San Francisco Board of Supervisors intends to apologize to the Black community for the “racial inequity”
San Francisco, California – The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is preparing to say sorry to the Black community for past unfairness due to city laws. This step is part of an ongoing effort to make amends, known as reparations.
Read also: The profile of the 68-year-old Oakland business owner shot and killed in his shop earlier this month
This group of city leaders wants to make an official apology to the Black people living in San Francisco. They’re doing this because of the unfair treatment that’s been part of the city’s rules and actions. This move is happening while there’s a push for reparations, supported by a special group that looks out for the Black community’s interests.
On February 15, during a committee meeting, they decided on this apology. It’s a way for the city to express regret for moving Black residents around, not investing in their communities, and the unfair treatment by police that has led to mistrust. A report mentions that the apology will also cover how certain practices, like redlining, created gaps in wealth and reduced the quality of education in areas where Black residents lived or were forced to move.
Read also: Golden Gate University in San Francisco sued for planning to drop law degree program
“San Francisco has a long history of creating and/or enforcing laws, policies, and institutions that have perpetuated racial inequity in our city, much of which is difficult to document due to historical erasure,” the draft resolution stated.
In December 2022, a group working on reparations suggested that San Francisco give $5 million to each Black resident who has been part of the community for a long time. This would cost the city more than $100 billion in total. The price goes up even more when you include plans to share wealth more fairly.
But not everyone in the city’s government agrees on making these reparations happen, as the San Francisco Chronicle reported. One city supervisor, Shamann Walton, thinks that giving $5 million to each Black person isn’t enough to make up for all the unfairness and harm caused by the city. He says the apology is just the beginning of a long journey to fix these deep-rooted problems.
“I want to acknowledge all the work around reparations here in San Francisco, so as we continue to improve outcomes for Black people in this city, this apology will bring us all closer to that end goal,” stated Walton.
Meanwhile, Mayor London Breed suggested closing down the reparations office as part of budget cuts. She has already set aside $100 million from the city’s budget for the Dream Keeper Initiative, which aims to support the economic and professional growth of the city’s Black community.
Other places, like Boston and communities in East Lansing, Michigan, have started giving financial support to address the harm and discrimination against Black people. But San Francisco still has a lot of work to do before it can pass laws to spend that kind of money to help its Black residents.
