San Francisco’s board of supervisors created the African American Reparations Advisory Committee (AARAC) back in December 2020. The committee is putting forth a draft proposal of recommendations which includes financial reparations for black residents including a lump sum payment of $5 million for each eligible person.

“Centuries of harm and destruction of Black lives, Black bodies and Black communities should be met with centuries of repair,” AARAC chair Eric McDonnell told me. “If you look at San Francisco, it’s very much a tale of two cities.”…

AARAC calls for one-time, lump-sum reparations payments of $5 million to each eligible recipient. The amount could cover the “the economic and opportunity losses that Black San Franciscans have endured, collectively, as the result of both intentional decisions and unintended harms perpetuated by City policy,” the draft states.

To qualify for the payments, residents must be 18 at the time the committee’s proposal is enacted, and have identified as Black or African American on public documents for at least 10 years. They may also have to prove they were born in the city between 1940 and 1996, have resided in San Francisco for at least 13 years, and be someone, or the direct descendant of someone, incarcerated during the war on drugs.

As written I’m not sure the AARAC draft even requires someone to have been a resident of the city though maybe that’s implied? Here’s the page showing the requirements:

So you must be an adult who has identified as Black for at least ten years. But you only need to meet two of the other criteria. The first two of those specify residence in San Francisco for at least 13 years between 1940 and 1996. However, there are some requirements that don’t mention the city. For instance, “Descendant of someone enslaved through US chattel slavery before 1865.” That could apply to lots of black Americans in many parts of the country. Another option reads, “Personally, or the direct descendant of someone, incarcerated by the failed War on Drugs.” Again, that could apply to many people who don’t live in California. Combine those two and this program would seem to be open to lots of people who aren’t residents of the city. Again, maybe I’m reading the eligibility form incorrectly or maybe it just wasn’t written very carefully. I’m not sure which.

In any case, the $5 million payment for those who qualify is just one of many proposals listed under the heading “Economic Empowerment.” There’s also a recommendation for supplementary income for black households for 250 years.

1.2 Supplement African-American income of lower income households to reflect the Area Median Income (AMI) annually for at least 250 years ($97,000 in 20221).
Rationale: Racial disparities across all metrics have led to a significant racial wealth gap in the City of San Francisco. By elevating income to match AMI, Black people can better afford housing and
achieve a better quality of life.

So that’s rougly $100,000 per household for 250 years which could come to $25 million per household if the gap doesn’t close. Here again, it seems like it would be important to specify who is eligible for this. Presumably it’s the same folks who qualified for the $5 million payouts. But they won’t be around for another 100 years. Does this pass on to all of their descendants? What if they leave the area? What if family members from other parts of the country move in? Will they get this 250 year deal as well?

I’m not sure why, but all of the people who meet the eligibility requirements also have their debts wiped out.

1.6 Finance a comprehensive debt forgiveness program that clears all educational, personal, credit card, payday loans, etc.
Rationale: Black households are more likely to hold costlier, riskier debt, and are more likely to have outstanding student loan debt. When this is combined with lower household incomes, it can
create an inescapable cycle of debt. Eliminating this debt gives Black households an opportunity to build wealth.

Couldn’t most people pay off their credit card debt with the $5 million?

There’s a lot more in the document. I skimmed over it and I don’t see an estimate of how many people would be eligible for all of this largesse. The city’s current population is about 800,000 and of that about 5% of the city is black (though both the population and demographic figures were different during the time period referenced in the eligibility document). But just to give us some rough numbers, 5% of 800,000 is 40,000. If you assume 3/4 of those people are eligible (some are children, some haven lived there for 13 years, etc.) that would mean about 30,000 people were eligible for the payout. Just to cover the lump sum you’d need $150 billion dollars. That’s a lot of money in a city whose annual budget is around $14 billion. In other words, if you devoted 100% of the current budget to reparations for the next decade you still couldn’t meet this obligation, not to mention all of the other requirements in the proposal.

So far as I can see, there’s nothing in the document about where all of this money would come from. That seems like a pretty significant flaw in the plan. I’m also curious if black SF residents would be able to accept this money in addition to the state reparations efforts which have been pegged at a more modest $223,200 per every descendant of slaves in California. That would cost the state an estimated $600 billion.