Evanston, Illinois, will vote Monday on disbursing its first round of reparations to Black residents there. If approved, the city will become the first in the U.S. to issue such payments.
City council members will vote Monday to issue the first $400,000 via $25,000 payments to eligible Black residents for housing costs, including down payments, home improvements and mortgage payments, in an effort to address years of redlining and other racist housing policies.
The Chicago suburb has committed $10 million over a decade to the effort, which is being paid for with a sales tax on recreational marijuana and community donations.
“Reparations is the most appropriate legislative response to the historic practices and the contemporary conditions of the Black community,” said Robin Rue Simmons, the Evanston alderman who proposed the legislation.
Black residents are eligible if they or their ancestors lived in Evanston between 1919 and 1969, or if they can show how they suffered from the city’s housing practices.
Some have already called the efforts inadequate in scope, while others say they are long overdue.
The US House of Representatives is considering a bill that would create a national reparations commission, and cities including Chicago; Providence, Rhode Island; Burlington, Vermont; Asheville, North Carolina; and Amherst, Massachusetts, have also started efforts.
Last week, the Jesuit order of Catholic priests pledged $100 million to help the descendants of the people who were once enslaved.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/chicago-suburb-become-first-city-give-black-residents-reparations-vote-n1260296
City council members will vote Monday to issue the first $400,000 via $25,000 payments to eligible Black residents for housing costs, including down payments, home improvements and mortgage payments, in an effort to address years of redlining and other racist housing policies.
The Chicago suburb has committed $10 million over a decade to the effort, which is being paid for with a sales tax on recreational marijuana and community donations.
“Reparations is the most appropriate legislative response to the historic practices and the contemporary conditions of the Black community,” said Robin Rue Simmons, the Evanston alderman who proposed the legislation.
Black residents are eligible if they or their ancestors lived in Evanston between 1919 and 1969, or if they can show how they suffered from the city’s housing practices.
Some have already called the efforts inadequate in scope, while others say they are long overdue.
The US House of Representatives is considering a bill that would create a national reparations commission, and cities including Chicago; Providence, Rhode Island; Burlington, Vermont; Asheville, North Carolina; and Amherst, Massachusetts, have also started efforts.
Last week, the Jesuit order of Catholic priests pledged $100 million to help the descendants of the people who were once enslaved.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/chicago-suburb-become-first-city-give-black-residents-reparations-vote-n1260296
