Local Reparations Programs

Evanston plans to send $25,000 reparations checks to 44 Black residents as part of its local reparations program. In contrast, San Francisco residents have mobilized to shut down a reparations fund, arguing the initiative is dividing the city.

Several San Francisco residents and the Californians for Equal Rights Foundation, represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation, have filed a lawsuit against the City and County of San Francisco challenging a new ordinance that creates a reparations fund exclusively for Black residents. Filed Thursday, the suit argues that allowing taxpayer money to flow into the fund would violate the Equal Protection Clause by discriminating on the basis of race and ancestry, and seeks to block the city from supporting what plaintiffs call a "race‑based" program. Attorney Andrew Quinio says the Constitution requires the city to address proven harms directly, not through sweeping racial classifications, and that taxpayers should not be compelled to subsidize a race‑restricted benefit. Plaintiff Richie Greenberg, a self‑described centrist‑conservative Democrat, says he organized opposition via a website after the ordinance was "pushed through regardless of its legality" and that the fund is "dividing the city" by favoring one racial group. The ordinance, passed by the Board of Supervisors in December and signed by Mayor Daniel Lurie two days before Christmas, sets up the legal framework for a Black reparations fund financed by private and other non‑city sources; any future taxpayer‑funded payouts would still require separate legislation, identified funding and mayoral approval, which Lurie has downplayed given a reported $1 billion city budget deficit.