Reparations For All!
17th January 2023
John Hinderaker at Power Line.
We wrote here about a task force of the State of California that is developing a proposal to pay reparations to the state’s black residents, to the tune of perhaps $800,000 apiece. But that is chump change compared with what is being demanded in San Francisco.
The City of San Francisco appointed an African American Reparations Advisory Committee which delivered its draft Plan in December. The Plan is embedded below, so you can peruse it at your leisure. It acknowledges, as it must, that neither the State of California nor the City of San Francisco ever countenanced slavery, but nevertheless claims that San Francisco has systemically discriminated against blacks from the beginning. And, of course, the “legacy” of such discrimination is still felt today, reflected in every “disparity” that is to the disadvantage of blacks.
On the whole, the document comes across as whinier than Prince Harry’s memoir. But for now, let’s focus on the proposed remedy. News accounts have reported that the Plan provides that San Francisco blacks should get $5 million apiece. Currently, San Francisco’s population is 895,000, of whom around 5% are classified as African-American. Assuming those numbers, around 44,750 people would get $5 million apiece, for a total of $223,750,000,000. Each San Franciscan who is not a recipient of reparations would be on the hook for approximately $263,000, or a little over $1 million for a family of four. (I know, there aren’t many families of four in San Francisco, but you get the idea.)