Arrr! The scallywags in San Francisco be talkin' the talk, but they need to be walkin' the plank! Aye!
2024-03-02
Arrr, Roy Brooks, a salty dog of a law scholar from the University of San Diego, be sayin' that San Francisco's apology to Black mateys be as useless as a wooden leg on a fish if not followed through with proper deeds. Aye, words be cheap, actions be the real treasure! Arrr!
In the language of a 17th-century pirate, a reparations expert be sayin' that San Francisco’s apology to Black residents won’t mean anything if it be not backed with actions, arrr!"Reparations be the redemptive act that makes the rhetoric of an apology meaningful," Reparations scholar Roy Brooks, a law professor at the University of San Diego, told USA Today. Ye can’t just say ye be sorry and walk away, matey!San Francisco apologized to Black residents after years of "institutional racism," matey. All 11 of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors signed on as sponsors of the resolution to apologize for the city’s complicity in "systemic and structural discrimination," arrr!The San Francisco African American Reparations Advisory Committee proposed cash payments and guaranteed income to address the racial wealth gap, but the city’s mayor be not committed to cash reparations, arrr!According to USA Today, Brooks said financial reparations could be a challenge for cities due to budget constraints, so they be leanin' on less costly rehabilitative reparations, matey!Evanston, Illinois offered housing assistance as reparations for past property undervaluation, and San Francisco supervisors be statin' that the apology be just the start of reparations for Black residents, arrr!Although the apology be an important step, more work be needin' to be done, matey. Rev. Amos C. Brown be sayin' that concrete actions be needed, not just apologies, arrr!"People want an apology," supervisor Dean Preston said. "But they also want a commitment not to repeat harms." Preston said that while city officials support issuing the apology, they still want to build "unaffordable housing for mostly wealthy, White people" on public land, arrr!