San Francisco's Board of Supervisors is considering a reparations plan for Black residents, including the potential for lump-sum payments of $5 million per eligible person, guaranteed annual incomes of $97,000, and $1 homes.
The plan, which responds to centuries of slavery and systemic racism, has sparked controversy and debate.
The Board of Supervisors in San Francisco is considering a reparations plan for Black residents, which has sparked controversy among supporters and opponents.
The plan includes the potential for $5 million lump-sum payments per eligible person, guaranteed annual incomes of $97,000, and $1 homes.
The sweeping proposal is aimed at rectifying centuries of slavery and systemic racism, which supporters say have deprived generations of Black citizens of opportunities in most spheres of life.
Meanwhile, opponents argue that the price tag is too high and that the handouts perpetuate fraudulent narratives surrounding systemic racism.
While some argue that the idea of reparations is not new, the federal government's promise of granting 40 acres and a mule to newly freed slaves was never realized.
It wasn't until George Floyd, a Black man, was killed in police custody in 2020 that reparations movements began spreading across the country.
The state of California and the cities of Boston and San Francisco are among jurisdictions trying to atone not just for chattel slavery, but also for decades of racist policies and laws that systemically denied Black Americans access to property, education, and the ability to build generational wealth.
While some media coverage highlights the potential benefits of the plan, including its aim to redress historic wrongs, other reports emphasize criticism and opposition.
A former Black Lives Matter activist, Xaviaer DuRousseau, has characterized the expensive handouts as an attempt to gaslight Black Americans into dependence on a system of handouts.
According to DuRousseau, the plan perpetuates fraudulent narratives surrounding systemic racism and distracts from issues like homelessness, which is plaguing the city.