Budget committee forwards formal apology to Chinese immigrants, leaders urge budget follow-through

Chair Matt Haney introduced a resolution apologizing to Chinese immigrants and their descendants for systemic and structural discrimination by City government and asked the Budget & Finance Committee to forward it to the full Board with a positive recommendation. "This formal apology is long overdue and the only way forward is through healing, reconciliation, and justice," Haney said.

The resolution was drafted in partnership with three current and former SFUSD students. Dennis Casey Wu, a Lowell High School senior who helped craft the text, told the committee he discovered historically sanctioned discrimination in San Francisco, including segregated schools and the use of quarantine powers during the 1900–1904 plague. "I feel that this is history that people need to learn," Wu said, arguing a formal apology would be a meaningful step toward public education and redress.

Justin Hoover of the Chinese Historical Society and several API Council leaders urged that the apology be accompanied by concrete budget actions. Hoover said the apology "comes at a time of increased hate against the API community" and recommended a significant financial commitment to Chinatown and other cultural districts to preserve affordable housing, community-commercial assets and organizational capacity. API Council Director Kallie Wong and others stressed that the pandemic and recent spikes in anti-Asian hate have exacerbated long-standing gaps in services and infrastructure.

Supervisors on the committee thanked presenters and emphasized the need for follow-through. Supervisor Gordon Mar requested future briefings on regional groundwater and other matters earlier in the meeting; during the apology discussion he and others repeatedly framed the resolution as a symbolic but necessary precursor to budget and policy changes. Members of the public and community organizations called in to voice strong support and urged the Board to use the budget process to fund capacity building, cultural preservation, and language-access services.

The committee voted to forward the resolution to the full Board with a positive recommendation. The next procedural step is consideration by the full San Francisco Board of Supervisors, where passage would put the apology on the city's official record and begin the process of identifying budget measures and legislative actions to accompany the resolution.