Budget cuts may bring a halt to any possibility of Black residents receiving reparations in the city of San Francisco, the San Francisco Examiner reports.
For the upcoming budget of 2024, Mayor London Breed slashed the entire reparations office along with several other programs totalling $75 million in cuts.
City Supervisor Shamann Walton advocated to fund the reparations office earlier this year called the cuts “disheartening” in an issued statement.
“I understand the importance of no cuts to existing programs, but the Black community will continue to pursue justice and equity through reparations here in San Francisco,” Walton said. “My hope is that the city’s deficit is eliminated quickly so that we can fund the Office of Reparations and fulfill the commitment made to address the historical injustices and inequalities that have persisted for generations for Black San Franciscans.”
Initially, Walton requested $50 million to be earmarked for the creation of an Office of Reparations. He then reduced the amount to $10 million and before securing $2 million would be used to hire staff and fund various programs
Sheryl Davis, executive director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission said that the city will continue “to work on several of the reparations plan’s recommendations” despite the budget cuts.
“A lot of the work, it’ll be tight but we’ll leverage some of the funding we had in our budget,” Davis said.
San Francisco was a part of a wave of cities that made steps to atone for the legacy of slavery and racism with reparations. The San Francisco African American Reparations Advisory Committee recommended paying qualified Black residents $5 million “as compensation for generations of systemic racial discrimination. Also, the committee included more than 100 recommendations to address the wealth gap in its official report.RELATED: 10 Cities Considering Reparations To Atone For Slavery, Structural Racism
Breed, who’s the first Black woman to be mayor of the city has not given reparations her full endorsement. . In a statement, the mayor said she will “continue to lift up” marginalized communities but that the federal government should lead the effort for reparations, according to the Associated Press.