NO SLAVERY, NO MONEY, NO PROBLEM: The SF Reparations GoFundMe

City Hall approves $5M payouts with an empty wallet and a billion-dollar deficit.

The Context: San Francisco has officially moved from “apology to action” by creating a formal Reparations Fund. The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to set up the infrastructure for $5 million lump-sum payments and $97,000 guaranteed annual incomes for eligible residents.

The Squeeze: There’s just one hitch: the city is currently staring down a $1 billion budget hole. Mayor Lurie signed the legislation but made it clear that not a single cent of taxpayer money is actually attached to it. It’s a legal bucket with a hole in the bottom, waiting for “private donations” to fall from the sky. It’s the ultimate political magic trick—passing a law that costs nothing because it has nothing.

[OUR TAKE] “The city is passing a hat and calling it a ‘historic measure.’ It’s the most San Francisco thing ever: high on virtue, low on cash, and 100% performative. If the government is ‘studying’ how to give you money they don’t have, you’re not a citizen—you’re a prop.”