City Government

Reparations Resolution Adopted by City Council

Published

7 years ago

July 20, 2019

The City Council this week unanimously passed Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney’s resolution in support of HR-40, the bill in Congress to study reparations to “descendants of enslaved African Americans.”

Council President Rebecca Kaplan co-authored the resolution.

Rebecca Kaplan

“This is an important time in our nation’s history where we need to seek to make right that which is wrong,” said McElhaney, speaking at Tuesday evening’s council meeting.

Congress on June 19 held its first public hearings on HR-40, which would begin studying reparations, concerning “any form of apology and compensation to descendants of enslaved. African Americans.”

“It is critically important that members of the public know about HR-40 and that we begin to support it. It will not be heard in the Senate because Senator Mitch McConnell has refused to hear this,” McElhaney said.

“We need … to step forward as we continue here in our own community to fight against the devastating long-term effects of the disparate treatment of African Americans and the long shadow of the bondage, kidnapping and rape of the children of Africa. We know it is past time for the government to make right on the promise of liberty and justice for all.”

In a letter accompanying the resolution, McElhaney called on the Council to “join me in affirming our commitment to make reparations a core value of our municipal policy making. The City of Oakland has work to do to examine, acknowledge and rectify our own historic complicity in the oppression of Black people.

“As the national debate on reparations progresses, Oakland must be a leader in making the promise of reparations real.”

The possibility of “the passage of HR-40 presents an unparalleled opportunity to redress the harms inflicted upon the descendants of the victims of America’s original sin,” she said. “In a country whose wealth and prestige was literally on the backs of African American slave labor and oppression, such discussions are a necessary first step to address the devastating effects this legacy continues to bring upon our country to this day.”

Ken Epstien

Posts by Ken Epstien

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

Published

6 days ago

July 5, 2026

Oakland Post

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Oakland Post

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Inaugural Juneteenth Awards Ceremony Celebrates the Fillmore’s Black History, Leadership and Resilience

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

Published

2 weeks ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown, Pastor Emeritus of Third Baptist Church, SF Mayor Daniel Lurie. Photo by Linda Parker Pennington.

By Linda Parker Pennington

The Fillmore Community Ambassadors held its first annual Juneteenth Wesley Johnson White Horse Awards ceremony on June 19 inside the newly reopened Fillmore Heritage Center.

The event featured awards for former San Francisco mayors London Breed and Willie Brown, along with Third Baptist Church Pastor Emeritus, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown.

The Koret Heritage lobby at the newly reopened center at 1330 Fillmore St. held a standing-room-only, culturally diverse and multi-generational audience while the art gallery featured photos of Fillmore community members in action, red Japanese lanterns, art and calligraphy, and Chinese artwork, giving the space a multicultural feel.

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood acknowledged that “the Fillmore community has had a difficult history. Thanks to Rev. Amos Brown’s continuous focus on accountability and resistance, you hold us accountable and continue to inspire us.”

Mahmoud is referring to the Fillmore’s Japanese residents who were forced from their homes and sent to concentration camps during World War II. Black people occupied those homes until the return of their Japanese neighbors and then gave them back, while homes that had been unoccupied were lost. The presence of the Asian community on Juneteenth is a testament to that shared history.

In receiving his honor, Amos Brown elicited a powerful spontaneous call-and-response, where members of San Francisco’s many Black churches proudly shouted out the names: “Bethel AME! Providence Baptist! Jones Memorial! Glide!”

Awards program Master of Ceremonies Shawn Richards of Brothers Against Guns warmly introduced Breed, highlighting her many accomplishments, particularly on “March 16, 2020, when she became the first mayor to shut down a major U.S. city due to COVID-19, saving thousands of lives.”

The audience was captivated by Breed’s emotional speech touching on past traumas, present conditions, and future hopes for the neighborhood where she grew up.

She recalled another trauma of the neighborhood during the City’s redevelopment era in the 1960s, where Black residents were forced to move with a promise of being able to return that was largely unfulfilled.

“We remember when this land was just a field because they bulldozed hundreds of Victorian homes that Black people owned. They built the Fillmore Center, where most Black people can’t afford to live or start their own business. But we are still here.”