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Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream stays out of attain in San Francisco

Nearly 100 people turned out for a town hall rally outside City Hall on Friday to honor Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and draw attention to the stubborn distance between his dream and reality for many of San Francisco’s black residents.

The three-hour event, organized by Bay Area grassroots organization Wealth and Disparities in the Black Community, featured a variety of speakers — including local politicians, civil rights attorneys, community organizers, city workers and residents — who hammered out a unanimous conclusion:

On the eve of the civil rights leader’s 93rd birthday, being black in San Francisco hasn’t gotten much easier.

“The big question is, how are Black San Franciscans doing right now?” said Phelicia Jones, founder of Wealth and Disparities. “I would say not too well.”

African Americans moved to San Francisco in large numbers during World War II to work in shipyards amid segregation, increasing the local black population from less than 5,000 to 32,000 in 1940, or 5% of the city’s population. According to recent city data, blacks still make up just 5% of San Francisco’s residents, but that’s down from 13% in 1970. And today, they make up 35% of the city’s homeless.

The average income for a black household is $31,000 compared to $110,000 for white families, and about 19% of black children in the city live in poverty.

“We’re the exact same people who fled the South’s lash, only to face housing discrimination, over-policing and mass incarceration,” said Adante Pointer, a civil rights attorney. “They unleashed the gates of hell on the church to repel our pride.”

Supervisor Shamann Walton said the Board of Supervisors is trying to fill some of these systemic gaps. The city established a redress task force in May and, starting last year, diverted $120 million in funds for local law enforcement agencies (about 7% of the sheriff’s and police department’s budget) to the city’s black neighborhoods. Funds are earmarked for small business grants and loans; educational and social justice programs for youth; and assistance with drug and mass incarceration rehabilitation, among other services.

“We’ve accomplished some things, we’ve channeled resources to the black community,” Walton said. “But even with these steps, there is still a long way to go.”

Walton said he doesn’t think it’s a coincidence that sensationalized petty crime coverage increased after the board agreed to shift funds from law enforcement to the black community.

“Every step we take forward, they try to hold us back,” Walton said. “It’s not surprising, it’s not new.”

The rally comes as Mayor London Breed is pursuing a controversial strategy to crack down on crime, drug use and public nuisance in the Tenderloin, an area home to homeless people who are disproportionately black and brown.

Supervisor Matt Haney, whose district also includes the tenderloin, said it was important to continue King’s fight.

“Black people continue to face inequalities in many areas of life, whether it’s education, housing or dealing with law enforcement,” he told The Chronicle. “This is a time to recommit to the work of civil rights and social justice for every black resident of our city.”

Police Officer Domingo Williams said he attended the event to show solidarity with his black community and to establish himself as an “access point” for local residents who mistrust his profession.

“I’m here to build confidence and I understand it’s going to take a while, and for good reason,” Williams said. “Black people have every reason to distrust law enforcement. I’m here to let people know I’m an option and a resource.”

Other Bay Area residents such as Dellfinia Hardy, Lynn Westry and Ramona Massey, all City of San Francisco workers, said they were at the event to show their support and agreed that the pitch that night would be a long-distance effort .

“Two years isn’t enough to fix that,” Westry told The Chronicle of the city’s black neighborhood investment plan. “Yes, funds have been diverted and that’s great, but we need to make sure we approach change in a systematic way if we want real change to reach the next generations. That would have dr. King wanted.”

Shwanika Narayan is a contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: shwanika.narayan@sfchronicle.com Twitter/Instagram: @shwanika

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