Up next in 10
#reparations #sanfrancisco #blackexcellence
There is a controversial proposal out in San Francisco for reparations. What are your thoughts on the proposed options?
Brotherly Banter is a show where brothers, often on opposite sides of the thought spectrum, discuss various hot topics in the Black community.
Subscribe to our channel so you don't miss any future videos!
Check out the books we love and recommend in our
Black Excellence Book Club:
https://www.blackexcellence.com/store/
Some links are affiliate links, which means we earn a very tiny commission if you make a purchase.
__________________________________________________________
BlackExcellence.com is a digital platform dedicated to empowering excellence everyday through sharing thought provoking, informative, entertaining, and noteworthy stories in the Black community.
All content provided by Black Excellence Media, LLC is for entertainment purposes only. None of the information or advice provided is to replace professional advice.
Website: https://blackexcellence.com
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
So San Francisco, there is a proposal out, reparations for San Francisco black residents
0:05
The AP story reads, payments of $5 million to every eligible black adult
0:10
the elimination of personal debt and tax burdens, guaranteed annual incomes of at least $97,000
0:17
for 250 years and homes in San Francisco for just a dollar, a family
0:24
These are some things that were proposed by the reparation committee. So what do you guys think of this
0:30
And which one of these? Wait, how long do you get $97,000? How long do you get $97,000
0:35
I say it's 250 years, $97,000 a year. Does it go up with inflation
0:44
Good question. That might be in the details. What is it
0:55
Okay, okay. Oh, God. I have a problem here. The first thing I'm going to ask, and maybe we don't have this answer today, what is an eligible black adult mean
1:10
That is going to be a very, very tough thing to determine because they're looking at not just you living in San Francisco right now, you would have to have lived in that city during times where racial discrimination pretty much was policy of the city
1:27
So it's not all about just current black residents because San Francisco has lost a lot of black residents over the years
1:37
and went from I believe about 15% of the population being black
1:42
to less than 5% now. Is that what you're saying, AJ, or you're saying
1:49
what qualifies like, do you have to be 18 years old? Yeah, what, yeah, I want all
1:55
I'm even understanding the qualifications of an eligible, what is like eligible black adult
2:03
Would it matter to you? Because we all know where you're going with this. We all know where am I. Please do you want to do you agree? Do you think anybody should get it
2:12
No, this is a crock of shit. Like I need to I need to understand why because there's so many problems with this
2:22
Okay. I need you guys. Okay. Clearly you guys are for this. Tell me why you think this is a good idea
2:27
reparations in general or the 5 million per black person. This specific plan that they're trying to roll out and get approved
2:39
I would have to look at the details again, but they're not giving people cash, right
2:45
They're giving people access to housing. They're giving people access to things that we've gone without
2:52
No. This one is specifically cash. The elimination of personal debt. So you're trying to tell me that we're going to pick eligible people
3:01
I don't care if they're black, white, whatever. You're going to pick somebody that you deem eligible and you're going to wipe their debt
3:09
and whatever tax burdens they put on themselves. Your debt and your tax burden have nothing to do with reparations
3:18
I'm sorry. I can't get behind that. Why do they have nothing to do with it
3:24
If you have debt and how do you get debt? and how do you get debt and how do you get tax burdens
3:28
Let's just say school debt, right? You didn't have access. Your parents could not pay for you to go to school
3:34
Okay. Most black people don't have parents that could afford to pay for them to go to college
3:40
Because blacks are behind in almost every statistic. Home ownership. And so giving them a home for a dollar, that's going to fix the problem
3:48
I think that's one of the best measures on there, actually. You're going to give people homes in one of the most expensive cities in the
3:55
the world for free and then expect them to pay yearly taxes on them
4:01
Do you agree with any forms or reparations, AJ? I think if we're going to give reparations, I think in all honesty is to the best way
4:10
giving everybody a free chance at education to learn and understand how to manage and move forward
4:16
So free college? Sure, if you want to go. But the problem is people don't want to, they don't want to take the time to learn
4:23
They want it to be handed to them because of the situation. that they're in. I'm not going to hand it to you. We have to get black people in homes. Like
4:31
that is the number one. Homes isn't, everybody understands property is the biggest generational
4:37
Well why do you think having a home is the answer Because that the biggest generational wealth building tool there is Something that has compounded for them Like they were their white people great grandparents were able to buy a house
4:51
That has allowed them to build generational wealth that they have been able to move from one generation to the next
4:58
just been compounding wealth. Can you imagine if you were able to buy a house in Los Angeles in 19, whatever, 30, like
5:08
What would that be worth today? The San Francisco NAACP chapter came out and rejected this proposal
5:15
They said the best thing to do would be to educate black kids and offer jobs to black people instead of handing out cash
5:26
Do you guys agree with that? Yeah. A thousand percent. Yes, you should not hand out cash
5:31
You cannot hand out cash. Because they're just going to spend it. Let's educate people and give them opportunities that way
5:38
I don't think we should hand them jobs either, but that's a whole different thing
5:42
But on the other hand, there have been other groups of people who have had reparations and cash was handed out to them
5:49
So are we going to say black people don't deserve cash when other groups of people have deserved cash as if black people would not know how to act with cash
5:59
Recently during COVID, right? Here's the prime example. Money was given out to certain people that qualify
6:08
right? What did people do with that money? Yeah, but you're only looking at the people that you drove through McDonald's and saw a Gucci belt on
6:16
Like there's other people, there's other people. What did people do with that money
6:21
For good. It depends. Everybody didn't pay off that. A lot of people paid off their debt with that credit card debt
6:27
If we could take a real poll, I wish we could. There's has to be a way. More people spent that money on things, on items versus
6:38
their future. How many people enrolled in a program where they can learn
6:44
about money management? But shouldn't black people be able to decide these things for themselves
6:53
I mean, sure. Then give them money and watch what happens. We need to teach people
6:58
To your point, AJ, if you eradicate people's debt, aren't you just going to get back in debt next month
7:05
Probably. Yes, because you You do not learn how to manage it. No. So what my suggestion is, my suggestion is, is everybody has to take a, you have to go through four years of education. Okay, we're going to give you four years of education around business, business, money management, all types of stuff that have to do with money. Once you pass that course, meaning you take test, you take quiz, you do all the stuff that comes with that. You pass
7:38
I wipe your debt. There's going to be a lot of objections to that because now you're making black people work for money they're owed
7:45
So, okay, fine. So you're saying the reason that blacks are owed this is because of what happened during slave times
7:53
Yeah, you worked for 200 plus years for free. And you think that the 200 plus years and contributed to society
8:01
So you think the 200 years ago had a direct impact on your life specifically today
8:05
100%. Okay. What do you mean? I'm not here to argue it
8:09
I just, I just, I just, I just like you want to argue it. No, no, I'm not
8:14
I want to argue this. I'm not here to argue me. I'm here to get your perspective on you believe your life is impacted because of something
8:21
that happened 200 years ago. Are you saying it's not? Like, why are you even proposing that question
8:26
I'm saying. You should be saying that too, right? You're saying that also
8:31
I'm saying your life has been impacted by 200 years plus. No
8:35
Of slavery. Way longer. I don't believe so. You would reject reparations
8:40
They came and handed you $4 million. No, listen, you're not hearing what I'm saying
8:45
I'm not going to reject it, right? I'm going to take it because somebody feels like I need this
8:50
It's not my place. I don't have that money to hand out. It's not my place to say what people need and what they don't need
8:56
But what I'm saying is I'm personally not going to sit here and say I'm in my situation that I'm in today because it's something that happened 200 years ago
9:04
You think it's a victim mentality. I didn't say that. But you are saying that
9:13
No, I'm saying, I'm saying that today, me personally, my circumstances. So you don think redlining has anything to do You don think your parents what generation was the first do you know which generation was the first ones to own a house in your family
9:34
Um. Was it your parents? I believe, I believe, and I'm not 100% sure
9:40
but I believe my grandmother owned her home. Where? I guarantee it was in a red line
9:48
a red lined area where property value, did not go up at all
9:55
If you wanted to go to college, you would have had to pay for it all out of pocket
9:59
How much money do you think that you, how much do you think she inherited from her mother
10:05
I don't know. To buy that house. To buy that house. I don't know. It was in Arkansas. I don't know
10:09
I bet you know. Probably nothing. Not enough. I don't know. But again, my personal, for me
10:17
but my grandmother, her home, her having a home, or not having a home doesn't have any impact on me today in my life
10:26
It does. It's just my opinion. Yeah, yeah. You don't think it does, but it does
10:31
Yeah, I don't believe that it does. I had. Because you weren't giving anything
10:37
What? You weren't giving. You weren't, what we're talking about is generational like compound interest
10:44
And what black people need to understand is compound interest. Like building wealth on wealth, on wealth
10:50
That's how your future will get rich. So if you had to leave them something
10:57
Did your parents give you any money towards your buying your home? No
11:02
My parents didn't give me anything. So imagine if they had given you money towards
11:06
You're right. I would have had a head start on. I would have had a head start on life. Yeah
11:11
But I also wouldn't be where I am. I don't feel like I'd be where I am today
11:18
If what? if my parents handed me stuff. I feel like the struggle and or the hardness of it
11:30
are not having it handed to me, molded me in a different way
11:33
to be able to handle and deal with the day to days
11:38
and the life thing I made through. It can mold you, but the problem is you're trying to keep up with other people
11:43
that are compounding. Like you're trying to keep up with your other friends
11:47
that are turning 100,000 into 200,000, Isn't that the mistake? Passing off 200,000
11:52
Isn't that a mistake? It's not. It's making them extremely wealthy. If you drive in Laguna Beach and you drive down the beach, there's not a black
12:00
There are black people, I'm sure. Kobe. You know what I'm saying? Like there's some there, but if you drive Laguna Beach, California for everybody who doesn't know where that is
12:08
if you drive down there, there's nobody that is black. No, and that's, that's a hundred percent accurate
12:15
If you're in these rich areas, majority of them are white. and we have to figure out why. Yes, it makes you stronger. It makes you better to, you know, maybe survive, but you have to compound wealth. You have to figure out a way to do that. If you want to. And now, now we're playing such a big catch-up game. When they're handing their kids off a million and they're compounding, you know, the majority of them- You think that you would be the same person you are today if you were handed stuff growing up, just out of curiosity
12:48
now we're talking about how things affect people individually when you look at the group perspective
12:55
you can be handed you know $200,000 towards your home and still be hardworking
13:00
because as an adult they were given that gift and now they have but I guess my question
13:04
they can save for their town instead of putting money towards a down payment
13:08
like where we came where we live because we're kind of from the same person
13:13
the majority of our white friends were all given money for their first house
13:18
they were all given a fresh like a start from that generational amount whereas me and you our family struggled and gave everything they could into getting to the area that we're from right so they have no money to give us i guess so here's the the pro i get you guys are trying to do this on a grand scale right and i get it but i really don't give us even if you take us and as an example like we and you would have to leave right
13:48
And we compare ourselves to the others that had generational wealth advantages versus us
13:57
And we look at where they are today and where we are today
14:02
Right. Would you look at it and say okay this the same No their generational wealth worked For how many people for most of them for all of them for most of them yeah they would you would you want to trade places with any of them today
14:20
you personally or do you find probably financially no no total total do you find value in
14:29
what you've been through and would you prefer that over the unknowns of what they went through
14:39
That's very hard to say. Like we have to, I think we have to look at this on a financial
14:45
Because I was just saying you don't want to be rich and give your kids advantages
14:50
like going to a better school, and a better neighborhood. Then you're against that
14:54
and you just live in a difficult area because that would be, that would make them tougher. I specifically grew up in a not so great area
15:02
Things happened in my life that also allowed me move into a nicer area where I understand now what it's like to live in a nicer area
15:11
and I know what it's like to not live in a nice area. So for me personally, absolutely, I want to give my kids every advantage I can possible
15:18
to move themselves forward. I 100% think that that's what they need, and it's good for them
15:25
But at this point, I'm not going to sit here and blame where I'm at on something that happened
15:30
200 years ago. That's all I'm saying. But I believe it's an objective thing
15:34
It's not even a subjective thing where you would blame it or you don't blame it
15:38
There's consequences to actions. Black people being enslaved in America and working for free for 200 years
15:43
and then being let go into a racist society and being told you're not going to be equal
15:49
That has consequences to where we are today. Yeah, you're not going to be able to go to school
15:54
You're not going to be able to buy a house. And the list goes on
16:00
I can go on forever. I don't know. And now you're out there competing with everybody
16:04
else that don't have these things holding them back. We might have to create those racist policies, but make it racist towards white people now
16:11
and give all the advantage to black people. See, here we go with that. Here we go
16:16
See? You could say, like, the down payment for a black family will always be 1%. Okay
16:24
And then, but everybody else has to go off inflation, which is at 8% now, 10%
16:31
like you could do that for a long period of time and then that'll help see that's a barrier that's
16:37
something where you don't have to go and get schooling but you still you might have to still apply for
16:43
a loan but once you apply for that once you qualify for a loan you always get it at one percent
16:49
interest things are cheaper at the grocery store if you have your black card roman
16:54
this is not this no i don't understand that's not even a bad idea actually that was
17:01
but it's not a bad idea. So you scan your black card and you get 50% off your groceries
17:06
There's a whole bunch of problems with that because. Super eggs. It'll be a problem because black people will be selling their black people
17:14
So it's like these things really have to be thought out, right
17:18
But I think that's a good like. No, because you have to create a store that only blacks can go into
17:23
Now we're going back into racist times again. You can't go to the same stores anymore
17:27
Wait, what? What? Why do you have to do that? Because you can't have a store where we
17:31
can all go into, but I'm black, so I get it for $2. Like, if we're really, it's $4
17:36
If we're really going down this road, like, it could be a fingerprint, like the way Amazon's doing the new wave thing
17:41
Like, you have to go somewhere, get pre-qualified. No, no, obviously, this is something we, these are programs that we really have to think out
17:48
Roman's just throwing out ideas. She's not like, you know, she's not saying this is the answer
17:55
This is not, we don't know what the answer is. I was imagining white people taking their black friends shopping all that time to take advantage
18:01
of course and then hey could you wave your hand across my thing i'll give you five dollars and what
18:07
happens if like i don't know obviously that's not the answer i think the program that i like after
18:13
everything we've said is the like you pay two percent interest forever like once you qualify for a
18:20
home your interest rate is locked in at two done yeah special programs special programs all roads
18:27
lead to home ownership. So I don't know what they are, but I'm trying to take every sector
18:32
and education and home ownership. Like maybe education should be free. Maybe college needs to be free
18:40
for the next 50 years. I don't know. Do you think that level is the playing field? I think that
18:44
starts to level the playing field. Yes