On Monday, Evanston, Ill., is set to become the first American city to provide reparations to some its Black residents, marking a historic step towards restitution towards African Americans who have been historically disenfranchised and discriminated against in the U.S. following over two centuries of slavery.
While the idea of reparations for African Americans has long been met with some skepticism about its need and overall execution, leaders on the local city council say that this is the first step towards a “full repair” of racial injustices.
“This is a first step in Evanston — one that I’m really proud of,” Alderman Robin Simmons, who presented the initial reparations plan more than two years ago in February 2019, told Yahoo News. “And I hope that we have continued to support.”
Under the proposed Restorative Housing Reparations program, the city of Evanston would distribute $10 million over the next 10 years to Black residents or their descendants who lived in the city between 1919 and 1969 who suffered from anti-Black housing practices put in place by local government or banks.
The first installment of $400,000 would be dispersed in $25,000 allotments for residents to use towards home improvements or mortgage assistance, meaning a maximum of 16 Black families could participate in the first round. The money for the plan would be raised from a fund established from a 3 percent tax on recreational marijuana sales.
While local leadership praises the plan, many Black residents across the city, who make up just over 18 percent of the population, are divided on how the final program has taken shape.
“I love reparations, but I do not love this version that Evanston is trying to pass as reparations,” Rose Cannon, a life-long Evanston resident, told Yahoo News. “Somewhere along the line it changed from, [city officials saying] ‘I want cash money’ to ‘We’re going to offer you this housing program.’ … It’s broken the community apart.”
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