San Francisco’s landmark hearing to discuss reparations for the city’s black community has been postponed by more than a month because Supervisor Shamann Walton took a nearly weeklong vacation to party in Colombia and is experiencing flight issues getting home.Tuesday’s reparations hearing had been almost two years in the making after Walton authored a resolution in early 2020 for San Francisco to study harm done to the city’s African American community. A committee was formed, and it has met more than a dozen times since February 2022. The board and members of the public were scheduled to discuss a plan from the committee that has numerous suggested steps to implement reparations.Walton, who is the lone black member of the Board of Supervisors, told The Standard in a text message that he went to Colombia for a birthday trip. He posted a picture on his Instagram account Sunday at a Hooters restaurant in Medellín. The Standard captured a screenshot before it disappeared.

Rev. Amos Brown, who served as one of the 14 people on the African American Reparations Advisory Committee, was shocked to learn the reparations hearing was being delayed by Walton‘s vacation to another country.“I’m stunned,” Brown said in a phone interview.He added, “Well, still, there need to be reparations for the people’s sake. The black population in this county is on life support.”

Shamann Walton, president of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, was mocked for likening the closure of John F. Kennedy Drive in Golden Gate Park to the Jim Crow South, including by fellow African Americans who call his accusations of segregation silly.

Board of Supervisors President Shamann Walton was admonished by a Sheriff’s Office official last month after being accused of using a racial slur while berating a black cadet at a City Hall security checkpoint, according to documents obtained by The Chronicle.Walton, who is also black, acknowledged using the slur “a few times” when he became frustrated about having to remove his belt to go through a metal detector June 24, according to a memo by Undersheriff Joseph Engler.“President Walton became very angry with Cadet [name redacted], who is African American, and said, ‘It is N-words like you that looks like me that is always the problem,’ referring to the security protocols as some ‘N-word shit’ several times as he yelled at Cadet [name redacted],”