Evanston, Illinois approves reparations for its black residents

A Chicago suburb has become the first in the nation to approve reparations to black residents whose families suffered lasting damage from decades of discriminatory practices.  

Evanston established its reparations program – the first of its kind in the US – in 2019, committing $10 million over a decade using funding from the city’s three per cent tax on recreational marijuana sales. 

On Monday the city council launched the program with a first phase, consisting of a $400,000 round of payments focused on addressing housing inequities.  

The first phase will provide $25,000 to up to 16 eligible black residents for home repairs, down payments or mortgage payments, in a nod toward historically racist housing policies. 

Black residents are eligible for the housing program if they, or their ancestors, lived in the city between 1919 and 1969 or if they can show they suffered housing discrimination due to the city’s policies. 

The recipients will be randomly selected if there are more applicants than available funds in the housing program.

Among those praising the landmark effort is Delois Robinson, 58, whose great-grandmother decades ago was forced to run a restaurant out of her kitchen and park cabs for her taxi company in her backyard because black residents were effectively barred from owning or renting storefronts in town. 

‘It’s about time that something has come from the hard work of African Americans in this city, proving that they should be treated as anyone else,’ Robinson, 58, told Reuters.  

Evanston’s program could become a model for other cities and states grappling with whether to pursue their own reparations programs. 

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