San Francisco

San Francisco NAACP Criticizes City's Handling of Reparations Plan

The NAACP criticized how San Francisco has been handing the cash payment feature of its Reparations Plan and accused the city of giving Black residents "false hope."

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The NAACP says they want to see more details on San Francisco's reparations plan.

The organization's San Francisco branch held a press conference Saturday at the Third Baptist Church. 

Led by Reverend Amos Brown, the President of the SF NAACP and Pastor of the Third Baptist Church, said the organization supports the efforts but criticized how the city is handling the draft plan. According to the SF NAACP, the much talked-about lump sum $5 million payment is not likely to be put in action by the city and is therefore giving Black residents of San Francisco false hopes. 

“Not one member of that board said ‘we support reparations with cash payments.’ And with a definite plan of how to do it. And a timeline of how to do it,” said Brown. 

A draft of that plan, put out by The African American Reparations Advisory Committee in December, currently has over 100 recommendations for how San Francisco can address the legacies of systemic racism in the city. Some of the most notable are a one-time payment of $5 million to eligible adults, guaranteed annual incomes of at least $97,000, and $1 homes for African-American families. 

The organization added that it supports cash payments, but called the $5 million “an arbitrary number” in a news release. It said "the payments should have a public rationale for the dollar amount and a method for how the money will be allocated."

The Board of Supervisors accepted the recommendations of the Reparations Advisory Committee on Tuesday, although that does not that all of the recommendations will be put into place. The Board can vote to approve, reject, or change any or all of them. 

 The Reparations Advisory Committee plans to submit its complete report in June.

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