San Francisco Panel Proposes $5 Million To Each Black Resident For 'Decades Of Harm'

San Francisco's African American Reparations Committee has urged the city to pay each longtime Black resident $5 million, citing decades of harm and systematic repression against the community.

In a draft of the San Francisco reparations plan published last month, the panel said that a lump sum payment would compensate the community for the "decades of harm" and amend economic and opportunity losses Black residents have endured due to repressive city policies.

The panel also recommended granting each Black resident total debt forgiveness that would clear each eligible person's student and housing loans and credit card debts, among others.

"Black households are more likely to hold costlier, riskier debt, and are more likely to have outstanding student loan debt," the draft explained. "When this is combined with lower household incomes, it can create an inescapable cycle of debt. Eliminating this debt gives Black households an opportunity to build wealth."

The reparations committee also recommended other financial compensations for Black San Francisco residents, including supplementing lower-income recipients' income to reflect the Area Median Income (AMI), about $97,000, annually for at least 250 years.

"Racial disparities across all metrics have led to a significant racial wealth gap in the City of San Francisco," the panel wrote. "By elevating income to match AMI, Black people can better afford housing and achieve a better quality of life."

The proposed compensations could cost the city roughly $50 billion, as per the New York Post.

To be eligible for the proposed reparations, the applicant must be at least 18 years old and identified as "Black/African American" in public documents for at least ten years, according to the draft.

Applicants must also meet at least two criteria from the following:

• Born in San Francisco between 1940 and 1996 and has proof of residency in San Francisco for at least 13 years
• Migrated to San Francisco between 1940 and 1996 and has proof of residency in San Francisco for at least 13 years
• Personally, or the direct descendant of someone, incarcerated by the failed War on Drugs
• Record of attendance in San Francisco public schools during the time of the consent decree to complete desegregation within the school system
• Descendant of someone enslaved through U.S. chattel slavery before 1865
• Displaced, or the direct descendant of someone displaced, from San Francisco by Urban Renewal between 1954 and 1973
• Listed, or the direct descendant of, a Certificate of Preference holder
• Member of a historically marginalized group that experienced lending discrimination in San Francisco between 1937 and 1968 or, subsequently, experienced lending discrimination in formerly redlined San Francisco communities between 1968 and 2008

The committee, composed of individuals from different backgrounds and sectors, also asked the city and its agencies to issue a formal apology to the affected community and establish an independent Office of Reparations to execute the plan.