Inside San Francisco's plan to give black people $5m | Documentary

oh my God San Francisco perhaps America's most liberal City its most recent innovation has been to push for reparations cash payments for its black citizens to write the historic wrong of slavery I fight before right now it's proponents pushing for five million dollars a piece however with the city facing an unprecedented rise in homelessness drug overdoses and crime I wanted to find out why local officials were so keen on handing over millions of dollars they can barely afford and whether America's obsession with race will heal the wounds of time or push an already divided population to the brink first stop a black Festival celebrating Juneteenth where City punters gathered to commemorate the end of slavery in America on do you think that black people should get reparations for slavery yes but not necessarily what you think do you think [Music] I'm British y'all was enslaving people in the 1400s y'all had our jewels in your crowns so are you saying British people had nothing to do with slavery absolutely no absolutely no is that what you're saying no no absolutely no so I'm saying again that's why I said but to be fair to Britain I mean we did abolish the slave trade in 1807. 1807. the transatlantic slag but you know what happens when you're abolish something it goes black market so do you think I should pay for reparations yeah um do you think you should don't matter what I think because it's up to you if you're going to share the wealth of your father and then when people people it was a long time ago but historically I had to deal with intergenerational Trump of slavery you don't and you as a white man you get to make the decision if you want to share the wealth that you have pillaged from the world so do you think you should be a part of the reparations yeah yeah did you know that a lot of white people in England were enslaved by the Barbary pirates in the Northwest they were Muslim they were sort of from North Africa um did I know that no [Music] the point I'm making I suppose is that every group throughout history has had some kind of enslavement or discrimination or problems and it sort of where does it end so because in the 1200 series yeah and evidently you've recovered now where's my recovery people are here that are suffering they have no place to go back if I have somewhere to go back to and leave America I will leave tomorrow everyone else in this country Chinese will go back to China Arabic can go back to everybody I have nowhere to go back to one of the things that they're looking into in San Francisco is paying black families or black people five million dollars each as slavery reparations wow I don't know if you've heard of this story no I have not what do you think not very hard to believe but that would be amazing even if I wasn't black I wouldn't mind paying for a mistake that happened years ago you know because it's the right thing to do so if you were white you wouldn't mind paying for the reparations no do you think that maybe you should pay the reparations money well I mean it's a really good question but no I don't because I don't feel like I or my family had anything to do with that do you think that San Francisco is a racist City yes yes what kind of experiences have you had as a black woman in San Francisco you know what have you experienced personally I can't say that I've had any person to person racist systematically yes [Music] [Applause] [Music] to find out more about the reparations proposals I met up with Nicole Cunningham a member of San Francisco's 15-person committee investigating how to make the policy work hi hello how are you I'm doing fantastic I'm Nicole I'm on a reparations um committee we go back I used to go to his kids well we did we taken all the civil rights leaders and we made them out of kids and we put story lines on it now just give me that poster that poster is good so we put story lines and it's called someday right take up we're getting a little bit of that reparation we all go get a piece of that pie sure you know what I'm I'm standing firm and believe that we are okay maker but it sounds like you don't believe that you might get these reparations oh uh you know what I believe in God you understand what I'm saying so if it's meant to be God is gonna make it happen for the Believers would you like to give your input on reparations in San Francisco you want to give us your two cents I mean I I supported the state reparations house for us and we're going to be taking that up at the state level last year and it's just a super important issue to make good on the harm that was done thank you thank you I think it's incredibly important kind of city of Florida right in the state budget so the city will make sense [Music] but foreign thank you so so much my two cents that I added which is find the money money was sent to Ukraine no one asked us hey Nicole can we send this money to Ukraine they just found the money and sent it I said what are the things that are necessary what are people absolutely using in San Francisco that's a must water garbage internet cable you adding even five cents to these things you have millions and millions if not billions of dollars who's going to say I'm not going to give those people reparations to turn my water off no one Middle School all right you see the heat you feel like heat we just walked through the heat so we've got sun is 19 years old and you said he's just tell me about him what's what's he doing my son my son is Emmanuel Laurie he goes by Manning money and he's non-binary and but he will totally answer to he she or they but I knew he was going to be part of the lgbtq community when he was two years old he just had certain mannerisms I forced my my kids my son because he's so 19. but we do energy healing therapy which actually breaks up with trauma trauma therapy is what it's called an astrologist in our first meeting she said to me was your mom dead or is your mom dead or was she dead or absent I was like no I was raised with her but what she got she said your mom is a black hole to me she's a black hole she's not lying what do you say to the opponents of the reparations they say well actually in San Francisco we never had slavery in California there never was slavery so reparations for slavery here in San Francisco seems a bit strange there's a lot of policy still today right right now me having to Sue and spend my own money to sue my employer because I was disabled and don't think the overtone is not racism minus happen to be of disability discrimination but this absolutely comes from the top of white people this is because the white supremacy is ingrained in the DNA in this country and definitely in the city and not to mention my supervisor was black they will use black people to harm black people that in itself is priceless and unbelievable when I say straight white man what do you think what comes to mind [Music] straight white man privileged and even though he's privileged he has a lot of wrong and I say that because even straight white men are abusive straight white men are silverier killers they have the most I watch these shows the most serial killers straight white men are the ones who are shooting up schools right so they're a danger to society not all of them a lot of them no no not no I cannot say all for anybody but a lot of straight white men are mentally ill in a way that I would never want to be a mother of us of my children and my children went and took a gun that I gave them at 18 and killed up his friends not everyone agrees with reparations to discuss an alternative view I sat down with the academic and former member of President Trump's 1776 commission Dr Carol Swain do you think that it's it's quite divisive asking for reparations from one group to hand it to another group asking for reparations at this moment in American history when so many Americans are suffering I cannot think of a worse time to be stirring the pot of racial conflict and we already have increased uh hatred against white people and Asians that I believe is fueled by this whole aggressive movement that seems to blame other people for decisions that people make on their own some people say this is about writing the wrongs of slavery this is about helping black people because the legacy of slavery is still prevalent today what do you make of that argument I would say that trillions of dollars have been spent to try to address the past and present effects of discrimination against blacks and the money that has been spent ever since emancipation has improved the lives of some but in many cases it's not reached the force of the poor I have no confidence that any type of reparations pay it out under the circumstances to the people that are running the show would make a difference in the lives of average people and it would probably make them worse off it's always about creating conflict and finding some way to feather their own nests Tom Del bacaro has lived in the San Francisco Bay area for some decades a former chairman of the California Republicans he is now a commentator and an author I caught up with him to find out how the city has changed in recent years San Francisco is an iconic City and yet today you can look at it and you can just see hundreds of homeless people shooting up drugs crime obviously skyrocketing can you maybe talk a bit about San Francisco's rise and then its fall I remember the first time I traveled abroad and I told people I lived outside of San Francisco and they looked at me as if you know I came from the holy land and as with other places in history that get really rich you have politicians who come in and think we need to redistribute things instead of ensuring people get jobs California and San Francisco over the last 70 years have moved from what was this business opportunity state to this what I call a social justice state they've run up huge deficits they run up huge spending bills they concentrate on what makes politicians feel good about buying votes instead of that people's actual lives so it was a great place but it is now a perfect example of how bad government policies can ruin a place and now it's more known for its homelessness and people leaving the state than for its industry like Hollywood and Tech my cameraman and I decided to see the city for ourselves to investigate the extent of the homeless crisis [Applause] [Music] yeah how many in one day would you normally maybe 50 or more 50 or more yeah wow we are used to this we have it three days that's three days worth like this yeah this is after some time riding around the city's self-described transgender District this happened so we were just filming downtown in San Francisco some of the worst areas with the homeless people with people taking drugs open-air drug dealing in the streets and I was in my car with my cameraman and as you can see they threw a bottle through the window of our car before that they were actually throwing if you come around here you can see a bit of some of the stuff they've thrown at us the food things like that kind of all over my arm and uh yeah just a real shock after our welcoming San Francisco I wanted to find out how neighboring Oakland was coping with similar issues Oakland unlike San Francisco has a significant black population [Music] in this neighborhood the Black Panthers were incubated I hooked up with a local community organizer and member of the NAACP Seneca Scott whose relatives include Martin Luther King Jr hello good morning Stephen nice to meet you Seneca coming up I really appreciate it thanks for having me let's go in all right watch your step thank you thank you you're welcome so you're a big fan of the Second Amendment I just don't post an auditor all the pictures of black eyes back in the 70s with big ass girls Malcolm met by the window with a two banana clips taped to each other and the twos of those tactics been firearms legally owned Firearms as an American I have a legal closet it's a second amendment this is illegal it's illegal all this is illegal can have that it's everything's license what why why do you like guns so much that's your last line of defense right now we have a 19 minute wait if we call 9-1-1 before they pick up so you think the reparations that they're proposing is divisive and trying to make different groups go against each other the timing and everything about it right now is absolutely mental divided so I'm gonna show you something real quick this is an inviting of a very tight-knit group that just went through how the Indian eviction more time that affecting us are you see this group yeah this is that group that's talking Asian yeah La Tuna black white very very motivational all United we had a political fight and I helped them organize it we ended those moratorium and now all of a sudden this group is faction why operation so you're basically saying this is an example of a group that was United behind something but now has been divided by the reparations issue very much so because there are people here who feel like Asians have suffers it's Asian lady yeah so they know people are put any oppression because this is the point every group can say we've suffered some kind of abuse throughout history I mean even white people in England this is dangerous the Swiffer is slow but here's what I believe when I just say it here because it's the easiest thing to get out I do have a revelation of palaces and I think everyone can agree with for the next 20 years or 30 years if you're black and let's just say for Simplest to the sake we know what that means if you don't pay any taxes no capital gains tax no Dev talk we can leave a sales tax out because it's too high well that has been said that there's no Recreations without compensation okay fine everybody gets ten thousand dollars okay can you understand why some people would still find that unacceptable I mean you're basically saying that that certain groups are responsible for the actions of their ancestors so they're having I mean someone's got to pay for the taxes someone's got to pay for the ten thousand government's responsible in the American government pay if I'm a poor white guy in a trailer park uh versus a rich black guy who's been born into wealth which there are many people black people who've been born into world yeah exactly and there's many white people who are poor right so if you suddenly see these rich black people getting tax breaks getting ten thousand dollars each and there's me and I'm getting nothing can you see why that's why why they would see that as being unfair absolutely um but then when you talk to people today they're going to say I don't care we've had all these opportunities what have you been doing with them so I'll tell you a story I used to tell the young people to see if I could radicalize them in one story because the power of Naruto our guys would have fun from college and they went to an elite Ivy League school together and uh one's black and one's white and the white guy from a very elite family and out in the slander the switch in Colorado tens of thousands of acres in the eating and drinking some whiskey and having cigars to sunsets around the fire Ernest says you know it's one of the best days ever it was fun the black guy says to the white guy this is um beautiful land how'd you get it and God's just oh man my um my father left it to me so that's pretty cool it wasn't it is what the hell he was like that's awesome what did he get it and he just got swelled up with pride and he was like he fought for it and the black guy throws his twins down stands up looks in my eyes and said I fight you for it right now take it back so do you know anyone who's against the reparation that's black yeah no Seneca had set us up to speak with his friend Vincent a campaigner who helps homeless people get off the streets well yo yo we met up in a communal Farm Seneca had founded to feed locals in need the city man so we're here today I know you have an opinion so what's the crime like here in San Francisco and Oakland it's disgusting it's absolutely disgusting uh I got shot in the head I got shot in the head right here they shot up my car 16 times so am I right in saying that you were once homeless for 26 years I'm 35 today I'll be 36 in October and from 9 until October of 2021 I lived on these streets if you look at me today you wouldn't think that I was nine years old out here eating out of trash cans sleeping on bus stop benches being raped being locked in Vans being taken advantage of you wouldn't imagine that to survive at 11 years old I sold my body on the streets because I just wanted to stay warm how did you break out of this cycle people like Seneca black people who were willing to get honest about the black experience right not enable my BS and be willing to guide me with care and compassion that's what got me comfortable in the seeking mental health assistance do you blame the progressive politicians for this homeless crisis I do I definitely do not enough people are willing to be honest with themselves about this this liberal based agenda and what what it's actually heading towards how it's financially funded what the incentives are to keep enabling people to live this kind of degradation one of those things those elected officials are proposing in San Francisco and across California is reparations for black people maybe five million dollars per black person if four years ago you would have given me five million dollars I would have smoked it up and I would have died on that pipe I wouldn't have held on it to it for very long I would have bought a bunch of random stuff that I don't even need I would have sold it for dope you're talking about giving a whole population more money than they know what to do with I understand some people feel like they deserve reparations but maybe that could be done in a different fashion so this is better than it's been in a while and not not saying a lot considering the children have to still play here next to this there were 16 encampments in 2018 there's like over 700 now with a promised land of milk and fencing off how much uh trash was removed from here you said 700 tons how do the progressives be do they like you oh no they hate me I'm Donald Trump a president they have centiped Arrangements syndrome okay there's a lot of boats they're going to find boats everywhere why how would you describe this place our student has collapsed we've lost rule of law we have we have people in there who have no accountability to neighbor their lie they're corrupt and they bought them so by The non-fibers Who benefit from the staff this difference between San Francisco and here San Francisco doesn't have that The Crazies we have more than like this we're going to always find people muttering to themselves around Clinton or Island interacting traffic so this is fentanyl Island yeah right here right here they call it that um my detected from OPD regularly finds uh they regularly find bodies thrown up in here it was the bumper of a car sitting there by the playground it's always about so drugs is a huge problem in Oakland massive Urban Safari the modern progressives Who Run San Francisco are in stark contrast with their predecessors Seneca was Keen for us to meet one such old school liberal a local artist called Bruce whose Works have been on display around the world Hello nice to meet you Stephen okay Stephen how are you doing the pawn wow that's a good question uh the Atlantic yeah yeah I thought you're another limey absolutely I'm from London wow I'm here to get back to work look at this so this is all your work Bruce this is all mine my studio I designed and built this building I moved to West Oakland in 1962. I'll show you what it looked like that's that's what it looked like so this is just across the road just right across that's the building right there yeah now there's trees and all but it was empty there were no doors and windows no electricity no Plumbing the first thing I got engaged with the West Oakland had never had street lights I don't mean there were old dim ones there had never been street lights and there's no question about what why that was it was because it's primarily black neighborhood I found out that at the electric company would pay for the installation of the lights if the city just paid the bill and I had an intuition that that was the crack in the wall that was early enough that there was real shame on the city's part and we had street lights in two months wow so how do you feel about the community now because we just got driven around some of the areas and it looks exactly like this we've gotten to the point where there is a city council that is so far liberal that they have abandoned in effect the regular citizens there's a sense on a certain number of Voters that they feel bad about the homeless problem and the approach of not enforcing the laws somehow makes them feel better but it's a catastrophe and and so we end up with neighborhoods that are unlivable one of the proposals from the San Francisco city government is to give reparations to black people I haven't heard any serious discussions of how you're going to determine who would get that and what would be effective and how do you protect people who are not very sophisticated who are suddenly going to get a whole bunch of money I guarantee you that the people the furthest ahead on the planning on this are the criminals that are setting up scams if you don't really think out these programs they end up doing a great deal of damage America's long-fought civil rights battle was won by people like Bruce yet today the Democrats seem determined to fight old fights as if nothing has changed since the days of the Jim Crow laws or even slavery the reparations policy in San Francisco will almost certainly never happen though it serves as a useful campaign strategy for local politicians who have abandoned the city to crime and drugs and instead prefer to focus on reopening past wounds [Music]

Channel: The Telegraph

Views: 245,003

Keywords: Telegraph, News, san francisco homeless, san francisco, san francisco homeless problem, san francisco crime, california issues, san francisco dirty streets, crime, san francisco police, homeless, tenderloin, london breed, sf drug arrests, sf public defecation, unhoused in san francisco, san francisco worst hoods, the tenderloin san francisco, san francisco reparations, san francisco reparations plan, african american reparations, california reparations, black reparations

Id: r93D5bWD3iI

Length: 27min 34sec (1654 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 21 2023