San Francisco Reparations Committee Proposes Plan to Pay Eligible Black Residents Millions

A reparations committee in San Francisco proposed a plan to pay Black residents.

The San Francisco African American Reparations Advisory Committee presented a proposal that includes several financial recommendations for eligible residents, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

One of the recommendations is for the eligible residents to receive $5 million each.

The draft of the proposal suggests the amount could cover “the economic and opportunity losses that Black San Franciscans have endured, collectively, as the result of both intentional decisions and unintended harms perpetuated by City policy,” the Chronicle reported.

AARAC Chairman Eric McDonnell told the outlet, “Centuries of harm and destruction of Black lives, Black bodies and Black communities should be met with centuries of repair.”

He added, “If you look at San Francisco, it’s very much a tale of two cities.”

The outlet noted residents must be 18 at the time of the proposal’s enactment to be eligible.

Additionally, they have to have identified as Black or African American on public records for at least a decade and provide proof that they were born in the city between 1940 and 1996.

They must also have lived in the city for at least 13 years, and be an individual, or the direct descendant of an individual, who was imprisoned during the war on drugs, according to the Chronicle.

AARAC Vice Chairwoman Tinisch Hollins explained to the publication, “This reparations process gives us a chance to look at the many ways, not just economically, that harm can and should be repaired.”

Hollins added, “And even though San Francisco has passed policies that touch on the legacy of slavery, we have needed something that goes toward quantifying that harm.”

According to the report, the committee is expected to present its final proposal to city leaders in June.

“There are so many efforts that result in incredible reports that just end up gathering dust on a shelf,” Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin said.

He continued, “We cannot let this be one of them.”

The state reparations task force will reportedly release its own proposal in June and thinks Black California residents could be entitled to $569 billion for housing discrimination between 1933 and 1977.