SAN FRANCISCO — Supervisors in San Francisco formally apologized Tuesday to African Americans and their descendants for the city’s role in perpetuating racism and discrimination.
“On behalf of the City and County of San Francisco, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors offers its deepest apologies to all African Americans and their descendants who came to San Francisco and were victims of systemic and structural discrimination, institutional racism, targeted acts of violence, and atrocities,” the resolution reads in part.
All 11 board members signed on as sponsors of the resolution.
It is the first reparations recommendation of more than 100 proposals made by a city committee to win approval.
The African American Reparations Advisory Committee also proposed that every eligible Black adult receive a $5 million lump-sum cash payment and a guaranteed income of nearly $100,000 a year to remedy San Francisco’s deep racial wealth gap.
But there has been no action on those and other proposals. Mayor London Breed, who is Black, said she believes reparations should be handled at the national level.
San Francisco joins another major U.S. city, Boston, in issuing an apology. Nine states have formally apologized for slavery, according to the resolution.