Vivek Ramaswamy: Racial reparations create an incentive structure to compete to be a victim
'Nation of Victims' author Vivek Ramaswamy gives his take on racial reparations on 'America Reports.'
Republican leaders and pro-reparations activists spoke out against a recent proposal in San Francisco that Black residents of the city would receive $5 million each in reparations for policies designed to uphold the "legacy of chattel slavery," according to a committee report.
The proposal carries a huge potential price tag for the city. In 2021, with an estimated population of 815,201, the city's population was 5.7% Black, according to Axios San Francisco. As a result, giving $5 million to all Black residents of San Francisco would cost the city a total of roughly $232,332,285,000.
Under fire for the potentially multibillion-dollar proposal and facing questions on where the money would come from, some activists said the finances were not as important as the movement, according to The Washington Post.
"People propose policies all the time when they don’t necessarily know where the money is going to come from. Since when is that a requisite for advocacy?" Brittni Chicuata, the economic rights director for the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, reportedly told The Post.
Chicuata did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
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"People propose policies all the time when they don’t necessarily know where the money is going to come from. Since when is that a requisite for advocacy?" Brittni Chicuata reportedly told The Post. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
But some politicians — and even some proponents of reparations — argued that proposals for reparations should be, at the very least, financially feasible.
"There are no widely accepted formulas for paying reparations," economist and reparations advocate William A. Darity Jr. reportedly said, but the number should still be "somewhat realistic."
San Francisco is not the first place in the country to push for reparations.
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San Francisco's City Hall in California (Istock)
Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, was widely reported as the first place in the country to offer money in reparations to Black residents in 2021. In comparison to the proposal in San Francisco, the offer was a total of $400,000, with some residents becoming eligible for $25,000 in home loans.
But some critics, The Post revealed, have called that a "paltry" sum.
Chairman of the San Francisco Republican Party John Dennis blasted the proposal as unrealistic and lacking clear analysis to back up the $5 million figure.
"There are no widely accepted formulas for paying reparations," economist and reparations advocate William A. Darity Jr. reportedly said, but the number should still be "somewhat realistic." (Joshua Lott/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
"This is just a bunch of like-minded people who got in the room and came up with a number," he said.
"You’ll notice in that report, there was no justification for the number, no analysis provided. This was an opportunity to do some serious work and they blew it."
Some journalists and political commentators sounded off on the reparations proposal, arguing that slavery was never legal in the city of San Francisco.
"Slavery was never legal in San Francisco. A city committee has recommended that qualifying Black residents receive $5 million each in reparations," Washington Post reporter Tracy Jan wrote in summary.
Political commentator Ian Miles Cheong went further, arguing that California residents should not be held guilty for slavery. "Not only is the question of $5 million per black person in San Francisco in the form of reparations absurd, so is the very premise. California did not have slavery, so why are its citizens -- who were not responsible for slavery -- being asked to foot a reparations bill?"
Fox News’ Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.
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