An Illinois city has become the first in America to embark upon a reparations program for its Black residents after its local council approved the implementation of its first such initiative to tackle the legacy of slavery.
Late on Monday night aldermen in Evanston – a suburban community in Chicago – voted to approve the Local Reparations Restorative Housing Program, a $400,000 housing grant program.
Designed to address the inequality gap and ongoing impact of slavery on African Americans in the city, Evanston’s reparations program will be funded with sales taxes on recreational marijuana. Under this plan, up to $10m of the sales tax would go towards reparations over the next decade.
Spearheaded by alderman Rue Simmons, the program was developed alongside the city’s equity and empowerment commission in 2019. It is believed to be the first reparation program with guaranteed funding.
The housing grant will award eligible residents up to $25,000, which can be used for a “home down payment or closing cost assistance within the city; [to] help pay for repairs, improvements or modernizations of an Evanston property; or [to] help pay down mortgage principal, interest or late penalties on Evanston property,” according to a memo obtained by the Chicago Tribune.
The memo said applicants must have “origins in any of the Black racial and ethnic groups of Africa” and have been a resident or direct descendant of a resident of Evanston between 1919-1969. The newspaper notes that applicants who have experienced housing discrimination as a result of the city’s policies after 1969 are also eligible.
Simmons told the Guardian last year that the initiative represents the “hope that we will have a fair opportunity to live to our highest and best potential, and enjoy the same livability as the average white resident in Evanston”.
“It means that there is an opportunity coming for us to bridge the gap of discrimination that has and continues to keep black residents oppressed,” she continued.
In response to the new housing grant program, Simmons told the Chicago Tribune the initiative is a step in the right direction. “It is, alone, not enough,” she said. “We all know that the road to repair and justice in the Black community is going to be a generation of work. It’s going to be many programs and initiatives, and more funding.”
Alderman Cicely Fleming cast the lone vote against the measure, which passed 4-1. Fleming said the approved expenditure is a “housing program with the title reparations” and noted that it did not allow people to “dictate the terms of how they are repaired”.