Global Courant
Nikcole Cunningham says whites still benefit from slavery of the past
A member of San Francisco reparations commissionwho has proposed paying the city’s black residents millions of dollars in compensation for enslavement has described straight white men as a “danger to society” and claimed that “white supremacy is ingrained in America’s DNA.”
Nikcole Cunningham, who serves on the 15-member African-American Reparations Advisory Committee, told The Telegraph that white people should be held accountable for the actions of slave owners, as they “continue to benefit from the harm done … (their) ancestor ( s) caused”.
The committee was established in 2020 to advise local officials on how to tackle discrimination in the city and proposes each eligible black resident $5 million (£3.9m) in reparations for slavery.
Ms Cunningham’s comments, in a rare public interview, are likely to spark tensions between recovery policy proponents and skeptics.
The comments come at a time of heightened racial tension in America after the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that universities should not discriminate on the basis of their skin color when selecting students.
Nikcole Cunningham: ‘It’s straight white men who shoot at schools, aren’t they?’
In addition to the San Francisco reparations commission, a California-wide task force was established by the governor for similar purposes. Both committees were given a deadline to submit their final proposals to lawmakers by the end of June 2023.
On Thursday, the California recovery task force delivered their report to lawmakers.
Ms. Cunningham was appointed to the San Francisco Reparations Commission because she is suing the City of San Francisco, her former employer, for discrimination over allegations that were made against her because she is disabled.
According to the committee’s draft report, eligibility requirements for the redemption payments for black residents include being over the age of 18, identifying as black for at least 10 years, and passing at least two of eight tests, including descended from slaves or “being trapped by the failed War on Drugs”.
Story continues
‘They have the most serial killers’
In an interview with this newspaper, Ms Cunningham said that “while ‘straight white men’ were privileged, he (sic) has a lot wrong, and I say that because even straight white men are abusive, straight white men are serial killers”.
She said: “They have the most, I watch these shows, the most serial killers. It’s straight white men shooting up schools, right?
So they are a danger to society. Not all.”
Ms Cunningham criticized white men for not supporting reparations, saying: “They don’t.
“So if anything, they constitute more harm than support and aid. And then you have to remember their ancestors.. are the ones who stood here on their Sunday cutlery watching black people hang and burn.
“So until white people also get to grips with their heritage and make amends with them, to say, I want to be the change.”
Ms Cunningham also claimed that “white supremacy is ingrained in the DNA in this country and certainly in this city”.
Senator Scott Wiener said there was always a way to pay reparations – Meera Fox/Getty Images
Her comments about racism in America echo statements made by other committee members, several of whom made nearly identical comments.
The reparations commission’s draft report references other groups that received similar payments, citing Japanese Americans interned during World War II and victims of the Holocaust.
The commission argues that despite the fact that slavery never existed in San Francisco or California, the city and state continued racist policies that continue to harm black people today.
California state senator Scott Wiener told The Telegraph that he supports reparations “to make up for the damage that has been done.”
When asked if the state can afford the payments, he said, “There’s always a way to pay (it) … But we’re on a pretty catastrophic budget right now, but that will shift over time. “
According to an estimate by the conservative think tank Hoover Institution, reparations proposals in San Francisco would amount to about $175 billion, costing every non-African-American household in the city $600,000.
Proposed taxation of vital utilities
To pay the huge sum, Ms. Cunningham suggested taxing vital utilities such as “water, garbage, P, G&E (Pacific Gas and Electric), internet, cable.
“If you add even $0.05 to these things, you have millions and millions, if not billions, of dollars.
“But the simple fact that these are things you have to use, who’s going to say, I’m not going to give those people reparations, I’m turning off my water?” No one.”
The committee member compared the amount of reparations to the more than $100 billion President Joe Biden has given to Ukraine since the Russian invasion, saying, “No one asked us, ‘Hey, Nikcole, can we send this money to Ukraine?’ They just found the money and sent it.”
The reparations proposals are especially controversial in San Francisco, where the population has been declining in recent years and rates of homelessness and drug overdoses are on the rise.
The city’s annual budget is $14 billion, significantly less than the estimated cost of the reparations.
The initiative is the latest in a long line of controversial proposals to make reparations to African Americans.
In 2019, The New York Times published a now-infamous essay titled the 1619 Project. It argued that the actual founding date of America was 1619, when the first slaves from Africa reached the British colony of Virginia.
