Zack Moore

nationalreview.com/news/who-… I don’t want to pick a fight with those who genuinely believe that reparations are a good idea, although doing so is tempting, especially at 37,000 feet with nothing better to do. But I do think it’s important to point out that many of those who claim to support the logic of paying every eligible black person $5 million have refused to contribute a single penny to the cause. Consider the extraordinary virtue signaling coming out San Francisco this month. Here’s the short version, in case the article is behind a paywall. An ordinance creating a reparations fund for Black residents in San Francisco has finally been signed into law, but the program lacks an identified source of funding. Mayor Daniel Lurie has stated that no city funds will be used, (even though he signed the law!) emphasizing the fund's reliance on private donations…none of which have been received. In other words, no one who pushed this preposterous idea forward has pledged a penny toward its practical implementation. I refer specifically to the philanthropists on The San Francisco Board of Supervisors: The 11-member star chamber who unanimously approved the legislation on December 16, 2025. More specifically, I refer to Supervisors Chan, Chen, Dorsey, Fielder, Mahmood, Mandelman, Melgar, Sauter, Sherrill, Walton, and Wong. The San Francisco Human Rights Commission is now tasked with overseeing this fund, which is intended to accept private donations to support recommendations from the African American Reparations Advisory Committee. Again - no many has been contributed. Not a penny. But the city has already spent approximately $217,000 on stipends for the reparations committee members who developed the proposal. If you think the whole thing sounds merely crazy, consider the math. The major cost component of the proposal is the $5 million payment for each black citizen who is 18 years or older. The Census Bureau estimates there are 35,445 individuals who are 18 years or older, given the age distribution of the African American population. Eligibility for the $5 million payments is very broad so we can assume that all African Americans 18 years and older currently living in the city will be eligible for these payments. Paying $5 million to 35,455 individuals totals about $175 billion. To put this in perspective, the city’s budget for the current fiscal year is $14 billion, while this proposed sum exceeds the current state budgets of all US states except for California, New York, and Texas. Again, I’m not sharing this to start a conversation about the wisdom or the folly of reparations. I’m sharing this to further illustrate the rank hypocrisy of our elected officials, and their endless desire to be celebrated by the people who voted them in. Today, those people are congratulating themselves for establishing a fund that absolutely no one is funding - including them.