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San Francisco, CA, leaders present early help for reparation for eligible Black residents

(CNN) A one-time payment of $5 million to each eligible Black resident is among recommendations that the San Francisco board of directors unanimously accepted as part of a draft plan by a panel proposing redress.

Tuesday’s move was an interim step, with a final report containing board feedback due in June, the San Francisco African American Reparations Advisory Committee said, and the board is scheduled to meet again on the issue in September.

“Now the real work continues,” said Supervisor Shamann Walton. “Like I said before, we need to stay focused and stay together as a community because now it’s 100% more common that we can’t be separated or divided.

“Let’s not lose focus because when we get the final report, we actually have to fund the way forward.”

While federal reparations efforts have stalled in Congress, efforts by cities from Massachusetts to Illinois to California to atone for damages rooted in slavery — and to address the racial wealth gap — have gained momentum since the assassination by George Floyd by police in 2020 has revived the Black Lives Matter movement.

The San Francisco Reparations Advisory Committee was formed in 2020 to create a plan to address the institutional, city-sanctioned damage being done to African American communities. But city leaders have questioned in recent months whether the city can fund the redress proposals.

“I think the big challenge was how do we quantify, how do we come up with a number. And then the next challenge will be where does this money actually come from? Who is responsible for this,” San Francisco Republican Party leader John Dennis told CNN affiliate KGO in January.

Members of the public who addressed the city legislature on Tuesday supported dozens of the Reparations Advisory Committee’s recommendations regarding financial redress, housing, job creation, education, the school-to-prison link, health and other local policies .

“Reparations is about justice,” said Mo McNelly, artist and Generation San Franciscan, adding, “We cannot have justice for some and not for all.”

“The system is not broken,” said resident Darnesha Carlos. “It’s working exactly as it was intended and I think we have to acknowledge that, understand that and as managers have stepped in and said they support that, they want to see redress.

“I have faith that those who showed solidarity today will stand in solidarity with their voice when the rubber hits the streets.”

The Compensation Advisory Board is not authorized to implement its recommendations. It presented in January a list of qualifying criteria for the proposed payments, including age, residency and the enslavement, expulsion or discrimination of an ancestor during specific periods.

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