Americans don’t support reparations but there are major differences when it comes to demographics. According to data gathered by the Pew Research Center, 77% of Black Americans say the descendants of people enslaved in the U.S. should be repaid in some way while just 18% of White Americans say the same.
Activists are now turning up the pressure on California Gov. Gavin Newsom to issue an executive order enacting reparations if the state lawmakers fail to act this summer.