San Francisco issues apology to Black residents for decades of discrimination

The city of San Francisco has issued a formal apology to Black residents for systemic racist and discriminatory policies over past decades.

The board of supervisors for the city in a unanimous vote approved a resolution offering the apology.

“This historic resolution apologizes on behalf of San Francisco to the African American community and their descendants for decades of systemic and structural discrimination, targeted acts of violence, atrocities as well as committing to the rectification and redress of past policies and misdeeds,” supervisor Shamann Walton said. 

The resolution identified actions including redlining, the razing of the Fillmore neighborhood and policies and practices enacted by the city that stalled Black residents’ opportunities to build generational wealth.

Several of the 11 board members indicated the resolution could be the first step toward reparations for the city’s Black residents. 

Walton, the only Black member of the board, said there is “much more work to do but this apology most certainly is an important step.”

The apology follows a list of recommendations issued by the city’s African American Reparations Advisory Committee last year. 

In addition to a formal apology, the recommendations also included providing a lump-sum of a $5 million payment to every eligible adult and a guaranteed income of nearly $100,000 each year. 

Proponents argued reparations are required to help address the rising racial wealth gap. 

The recommendations also called for investing $4 million into a reparations office for the city, but Mayor London Breed, who is Black, nixed the idea. 

San Francisco joins Boston and nine states in issuing a formal apology for slavery, the resolution said. 

San Francisco’s apology comes at a time of a renewed push for reparations among both state and federal leadership. 

Last year, the California Reparations Task Force voted on a series of proposals to provide descendants of slavery living in the state up to $1.2 million each. 

At the federal level, Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) in May 2023 unveiled a resolution urging the federal government to provide reparations to descendants of enslaved Africans and people of African descent.