San Francisco Panel Proposes $5 Million To Each Black Resident For 'Decades Of Harm'

San Francisco's African American Reparations Committee has urged the city to pay each longtime Black resident $5 million, citing decades of harm and systematic repression against the community.

In a draft of the San Francisco reparations plan published last month, the panel said that a lump sum payment would compensate the community for the "decades of harm" and amend economic and opportunity losses Black residents have endured due to repressive city policies.

The panel also recommended granting each Black resident total debt forgiveness that would clear each eligible person's student and housing loans and credit card debts, among others.

"Black households are more likely to hold costlier, riskier debt, and are more likely to have outstanding student loan debt," the draft explained. "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."