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샌프란시스코
작성일 : 2023-03-23 19:46조회 : 1,226
샌프란시스코
한 때 샌프란시스코는 누구나 살고 싶어 하고 또 가보고 싶어 하는 도시였다. 하지만 오늘날의 샌프란시스코는 도무지 해답이 없는 도시로 전락한 모습이다. 그런 샌프란시스코에서 기괴한 일이 또 생겼다.
노예 후손인 흑인에게 과거의 그들의 선조가 당한 피해를 보상해야 한다는 주장이 성행하더니 민주당의 영향력이 강한 몇몇 도시에서 그런 방안을 연구하기 시작했다. 그러던 중 최근 샌프란시스코 시의 ‘흑인피해보상법’ 위원회가 구체적인 방안을 내어 놓았다. 내용을 보면 이러하다. 첫째, 샌프란시스코에 사는 노예 후손인 흑인은 1인당 500만 달러를 지급하고, 둘째 향후 250년 동안 매년 최소한 97,000 달러 소득을 보장하며, 셋째 흑인이 갖고 있는 부채를 전액 탕감하고 세금도 면제하며, 넷째, 흑인은 샌프란시스코에서 주택을 1달러에 살 수 있도록 한다는 것이다.
수학적으로 계산해서 이런 조치를 하려면 매우 보수적으로 계산해도 총 2000억 달러(200 Billion dollars)가 소요되며, 샌프란시스코에 사는 흑인이 아닌 주민은 1인 당 60만 달러를 부담해야 한다. 그렇다면 이런 제안을 하고 있는 샌프란시스코의 형편은 어떠한가 ? 근래에 있었던 경찰관에 의한 흑인이 사망한 사건 후 ‘경찰 예산 삭감'(Defund Police) 운동이 일었는데, 여기에 호응해서 경찰력을 줄인 도시가 시카고, 미내아폴리스, 뉴올리언스, 샌프란시스코 등이다. 그러니 샌프란시스코의 치안이 어떠할지는 짐작할 만하다.
미국에서 가장 진보적 성향을 띄고 있는 도시를 뽑으라면 단연 샌프란시스코일 것이다. 근처에 있는 UC 버클리가 가장 진보적인 대학 캠퍼스임도 물론이다. 그러면 얼마 전까지 하원의장이던 낸시 펠로시의 지역구가 있기도 한 샌프란시스코의 요즘 사정은 어떠한가 ? 샌프란시스코 도심은 넘쳐나는 노숙자(homeless)들로 거리에는 이들의 배설물이 여기저기에 널려 있고, 가로등에 대고 오줌을 하도 누어서 가로등대가 부식이 돼서 쓰러질 위험에 처해 있다.
적자로 허덕이는 샌프란시스코 시는 거리의 인분을 청소하는 예산을 추가로 배정해야 했다. 다른 도시의 노숙인은 줄어드는 추세에 있는데, 유독 샌프란시스코에선 늘어나는 이유가 무엇인지에 대해선 의견이 분분하다. 단순히 높은 주택가격이나 실업률만으로는 설명이 되지 않는다. 왜냐하면 거리에는 인분만 널려 있는 것이 아니라 주사 바늘도 널려 있기 때문이다.
아마도 샌프란시스코에서 세금을 내면서 사는 백인, 히스패닉, 동양인들은 세금이 적고 집값도 싸고 일자리 많고 경찰이 그래도 제 역할을 하는 다른 주(州)로 이사하는 방안을 생각할 것이다. 실제로 근래에 캘리포니아에서 텍사스로, 또 뉴욕과 시카고에서 플로리다로 이사를 하는 사람들이 늘어나고 있다. 그래서 샌프란시스코를 ‘샌프란시코’(‘San Fransicko’)라고 비꼬기도 한다. 볼세비키 소련식으로 부른 것인데, 정작 요즘 러시아에선 이런 사회주의, 이런 진보주의를 찹아 보기 어렵다. (Michael Shellenberger가 쓴 <San Fransicko>라는 책이 있다. 2021년, Harper)
San Francisco board open to reparations with $5M payouts
Story by By JANIE HAR, Associated Press • Mar 14
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Payments of $5 million to every eligible Black adult, the elimination of personal debt and tax burdens, guaranteed annual incomes of at least $97,000 for 250 years and homes in San Francisco for just $1 a family.
Supervisor Shamann Walton speaks during a special Board of Supervisors hearing about reparations in San Francisco, Tuesday, March 14, 2023. Supervisors in San Francisco are taking up a draft reparations proposal that includes a $5 million lump-sum payment for every eligible Black person. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Supervisor Shamann Walton speaks during a special Board of Supervisors hearing about reparations in San Francisco, Tuesday, March 14, 2023. Supervisors in San Francisco are taking up a draft reparations proposal that includes a $5 million lump-sum payment for every eligible Black person.
These were some of the more than 100 recommendations made by a city-appointed reparations committee tasked with the thorny question of how to atone for centuries of slavery and systemic racism. And the San Francisco Board of Supervisors hearing the report for the first time Tuesday voiced enthusiastic support for the ideas listed, with some saying money should not stop the city from doing the right thing.
Sheryl Evans Davis, executive director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, speaks during a special Board of Supervisors hearing about reparations in San Francisco, Tuesday, March 14, 2023. Supervisors in San Francisco are taking up a draft reparations proposal that includes a $5 million lump-sum payment for every eligible Black person.
Sheryl Evans Davis, executive director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, speaks during a special Board of Supervisors hearing about reparations in San Francisco, Tuesday, March 14, 2023. Supervisors in San Francisco are taking up a draft reparations proposal that includes a $5 million lump-sum payment for every eligible Black person.
Several supervisors said they were surprised to hear pushback from politically liberal San Franciscans apparently unaware that the legacy of slavery and racist policies continues to keep Black Americans on the bottom rungs of health, education and economic prosperity, and overrepresented in prisons and homeless populations.
“Those of my constituents who lost their minds about this proposal, it's not something we’re doing or we would do for other people. It’s something we would do for our future, for everybody's collective future,” said Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, whose district includes the heavily LGBTQ Castro neighborhood.
The draft reparations plan, released in December, is unmatched nationwide in its specificity and breadth. The committee hasn’t done an analysis of the cost of the proposals, but critics have slammed the plan as financially and politically impossible. An estimate from Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, which leans conservative, has said it would cost each non-Black family in the city at least $600,000.
Eric McDonnell, chair of the African AmericanReparationsAdvisory Committee, speaks during a special Board of Supervisors hearing about reparations in San Francisco, Tuesday, March 14, 2023. Supervisors in San Francisco are taking up a draft reparations proposal that includes a $5 million lump-sum payment for every eligible Black person.
Eric McDonnell, chair of the African American Reparations Advisory Committee, speaks during a special Board of Supervisors hearing about reparations in San Francisco, Tuesday, March 14, 2023. Supervisors in San Francisco are taking up a draft reparations proposal that includes a $5 million lump-sum payment for every eligible Black person.
Tuesday's unanimous expressions of support for reparations by the board do not mean all the recommendations will ultimately be adopted, as the body can vote to approve, reject or change any or all of them. A final committee report is due in June.
Sheryl Evans Davis, executive director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, speaks during a special Board of Supervisors hearing about reparations in San Francisco, Tuesday, March 14, 2023. Supervisors in San Francisco are taking up a draft reparations proposal that includes a $5 million lump-sum payment for every eligible Black person.
Sheryl Evans Davis, executive director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, speaks during a special Board of Supervisors hearing about reparations in San Francisco, Tuesday, March 14, 2023. Supervisors in San Francisco are taking up a draft reparations proposal that includes a $5 million lump-sum payment for every eligible Black person.
Some supervisors have said previously that the city can't afford any major reparations payments right now given its deep deficit amid a tech industry downturn.
Tinisch Hollins, vice-chair of the African American Reparations Advisory Committee, alluded to those comments, and several people who lined up to speak reminded the board they would be watching closely what the supervisors do next.
“I don’t need to impress upon you the fact that we are setting a national precedent here in San Francisco,” Hollins said. “What we are asking for and what we’re demanding for is a real commitment to what we need to move things forward.”
The idea of paying compensation for slavery has gained traction across cities and universities. In 2020, California became the first state to form a reparations task force and is still struggling to put a price tag on what is owed.
The idea has not been taken up at the federal level.
In San Francisco, Black residents once made up more than 13% of the city’s population, but more than 50 years later, they account for less than 6% of the city’s residents — and 38% of its homeless population. The Fillmore District once thrived with Black-owned night clubs and shops until government redevelopment in the 1960s forced out residents.
People react to speakers during a special Board of Supervisors hearing about reparations in San Francisco, Tuesday, March 14, 2023. Supervisors in San Francisco are taking up a draft reparations proposal that includes a $5 million lump-sum payment for every eligible Black person.
People react to speakers during a special Board of Supervisors hearing about reparations in San Francisco, Tuesday, March 14, 2023. Supervisors in San Francisco are taking up a draft reparations proposal that includes a $5 million lump-sum payment for every eligible Black person.
Fewer than 50,000 Black people still live in the city, and it’s not clear how many would be eligible. Possible criteria include having lived in the city during certain time periods and descending from someone “incarcerated for the failed War on Drugs.”
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