San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors is meeting to review a proposal for a highly controversial reparations plan, which could dole out a staggering $5 million each to qualifying Black residents as a misguided attempt to atone for slavery.
In addition to this ludicrous sum, dozens of other recommendations have been made, including offering grants for home purchases and maintenance, and even exempting Black-owned businesses from paying taxes.
While San Francisco never allowed slavery, and California entered the union as a free state, proponents of reparations argue that systemic discrimination continued even after slavery was abolished. However, critics contend that it doesn’t make sense for people who never owned slaves to give money to people who were never enslaved as a way of atoning for slavery.
San Francisco Republican Party Chair John Dennis has decried the proposal as impractical, stating that the conversation is “completely unserious” and lacking in analysis. He also warned that San Francisco is the one city where such an ill-conceived plan could possibly pass.
Board members have already expressed concerns about the impact of the massive lump-sum payments on the city’s budget, which currently faces an estimated deficit of $728 million. Despite these concerns, the African American Reparations Advisory Committee continues to push forward with their reparations agenda.
Several blue localities have broached the subject of reparations for slavery, but San Francisco could be the first major U.S. city to fund such a policy. It is time for the people of San Francisco and the rest of the nation to stand up against these ill-conceived and financially disastrous proposals, which would only serve to further divide our great country.