San Francisco Must Take Leadership for Diversity

After Yoshi's jazz club closed last year and only months later, its successor, The Addition, suffered the same fate. Alarmingly, the City of San Francisco's leaders have yet to face the music on the role that City policies have played in the displacement of blacks in the Fillmore District and across San Francisco.

The demise of the Redevelopment Agency's rejuvenated Fillmore jazz district, which was supposed to make up for city policies that destroyed the 29 original jazz restaurants and clubs and displaced blacks and their cultural footprint in the neighborhood, occurred following decades of empty promises by City Officials. These empty promises to protect and help African Americans, many who flocked to this region for jobs at the shipyards during World War II but stood no chance against whites in the job market after the shipyards shuttered.

While many blacks struggled with poverty and discrimination after the war ended, we watched as our communities crumbled from broken promises. Starting in the 1950s, our culture and people were uprooted from our neighborhoods by urban renewal. The San Francisco Redevelopment Agency was established with the mission of combating urban blight by purchasing properties, renovating them and developing affordable housing. In the end, blacks were forced to sell their homes and businesses. Although we were promised a place to return to after the renewal, the implementation never happened.

As a way to atone for these failed policies, the City launched the Fillmore jazz district initiative, which included the mixed-use Fillmore Heritage Center that packed in 80 condominium housing units, a nonprofit museum/gallery, a theater and the Yoshi's 400 seat jazz club, which was to be the Fillmore jazz district's centerpiece.

While Yoshi's Jazz Club produced good performances, in the end that's all it was: a show. The Redevelopment Agency's funds were not directed to benefit our under-served community. An audit revealed funds for Fillmore projects lacked oversight and were doled out with little to no evaluation as to whether they would work to revive the neighborhood.

City officials would like us to believe that they gave it their best effort; that they could not have anticipated the economic downturn when trying to rebuild this district. They said jazz just isn't as popular as it was in the 1940s to the 1960's and yet just two years ago, the SF Jazz Center opened in the adjacent Hayes Valley with much fanfare, effectively moving the city's jazz district to a gentrifying area and obliterating any chance of success for debt-saddled Fillmore businesses.

Truth is, the City's efforts to return the Fillmore district that had been stolen from the black community failed in the same way redevelopment of the neighborhood had failed decades before.

The City's leaders tried to use a band-aide for a gaping wound and their response has been, "Well, at least we tried."

Meanwhile, hemorrhaging of the black population in San Francisco continues. Of the nation's 14 biggest cities, ours is "near the bottom" in percentage of black residents. The Los ?ngeles Times recently reported our population decreased from 13.4-percent in 1970 to less than six percent in 2010, according to U.S. Census figures. This is happening citywide, in the Bay View/Hunters Point and currently in the Outer-Mission and Ingleside neighborhoods, which is now a majority Chinese.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "There cannot be wealth without common wealth." The black community that helped build this city as a technological powerhouse during the WWII-era has been excluded from that common wealth.

San Francisco Officials and Leaders must now do the moral thing and ensure San Francisco remains an inclusive city. The mayor's office and board of supervisors have a responsibility to support policies that maintain San Francisco's African American community by providing jobs, contracts, access to capital and encouraging affordable housing for African Americans.

Once and for all, we need a genuine, accountable plan. Don't give us that jazz about how you've tried to make it right. Just make it right?

Dr. Amos C. Brown, SF NAACP President

Fred Jordan, President African American Chamber of Commerce

Rev. Arnold Townsend, President Board of Directors, EOC

Dr. Mary Jones, Chief Executive Officer, Westside Mental Health Clinic

Bishop Franzo King, St John Coltrane African Orthodox Church