(Daily360.com) – A “reparations panel” in San Francisco, California has concluded that black residents who meet certain qualifications should receive $5 million each.
Eric McDonnell, who chairs the “African American Advisory Committee” claims it arrived at this number not through a mathematical formula but rather from looking at the “journey” of black residents through decades of “discrimination.”
McDonnell contented that this money should be viewed as an investment in black families, something to set them on the path toward prosperity in ways that “chattel slavery.” It should be noted that although San Francisco never actually had legal slavery, proponents of the measure believe “decades of racist policies” are enough to warrant these payouts.
Currently, San Francisco has roughly 50,000 black residents, not all of whom qualify under the committee criteria. Criteria such as being born in the city between 1940 and 1996 and having resided there for at least 13 years. City supervisors cite this proposal as fiscally unrealistic and untenable. One suggestion by supporters of the plan would be to unsuspend the Cannabis Business Tax and use the proceeds for reparations. However, if reinstated the tax would only garner roughly $10.25 million annually.
San Francisco is not the only center of reparations activity, the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing in December to determine if banks should pay the college tuition of black students. William Darity, a professor at Duke University written testimony pointed to slavery as the reason for a household net worth disparity between black and white families. Darity testified that white families hold an $840,000 higher household net worth than do black families.
When all boiled down the Committee determined the cost of closing Darity’s given household wealth gap to be roughly $14 trillion paid to black descendants of slaves. University of Massachusetts assistant professor of Economics Dania Francis propositioned financial institutions should fund studies examining their own past roles and invest more heavily in black communities.
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