San Francisco is ready to apologize for its role in decades of discrimination against Black residents, making the city one of the first in the nation to address reparations and cash payments.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Thursday unveiled the draft resolution that apologizes for the forced removal of Black communities from historic neighborhoods, ongoing tensions with the police department, and underinvestment in key public services, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The seven-page draft says San Francisco has a long history of creating laws, policies, and institutions that have "perpetuated racial inequity in our city, much of which is difficult to document due to historical erasure."
The move comes after a task force formed last summer recommended reparations to the Black community, including the potential of $5 million payouts along with an official apology.
But San Francisco Mayor London Breed has pushed back on the cash payments — arguing they should be dealt with at the state or federal level — and also balked at an Office of Reparations rolling out some recommendations in a 400-page report, the Chronicle reported.
Nevertheless, all supervisors have cosponsored the resolution, making it likely to pass the full board, the Chronicle added.
The resolution says Black residents continue to face racial discrimination in employment, housing, education, healthcare and the criminal justice system — and that the city has "systemically robbed Black San Franciscans of opportunities to build generational wealth," the Chronicle reported.
The Rev. Amos Brown, a former supervisor, said an apology is just "cotton candy rhetoric" after running through a list of wrongdoings by San Francisco against Black residents.
"We don't need another conversation, we need to change our conduct," Brown said.
Nine states have made formal apologies to African Americans, and Boston was the first major city to pass an apology resolution in 2022, the Chronicle noted.