San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors and the county have issued an official apology to the city’s Black residents for centuries of “systemic and structural discrimination, targeted acts of violence and atrocities,” according to a seven-page resolution from the board.
The city’s supervisors formally apologized on Feb. 27 in a resolution signed by all 11 board members, the Associated Press reported.
The document acknowledges San Francisco’s lengthy history of creating and enforcing laws, policies and institutions that have led to racial inequity in the city, where the effects of redlining since 1937 are still seen today.
“Eighty-seven percent of redlined neighborhoods in San Francisco are low-income neighborhoods currently undergoing gentrification and Black residents have the lowest home ownership rates at 31%,” according to the resolution brought forth on Feb. 15 by the city’s supervisory board.
The city’s move to issue an official, blanket policy to its Black community for slavery and its lasting effects makes San Francisco one of fewer than 20 local or state governments to do so, according to the African American Redress Network.
“We have much more work to do but this apology most certainly is an important step,” said supervisor Shamann Walton, the resolution’s chief proponent and the board’s only Black member, according to the AP.
Boston became the first major United States city in 2022 to pass a similar resolution apologizing for its role in slavery with a pledge to repair past and present harms done to Black people.
Nine states including Florida, Maryland, New Jersey and North Carolina have issued apologies for their histories of “discrimination, violence and impact in the enslavement” of Black people, according to the resolution. California was admitted to the union in 1850 as a free state.
San Francisco County is made up of around 5.7 percent Black people and 50.8 percent white people,…
Read the full article here
