An advisory committee in San Francisco has recommended $5 million payouts, as well as guaranteed income of at least $97,000 and personal debt forgiveness for qualifying individuals.It could cost California more than $800 billion to compensate black residents for generations of over-policing, disproportionate incarceration and housing discrimination, economists have told a state panel considering reparations.The preliminary estimate is more than 2.5 times California’s $300 billion annual budget, and does not include a recommended $1 million per older black resident for health disparities that have shortened their average life span.
Activists on Wednesday demanded that the state of California pay millions of dollars to each Black resident in reparations as a way to make amends for slavery and subsequent discrimination, dismissing the idea of payments of $5 million per person as “nothing” and “too little.”
“I believe that 5 million in reparations is too little for the work that foundational Black Americans have done for this country and as well for other countries,” one speaker said. “I believe that 7.6 million [dollars] is a number that can be used very wisely in our foundational Black American communities.”
He also called for various other reparations measures, such as giving 40 acres and a tractor and colleges agreeing not raise tuition prices for foundational black American families.
“To try to keep holding foundational Black Americans back from what is due for us is just another form of slavery,” he concluded. “It is preposterous and totally absurd.”
Another activist identified as Reverend Tony Pierce similarly said current reparations proposals aren’t enough.“Where’s the money? Where’s the cash? Where’s the check?” Pierce asked emphatically. “$5 million, San Francisco’s already made a move. $5 million is nothing, and I’ll tell you why.”Pierce argued that $5 million spread over 50 years would only amount to $100,000 year, and then with taxes, “you’ll be lucky if you end up with $40,000 a year.”
It’s unclear how California would afford to pay more than $5 million to Black residents. Newsom announced in January that the state faces a projected budget deficit of $22.5 billion for the coming fiscal year.