{"id":25482,"date":"2023-03-15T17:29:11","date_gmt":"2023-03-16T00:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=25482"},"modified":"2023-03-15T17:29:14","modified_gmt":"2023-03-16T00:29:14","slug":"what-key-sf-hearing-actually-means-for-proposed-5m-reparations-payments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/03\/15\/what-key-sf-hearing-actually-means-for-proposed-5m-reparations-payments\/","title":{"rendered":"What key SF hearing actually means for proposed $5M reparations payments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/users\/profile\/Marcus%20White\">By Marcus White | Examiner staff writer |<\/a><\/li><li>Mar 14, 2023\u00a0Updated\u00a019 hrs ago (SFExaminer.com)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com\/sfexaminer.com\/content\/tncms\/assets\/v3\/editorial\/2\/a0\/2a0fc8c2-a10a-11ed-9e36-a3fac3615bb3\/63d87526e1df6.image.jpg?resize=400%2C236\" alt=\"reparations\"\/><figcaption>Under the draft proposal, Black San Franciscans would only be eligible for the $5 million payments if they met specific criteria.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/users\/profile\/Molly%20Hetherwick\">Examiner staff photo<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The San Francisco Board of Supervisors did not vote on giving some Black residents $5 million during a highly publicized hearing on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tuesday\u2019s hearing centered on a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/sfgov.legistar.com\/View.ashx?M=F&amp;ID=11618582&amp;GUID=B6DD4A1F-C354-4D13-B106-B7630883F074\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">draft reparations plan<\/a>, authored by a committee that supervisors directed in 2020 to explore and propose ways in which the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/bay-area-news\/reparations-committees-in-california-and-san-francisco\/article_c8c2311c-a0e2-11ed-9084-632ef2a23399.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">city could acknowledge and atone<\/a>&nbsp;for its role in perpetuating racial inequality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It also included updates on the progress of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/archives\/city-directs-60-million-toward-black-community-services-and-housing-support\/article_abd617d1-fbfc-5796-be41-b6ad41d7df82.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the city\u2019s \u201cDream Keeper Initiative,\u201d<\/a>&nbsp;which redirected millions of dollars in funding previously earmarked for law enforcement towards efforts to support Black residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Public comment about those updates and the reparations plan lasted for more than three hours, with the board ultimately adopting the resolution to accept the document at 9:21 p.m. on Tuesday night.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But accepting the document didn&#8217;t mean that city leaders also adopted its specific policy recommendations, which include a one-time $5 million payment to eligible Black residents to \u201credress the economic and opportunity losses that Black San Franciscans have endured\u201d after a number of \u201cintentional decisions and unintended harms\u201d stemming from city policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The draft plan was just that: A draft. The final recommendations are not due to the board, the mayor and the human rights commission until June. Only then will San Francisco leaders take action on the specific proposals, including the potential payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shamann Walton, San Francisco\u2019s lone Black supervisor, introduced the hearing by stressing it was intended only to serve as an \u201cupdate\u201d on the committee\u2019s work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/abc7news.com\/black-reparations-sf-proposal-five-million-dollar-reparation-san-francisco-african-american-advisory-committee\/12716688\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Local and national conservative figures<\/a>&nbsp;nonetheless&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/bayarea\/justinphillips\/article\/s-f-s-bold-misunderstood-reparations-proposal-17747114.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">blasted the potential $5 million figure<\/a>&nbsp;leading into Tuesday\u2019s hearing. Walton said he wasn\u2019t alone in receiving \u201cracist and disgusting\u201d messages about San Francisco\u2019s reparations work, and Board Supervisor Aaron Peskin said he received correspondence that was \u201cantithetical\u201d to the city\u2019s values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Committee chair Eric McDonnell told the Washington Post last month that the $5 million proposal&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonpost.com\/nation\/2023\/02\/27\/san-francisco-reparations-black-5-million\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wasn\u2019t determined by \u201ca math formula\u201d<\/a>&nbsp;but to put Black families on \u201ca path to economic well-being, growth and vitality\u201d that the legacies of institutional racism have made impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe charge of the committee was not to do a feasibility study,\u201d McDonnell said during a presentation in Tuesday\u2019s hearing, adding that the report intended to \u201cchronicle the harm and determine the value\u201d of that harm. The committee said in its presentation that it will \u201c(continue) to work with experts to define and quantify harm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/sfchronicle.com\/sf\/article\/reparations-5-million-black-residents-17830407.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">number of supervisors expressed reservations<\/a>&nbsp;about the potential payments to the San Francisco Chronicle earlier this week, whether with the proposed $5 million sum or if the city can afford to make any such payments. Mayor London Breed\u2019s office in January projected a $728 million budget deficit over the next two fiscal years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet each of the supervisors on Tuesday agreed San Francisco has a chance, and an obligation, to right historical wrongs. Supervisor Dean Preston argued it would be costliest to do nothing at all, and Joel Engardio noted there are \u201cdozens\u201d of recommendations San Francisco can easily adopt within its budget from the report. Supervisor Rafael Mandelman said some of the \u201cfury\u201d the report generated within his own district demonstrated the importance of \u201cactually making reparations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLet\u2019s put our money where our mouth is,\u201d Supervisor Connie Chan, chair of the board\u2019s budget and finance committees, said of implementing the report\u2019s recommendations in the city\u2019s forthcoming budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under the draft proposal, Black San Franciscans would only be eligible for the $5 million payments if they met specific criteria, including showing proof that they were born in or moved to the city between 1940 and 1996 and had lived there for at least 13 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The draft report, prepared by San Francisco Human Rights Commission staffers on behalf of the African American Reparations Advisory Committee, found that \u201cpublic and private entities\u201d deliberately disinvested from Black institutions and displaced African American residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a result, according to the authors, San Francisco\u2019s Black population has declined dramatically and \u201cBlack people have fallen behind in household income and wealth-building opportunities.\u201d A separate study published last month found the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/housing\/san-francisco-housing-crisis-grows-racial-homeownership-gap\/article_bfbcce66-b2fc-11ed-9de0-7f2506862f15.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">racial homeownership gap is even wider now<\/a>&nbsp;in San Francisco than it was in the aftermath of the Great Recession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhile neither San Francisco, nor California, formally adopted the institution of chattel slavery, the tenets of segregation, white supremacy and systematic repression and exclusion of Black people were codified through legal and extralegal actions, social codes, and judicial enforcement,\u201d the report reads, noting later that California\u2019s first Ku Klux Klan chapter was founded in San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The $5 million figure grabbed countless headlines, but it\u2019s only one of a series of recommendations the committee put forth in the draft report and among dozens of specific actions centered on economic empowerment of Black residents.&nbsp;In all, the committee made 111 recommendations based upon the United Nations\u2019 standards for reparations and covering four areas: economic empowerment, education, health and policy. Its final report is due June 1, and it will wind down its work in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"mailto:mwhite@sfexaminer.com\">mwhite@sfexaminer.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>@marcuspwhite<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/users\/profile\/Marcus%20White\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com\/sfexaminer.com\/content\/tncms\/avatars\/a\/2e\/096\/a2e096d0-383e-11ed-8dff-03ca0c28c2ed.6e26757400633d7b219baab76e54234b.png?_dc=1665446500\" alt=\"Marcus White\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/users\/profile\/Marcus%20White\">Marcus White<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Marcus White is a senior digital writer and producer for the San Francisco Examiner.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Marcus White | Examiner staff writer | Mar 14, 2023\u00a0Updated\u00a019 hrs ago (SFExaminer.com) The San Francisco Board of Supervisors did not vote on giving some Black residents $5 million during a highly publicized hearing on Tuesday. Tuesday\u2019s hearing centered on a&nbsp;draft reparations plan, authored by a committee that supervisors&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/03\/15\/what-key-sf-hearing-actually-means-for-proposed-5m-reparations-payments\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[231,232],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25482"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25482"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25483,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25482\/revisions\/25483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}