On reparations for Black residents, the time for action in San Francisco is now |
The Fillmore Heritage Center, pictured in 2019, could be the focal point of Black culture in the neighborhood that was once known as “the Harlem of the West.”
Seventy years ago, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus in Montgomery, Ala. The time for waiting for things to change was over: The time for action had arrived.
Five years ago, San Francisco created the African American Reparations Advisory Committee to address discrimination and inequities that have affected the city’s Black community for generations. I sat on that committee, and the report it issued in 2023 made 101 recommendations for “specific actions” to right these historic wrongs.
The only response until this week had been an apology. On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors approved the establishment of a public-private fund to pay for some of those recommended actions — and allocated not a penny.
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An apology without action and a fund without an allocation are not reparations.
The time for waiting is over. The time for action has arrived.
The city can make a start by setting aside funding that would finally enable the Fillmore Heritage Center, which closed in 2019, to reopen under the management of local community leaders and realize its full potential as the focal point of Black culture in........