San Francisco Reparations Spark Citywide Fight

Adriana Stone 0 2 min read

San Francisco Reparations Spark Citywide Fight

San Francisco passed a reparations ordinance right before Christmas. It created a city fund aimed at helping Black residents. The timing was odd. The city is short on cash. There’s no clear funding stream. That reality hasn’t stopped the backlash.

Opponents say the plan singles out one group for public money. They say it’s unfair to other taxpayers. They say it will make the city more divided, not less. That’s the core message behind a new lawsuit filed against the ordinance.

Richie Greenberg, one of the plaintiffs suing San Francisco over its reparations fund, claimed the measure is divisive because it solely favors Black residents.

“It is dividing the city rather than trying to unite. So, what we really need is to be focusing on how to uplift everybody rather than focusing on one group giving everything to that one group. And then everyone else is then responsible for paying for that one group,” Greenberg told Fox News Digital.

The Pacific Legal Foundation joined the case. Their argument: taxpayer dollars can’t be spent on a racially exclusive government program. The suit says the ordinance violates the Equal Protection Clause. If the plaintiffs win, it would block San Francisco from funneling public money into a race-based fund—and set limits for other cities considering similar plans.

“Acknowledging past injustice does not give the government license to spend public resources on programs that sort people by race and ancestry today,” said Andrew Quinio, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation.

Supporters of reparations point to long-running harms like redlining and redevelopment that gutted Black neighborhoods. They argue targeted help is necessary to repair damage. Critics call the plan symbolic at best, costly and divisive at worst.

Some residents say leaders pushed the measure without honest debate. One plaintiff accused the mayor of quietly signing the bill to avoid blowback.

“It is unfortunate that mayor Lurie deliberately avoided mention of his signing legislation creating a reparations fund December 23, 2025 as he knew the backlash which would ensue,” he added. “Lurie is famous for his non-stop posting and boasting on social media all his accolades and cheering for the city, yet he failed to mention this entirely.”

The legal fight will take time. Meanwhile, the political fallout is already here. Activists on both sides are sharpening their messages. Voters and taxpayers are waking up to the budget reality. The debate will matter for other cities thinking about similar plans.

Thomas Sowell on reparations:

“The number of whites who were enslaved in North Africa by the Barbary pirates exceeded the number of Africans enslaved in the United States and in the American colonies before that put together.” pic.twitter.com/c3r0QpO1Mj

Expect more courtroom fights. Expect more headlines. And expect the city to feel the consequences—political and financial—long after the ordinance was passed.

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