Activism

San Francisco Mid-Year Budget Cuts Leaves Office of Reparations in the Wind

In an October letter sent to department heads, Breed stated that the city is projected to face a $500 million deficit by the 2025-26 fiscal year. These budget cuts will ensure that the city can continue to invest in its top priorities. This means cutting proposed programs that have not yet started, including the Office of Reparations.

Published

2 years ago

December 15, 2023

Magaly Muñoz

San Francisco Mayor London Breed (official photo) and Rev. Amos Brown, member NAACP National Board of Directors.

By Magaly Muñoz

Earlier this month, San Francisco Mayor London Breed approved $75 million in mid-year budget cuts, which included $4 million that was intended for the first of its kind Office of Reparations.

The funds had originally been approved in a June Board of Supervisors meeting to establish the reparations office in city hall and fund it for two years but is now on the chopping block to conserve spending in the city is still dealing as it grapples with the severe impacts of the pandemic.

Breed has long been criticized for her stance on the issue of reparations coming from the local level, stating her belief that any payments to individuals should be handled at the federal level.

“The Mayor also does not believe that addressing the needs of the African American community requires adding more bureaucracy and a whole new office; this work can be done with existing staffing,” said Parisa Safarzadeh, the mayor’s press secretary, in an email to the Post.

Safarzadeh explained that Breed has and will continue to uplift marginalized communities with programs like the Dreamkeeper Initiative (DKI) to address inequities in the African American community and Opportunities for All, which provides all high school students in San Francisco with a paid internship.

Reverend Amos Brown, a member of the SF African American Reparations Advisory Committee (SFAARAC), expressed that while monetary compensation doesn’t have to be distributed locally, public policies should be enacted to address the racial gap and inequities of the Black community.

“They need to move forward with deliberate speed, working with the Black community to ensure that the low-hanging fruit is delivered regarding health care services, education, economic empowerment, jobs, and restorative justice programs for those coming out of this criminal justice system. That would give us reparations,” Brown said.

The SFAARAC was formed in December 2020 to research and develop recommendations for repairing the harm done to the Black community of San Francisco.

In July, they submitted their final report of recommendations to the mayor and Board of Supervisors. The report proposed a payout of $5 million to individuals who could prove direct ancestral ties to slavery and included other recommendations aimed at improving education, health, and economic development.

Efforts to implement reparations on a national level have largely been unsuccessful. However, advocates like Kamm Howard continue pushing for a committee’s establishment as we approach an election year.

He says that the Biden administration should issue an executive order establishing a reparations committee because it would show his commitment to uplifting Black people in America, as they are the largest voter group after white voters. He needs the Black vote to win another presidential election.

In 2022, Howard founded Reparations United to provide guidance and leadership to coalitions and activists involved in the reparations movement. He also led the revisions to the federal bill H.R. 40, which seeks to establish a commission to study and develop reparation proposals for African Americans.

Howard expressed that even if individuals today claim they aren’t racist or their ancestors didn’t own slaves, everyone has to contribute to the repairs that address the generational damage inflicted on Black and African Americans.

“Everyone who benefits from the status of America and the wealth of America, all has to contribute to the remedy of unjust actions by this country,” Howard said.

He says that local and state governments also owe it to their Black citizens to acknowledge the harm that their policies and laws have done to them. All states have the power to enact change and form committees, like California has attempted to do with their state Reparations Task Force, and should be supported at every level of government.

Brown said it should not take so long to put a plan in action to give some sort of restorative justice back to the community. He points out that the fight is about much more than allocating $4 million for a department for reparations, which is an insulting number to fight about when the rightful compensation owed to African Americans is many times greater.

“It’s time for San Francisco to lead the way and respect the humanity of Black people,” Brown said.

Magaly Muñoz

A graduate of Sacramento State University, Magaly Muñoz’s journalism experience includes working for the State Hornet, the university’s student-run newspaper and conducting research and producing projects for “All Things Considered” at National Public Radio. She also was a community reporter for El Timpano, serving Latino and Mayan communities, and contributed to the Sacramento Observer, the area’s African American newspaper.

Muñoz is one of 40 early career journalists who are part of the California Local News Fellowship program, a state-funded initiative designed to strengthen local news reporting in California, with a focus on underserved communities.

The fellowship program places journalism fellows throughout the state in two-year, full-time reporting positions.

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Magaly Muñoz

A graduate of Sacramento State University, Magaly Muñoz’s journalism experience includes working for the State Hornet, the university’s student-run newspaper and conducting research and producing projects for “All Things Considered” at National Public Radio. She also was a community reporter for El Timpano, serving Latino and Mayan communities, and contributed to the Sacramento Observer, the area’s African American newspaper. Muñoz is one of 40 early career journalists who are part of the California Local News Fellowship program, a state-funded initiative designed to strengthen local news reporting in California, with a focus on underserved communities. The fellowship program places journalism fellows throughout the state in two-year, full-time reporting positions.

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Activism

The Ladies of Delta Sigma Theta Hold Day of Advocacy at the Capitol in Sacramento

A member of the “Divine Nine,” Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., was founded on Jan. 13, 1913, at Howard University in Washington, D.C. The organization was established by 22 women who sought to shift the group’s focus from social activities to public service, academic excellence, and social activism.

Published

34 minutes ago

May 17, 2026

Oakland Post

Sen. Laura Richardson (D-San Pedro) presents a Senate resolution to the Delta Theta Sigma Sorority Farwest Region at the State Capitol on May 4. Photo courtesy of the Senate Rules Committee.

By Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media

On May 4, members of the Farwest Region of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., convened at the California State Capitol for the organization’s 23rd annual Delta Days in Sacramento.

The two-day advocacy event brings together chapters from across California to engage directly in the legislative process, connect with lawmakers, and advocate for policies impacting Black communities.

Members of the sorority were honored on the Senate floor by Sen. Laura Richardson (D-San Pedro), who is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta.

Richardson welcomed the Farwest Region during the presentation of a Senate resolution recognizing outgoing Regional Director Kimberly Usher for her leadership and service.

“In addition to the Far West Region, we are led by a fearless leader, regional director Kimberly Usher. She has now served her full term of what’s allowed,” Richardson said. “We are going to be having our regional conference, but we wanted to give it to her here, officially recognizing her service.”

The resolution was co-authored by Richardson and fellow members of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) and Delta Sigma Theta, Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson (D-San Diego) and Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom (D-Stockton).

Usher has served in the leadership role since 2022.

“We are founded on sisterhood that is deeply rooted in scholarship, service, and social action,” said Weber Pierson, a member of the Gamma Alpha chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

“Today, we continue a legacy of empowering communities and upholding the high cultural, intellectual, and moral standards established by our founders over a century ago,” she added.

Oakland Post

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Activism

Rep. Kamlager-Dove Introduces Bill to Protect Women in Custody After Reports Detailing Miscarriages and Neglect

The Pregnant Women in Custody Act would expand safeguards beyond the federal prison system to include women detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Office of Refugee Resettlement. The proposal follows reports of pregnant women being shackled, denied medical care and suffering miscarriages while in immigration detention.

Published

40 minutes ago

May 17, 2026

Oakland Post

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By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA-37) on May 7, reintroduced updated legislation aimed at strengthening protections and healthcare standards for pregnant and postpartum women held in federal custody, including in immigration detention facilities.

The Pregnant Women in Custody Act would expand safeguards beyond the federal prison system to include women detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Office of Refugee Resettlement. The proposal follows reports of pregnant women being shackled, denied medical care and suffering miscarriages while in immigration detention.

The legislation builds on a bipartisan version previously passed by the House during the 117th Congress. The updated bill includes new standards for healthcare access, mental health and substance use treatment, high-risk pregnancy care, family unity protections and increased federal oversight.

“Proper pregnancy care is a human right, regardless of your immigration or incarceration status,” Kamlager-Dove said in a statement. “It’s unacceptable that there are virtually no legal safeguards for pregnant women in federal custody.”

The bill would also limit the use of restraints and restrictive housing for pregnant women, improve data collection on maternal health in custody and require additional staff training and enforcement measures.

Supporters of the measure said the legislation is intended to address long-standing concerns about maternal healthcare and safety in detention settings, particularly for Black women and low-income women who are disproportionately impacted by incarceration and health disparities.

“Pregnant women in custody should never be subjected to dangerous and inhumane treatment that threatens their health, dignity, or the well-being of their babies,” said Patrice Willoughby, chief of policy and legislative affairs for the NAACP and a longtime public policy and government affairs strategist, in a statement.

A 2021 report estimated there are about 58,000 admissions of pregnant women into U.S. jails and prisons each year. Kamlager’s statement also cited a recent investigation by NBC News and Bloomberg Law that identified allegations of severe mistreatment or medical neglect involving at least 54 pregnant women or families in county jails between 2017 and 2024.

Federal policy under the Department of Homeland Security restricts the detention of pregnant, postpartum and nursing immigrants except in extreme cases. However, the agency reported that ICE deported 363 pregnant, postpartum or nursing women between January 2025 and February 2026, including 16 recorded miscarriages during that period.

The bill is cosponsored by several House Democrats and backed by organizations including the NAACP and the Vera Institute of Justice.

Oakland Post

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Activism

OPINION: The Fire of Oakland’s Justin Jones

Jones made headlines three years ago when he was one of a pair of Justins. Along with fellow State Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis), he fought their removal from the state house in Tennessee and won reinstatement. Now, Pearson is running for Congress and Jones is still fighting for all of us.

Published

58 minutes ago

May 17, 2026

Oakland Post

Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville). File photo.

By Emil Amok Guillermo

You may know Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville).

He grew up in Oakland and the East Bay. His mother is Filipino. You can tell by his full name Justin Shea Bautista Jones.

His father is African American.

He is fighting for all of us.

Now, Pearson is running for Congress and Jones is still fighting for all of us.

The recent 6-3 Supreme Court decision barring the use of race in drawing congressional districts marks a major turning point in U.S. history.

The decision took away the Voting Rights Act’s power to assure minority voices were both heard and represented.

“What we’re seeing now is this new Jim Crow system in which Black and Brown communities are without voice in our political process,” he told Fredricka Whitfield on CNN last weekend.

“That’s a canary in the coal mine for the rest of the nation. If they come for one of us, they’re coming for all of us, and some of my message to America is that the South is the front line of democracy,” Jones said. “They are dismantling multi-racial democracy here in the South, in states like Tennessee and Louisiana. But they aren’t going to stop here.”

That’s why Jones said we have to start paying attention to the South, and start helping them fight back there,” he said.

“I want to be clear that this terror, this type of system they’re enacting, are the same systems my grandparents told me about who grew up in Tennessee, a system where people like me couldn’t even be in political office. That’s the time they’re bringing us back to and I’m not sounding the alarm to be alarmist. But I am sounding it because we’ve seen this before in our history.”

Jones talked about Reconstruction and about what happened between the end of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1960s, when there was no Black political representation.

It’s a rebellion to keep our democracy going forward, he said.

“Stand with us and help us fight back against this extremist power grab — this racist power grab against our vision of a multi-racial democracy,” Jones added.

“While there is a litigation strategy, it’s important to maintain what he called a “movement strategy” that leads to the largest voter mobilization and registration that has ever been seen in the South,” he encouraged.

In 2026.

“Tennessee is an oppressed state,” Jones said. “It’s a state where one in five Black voters can’t vote because of felony disenfranchisement. It is where you can use a gun permit to vote, but you can’t use a student ID card to vote.

That’s the Asian American African American voice of Justin Jones.

Read his words for inspiration.

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a veteran journalist, commentator, and comic stage monologist. His new show “69, Emil Amok: Anchorman—The News Made Me Do It,” is at the San Diego Fringe at New Destiny/Lincoln Park, 4931 Logan Ave. Ste. 102. May 14-23, at various times. Get tickets here.