San Francisco will manage a fund that will give reparations to Black residents who can prove past harm.
Many races of people in America have gotten reparations from the government, even former White slave owners who got assistance from the government to compensate for them losing free labor after June 19, 1865.
However, when Black Americans have brought up receiving compensation for the centuries of free labor that their ancestors provided so that White Americans could build generational for free, they have often received criticism for playing the race card, wanting a handout and living in the past.
But over the last couple of years, Black Americans have gotten closer to receiving reparations if they are the descendants of former slaves.
Now, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has signed an ordinance that will create a fund to pay reparations to Black Americans who can prove that they suffered harm and loss in the city.
Betty Wu of KTVU reported, “The measure, which passed the Board of Supervisors unanimously on December 16, establishes a fund for Black residents who can demonstrate they experienced a proven harm in San Francisco.”
Black community leaders have not only advocated for reparations for slavery.
Many have also sought reparations for what Black Americans lost to the government, racist mobs and other thuggery during the Jim Crow era.
Often, the government would seize the property of Black people without proper compensation.
When the Black community did better financially than their White counterparts, angry racist mobs would often terrorize them, burn down their businesses and homes, often running them out of town.
When many Black people pulled themselves up from their bootstraps, some racist White people would get mad that Black people even had nice boots, stripping them of those boots and bootstraps, entirely.
Black people have often faced discrimination when seeking loans, often paying more interests than their White counterparts, even when all determining factors were equal.
Paying more for loans and having homes under-appraised because of the color of their skin, has stripped many Black families of generational wealth.
As a result, while many Americans look at reparations as a handout, supporters of reparations see it as being repaid for what was stolen from them and their ancestors.
Eric McConnell, former chair of the African American Reparations Advisory Committee, said, “I would argue that the city is accountable for not just investing in this fund, but for supporting in all ways possible the recommendations of our plan, including financial repair. It is a step in the right direction. It by no means demonstrates a full-on commitment to making something happen.”
Critics believe that reparations would cost the city too much money.
Mayor Lurie said, “I was elected to drive San Francisco’s recovery, and that’s what I’m focused on every day. We are not allocating money to this fund—with a historic $1 billion budget deficit, we are going to spend our money on making the city safer and cleaner.”
Lurie said that the fund is open to donations, and San Francisco would make sure that the money is given to qualifying residents.
KTVU added, “McDonnell’s committee, which concluded its work in early 2024 after a three-year term, produced a more than 400-page report in 2023 with over 100 recommendations aimed at addressing historic harms, including housing displacement, discriminatory policies and economic exclusion.
“Among those recommendations was a proposal for a one-time, $5 million payment to each eligible person.
“McDonnell said eligibility under the committee’s recommendations would be based on documented harm.”
He said, “I’m making this up, but if I can demonstrate that in 1972 the property my family owned was taken by eminent domain and I am therefore due repair for that, then I’d be eligible.”
Richie Greenberg, a conservative commentator and columnist said that the fund might be too expensive for the city because it might force it to establish a new bureaucracy and set aside taxpayer money for potential legal challenges.
Greenberg said, “Even though it is true that there were injustices in the 1940s, 50s and 60s against the city’s African-American population, that does not mean individual taxpayers 20, 30, 50 years later should be held responsible.”
However, supporters of reparations will say that many White taxpayers continue to benefit from past and current discrimination against Black Americans.
If White families have their houses over-appraised, while Black families have their houses under-appraised, White Americans are still benefitting from racism, while Black families continue suffering because of racism and discrimination.
For years, activists have also fought for reparations for survivors of the Black Wall Street massacre in Tulsa, Okla. in 1921.
But aside from philanthropists offering financial assistance to survivors, efforts at reparations have been rebuffed.
In June 2024, Giam Pierre of RegalMag.com reported, “So much for financial payments for the survivors of the Black Wall Street massacre that occurred in Tulsa, Okla. in 1921.
“On June 12, an Oklahoma court dismissed a public nuisance lawsuit brought in 2020 by survivors of the racial massacre on the affluent Black neighborhood surrounding the streets Greenwood, Archer and Pine in Tulsa.
“The court wrote, ‘With respect to their public nuisance claim, the Plaintiff’s grievances are legitimate, they do not fall within the scope of our State’s public nuisance statute.’
“The survivors of the Black Wall Street massacre brought the public nuisance lawsuit because they believe that the destruction of the area, which was known for being self-contained and self-sufficient, still resonates today.”
