On Sunday, March 19, Third Baptist Church hosted the press conference of the San Francisco chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Rev. Amos Brown, who serves as the President of the SF NAACP and the Pastor of the Third Baptist Church, led the conference.
He expressed the organization's support for the efforts being made regarding the reparations plan.
However, according to a report by the NBC Bay Area, he criticized the way the city is handling the proposed plan.
NAACP claimed that the much-discussed lump sum payment of $5 million is unlikely to be implemented by the city and is thus giving false hope to Black residents of San Francisco.
Moreover, Brown stated that none of the board members had voiced their support for reparations with cash payments and provided a clear plan and timeline for how it would be implemented.
Draft Plan
The African American Reparations Advisory Committee released a draft of the plan in December.
This contained more than 100 recommendations to tackle the enduring effects of systemic racism in San Francisco.
Among the significant proposals are a lump sum payment of $5 million to qualified adults, a guaranteed minimum annual income of $97,000, and the provision of $1 homes to African-American families.
The organization expressed its endorsement for cash payments but criticized the specific amount of $5 million as being arbitrary in press release.
It emphasized that the payments should have a clear explanation for the dollar amount and a transparent method for allocating the funds.
The Board of Supervisors acknowledged the recommendations made by the Reparations Advisory Committee on Tuesday, but it doesn't guarantee that all suggestions will be implemented.
The Board has the authority to approve, reject, or amend any or all of the recommendations presented.
Meanwhile, the Reparations Advisory Committee aims to submit the complete report in June.
Reparations to Black People
According to PBS News Hour, during the 1940s, Black people migrated to San Francisco in significant numbers due to shipyard employment opportunities.
However, racial covenants and redlining restricted where they could reside.
Despite this, Black residents managed to create a thriving community in the Fillmore.
Unfortunately, in the 1960s, government-led redevelopment plans forced these residents to leave, resulting in the loss of their property and Black-owned businesses.
Presently, less than 6 percent of San Francisco's population comprises Black residents, yet they constitute nearly 40 percent of the city's homeless population.
With this, the notion of providing reparations to Black individuals is not a new concept.
The federal government had promised to give 40 acres of land and a mule to emancipated slaves, but it was never fulfilled.
It wasn't until the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, while in police custody in 2020, that reparations movements began to gain momentum throughout the country.
Several jurisdictions, including the state of California and the cities of Boston and San Francisco, are attempting to make amends.
It is not only for chattel slavery but also the decades of discriminatory policies and laws that systematically barred Black Americans from accessing education, property, and the ability to establish intergenerational wealth.
NAACP is among the advocates of reparations, but it believes that the board should refuse the $5 million payment.
Instead, they should concentrate on reparations in the form of education, employment, housing, healthcare, and the establishment of a cultural center for Black individuals in San Francisco.
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