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San Francisco lawmakers making an attempt to create $50 million reparations workplace

TThe City of San Francisco is nearing approval of compensation for black residents as the city’s board of directors appears poised to implement the proposed payments.

At a Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, San Francisco Supervisor Shamann Walton proposed setting aside $50 million to set up a reparations office to begin preparing proposed actions by the Reparations Advisory Committee.

SAN FRANCISCO NAACP AWARDS $5 MILLION PER PERSON REPAIR PLAN

“Today I am again asking my colleagues to support an additional commitment of $50 million to establish the Office of Reparations and implement approved recommendations this fiscal year,” Walton said at the meeting. “The supplement will be specifically for reparations only and will guarantee money in this fiscal cycle as the final report will be received very soon to set up a reparations office, which is already a recommendation.”

Walton says the proposed funding would be used to staff an office that would create a database to verify the eligibility of reparations recipients. He says the work of the compensation office will begin “almost immediately after approval.”

The supervisor also said he is calling for legislation for the San Francisco Attorney’s Office to establish a reparations office under the office’s Human Rights Commission.

Eric McDonnell, Chairman of the African American Reparations Advisory Committee, speaks during a Board of Supervisors special hearing on reparations in San Francisco, Tuesday, March 14, 2023. San Francisco supervisors are taking up a draft reparations proposal that would include a lump sum of $5 million Dollar includes lump sum payment for each eligible Black person. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Jeff Chiu/AP


City Supervisors Dean Preston and Hillary Ronen jointly supported the proposed legislation.

The current proposal from the Advisory Committee on Reparations calls for $5 million in payments, along with other benefits for black residents, including elimination of personal debt and tax burdens, guaranteed annual incomes of at least $97,000 for the next 250 years, and housing in the City for $1 per family.

The committee argues that the proposals are necessary to remedy past injustices suffered by the city’s black residents. The Restoration Committee is scheduled to meet monthly through June and present its final recommendations. The Board of Supervisors is expected to hold its next meeting on possible reparations on September 19, where it is expected to implement the committee’s recommendations.

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The recovery plan drew criticism from several groups and individuals, including the San Francisco Chapter of the NAACP, which called for investments and opportunities for the black community instead of direct payments to black residents.

“We firmly believe that creating and funding programs that can improve the lives of those affected by racism and discrimination is the best path to equality and justice,” said Amos Brown, President of the San Francisco NAACP, in a statement.

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