A reparations committee in San Francisco recommended giving each black resident $5 million to compensate for “decades of devastation.” This proposal has received significant criticism.
The 15-member group also suggests that the city’s median income be utilized to increase the earnings of low-income black residents. This should be done for the next 250 years, the group said.
Once the ideas became public, it became apparent that the government-appointed panel had not created a precise technique for estimating the amount it recommended.
Lawmakers and even some of the process’s supporters have questioned its sincerity. Some arguing that the $5 million single payment plan “undermines the validity” of the reparations effort.
There was no mathematical process
Eric McDonnell of Peacock Partnerships in San Francisco, the leader of the reparations committee, said “There was no mathematical process.
The aim of the committee was to investigate what kind of investment in families would restore the economic stability. Bring growth, and vitality that chattel slavery and its practices had destroyed. Zero explanation exists for the figure.
John Dennis, chairman of the San Francisco Republican Party, said although he is open to debate whether black Americans should get reparations, he does not see the proposal as a sincere effort to initiate such a dialogue.
According to him, agreement was formed when a group of individuals with similar opinions convened and decided on a number. Observant readers would have seen that the claimed figure was never explained nor analyzed in the referenced study. They had a good opportunity to do significant work, but they wasted it.
According to William A. Darity Jr., an economist who has advocated for reparations for decades, the sum.
He stated that the local government’s demand for $5 million hinders the restoration attempt.
Compensation for economy losses
According to the plan, the funds will “compensate for the economic and opportunity losses that black San Franciscans have collectively endured as a result of both deliberate decisions and unintentional injuries committed by City policy over many decades.”
The median income for San Francisco residents of African origin in 2021 was $44,000 compared to $85,000 for Latinos. Asians had a median income of $105,000 while Whites had $113,000.
Eligible residents must have been categorized as black for at least ten years and be at least 18 years old.
In addition, they must fulfill two of a number of requirements, such as having been born in the city or immigrating there between 1940 and 1996 and residing there for at least 13 years.
A number of reparations committees have been formed in the United States in an attempt to find a remedy for the wealth gap between white and black people, which has persisted in large part as a result of racism and racist policies.
Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, was the first city in the United States to give reparations to its black residents in 2013.
