Reparations experts say San Francisco’s apology to black residents is a start, but not enough

Experts say if this week’s apology by San Francisco leaders to the city’s Black residents for decades of discrimination is going to be a first step toward reparations, the steps that follow must be carefully considered for the apology to prove meaningful. On Tuesday, the 11-member San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution apologizing “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.” Reparations scholar Roy Brooks, a professor of law at the University of San Diego and editor of the 1999 book, “When Sorry Isn’t Enough: The Controversy Over Apologies and Reparations for Human Injustice,” said an apology alone was not sufficient. “Reparations are the redemptive act that makes the rhetoric of an apology meaningful,” Brooks said. “You can’t just say you’re sorry and walk away.” While the move makes San Francisco among just a few U.S. municipalities to declare intent to make amends for past racist policies, the resolution is the only action taken thus far from more than 100 recommendations submitted by the city’s reparations advisory committee. Among the committee’s other proposals: A lump-sum payment of...