San Francisco Board of Supervisors member advocates for ‘office of reparations’
Shamann Walton said he wants the city to appropriate $50 million for the project.
San Francisco's reparations proposal could include a $50 million "Office of Reparations" that would include a database to vet eligible citizens, according to a recommendation from one of the city's Board of Supervisors members.
On Tuesday, Board member Shamann Walton called on his colleagues to support a "supplemental appropriation" of $50 million for the "Office of Reparations" and approval recommendations within the fiscal year.
"The supplemental will specifically be for reparations only and it will guarantee money in this budget cycle," Walton said during a March 21 Board meeting.
NEWSOM UNDER PRESSURE TO TAKE EXECUTIVE ACTION ON REPARATIONS IF CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE DOESN'T ACT
March and rally for reparations, child protection, and advancement of people's rights, June 17, 2021 in St. Paul, Minn. ((Photo by: Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images))
Following the meeting, Walton released a statement, reiterating his call for the money to "establish the Office of Reparations" and "provide funds to create a database to start storing and vetting eligibility for reparations (in order to prepare for when the final eligibility requirements are decided).
According to Walton, he has already requested legislation from the City Attorney's office to create the office under the Human Rights Commission.
"It is time for us to prove that we support repairing the harm that has created so many negative outcomes and wealth disparities for Black people in this city, by design!" Walton added. "I want to thank my colleagues Supervisors Preston and Ronen for co-sponsoring and reiterating the commitment ALL of my colleagues have made to reparations!"
NEWSOM'S CALIFORNIA PUSHES BILLIONS IN REPARATIONS PAYMENTS AS STATE FACES BUDGET DEFICIT DISASTER
Vernon AME Church pastor Robert Turner holds a reparations now sign after leading a protest from City Hall back to his church in the Greenwood neighborhood on November 18, 2020 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. ((Photo by Joshua Lott/The Washington Post via Getty Images))
The individual members of the Board of Supervisors did not return Fox News Digital's request for comment.
The state of California became the first in the nation to develop a Reparations Task Force to consider statewide reparations. This move has garnered increasing popularity following the murder of George Floyd while he was in police custody in 2020, sparking protests across the country.
The city of San Francisco has proposed some of the most drastic reparations recommendations in the state that would give out $5 million to every qualifying Black resident, in addition to other recommendations like free mental health, prenatal care and rehab treatment for low-income Black city residents, victims of violent crimes and those who were formerly incarcerated.
DEMOCRATS SEEK REPARATIONS, ‘NATIONAL APOLOGY’ FOR SLAVERY: ‘WE ARE MOVING CLOSER’
"A lump sum payment would compensate the affected population for the decades of harms that they have experienced, and will redress 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 proposal stated.
It is unclear if all board members would support the $5 million lump sum payments under consideration for every eligible Black adult in the city.
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Fox News' Kendall Tietz contributed to this report.
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