Illinois City Earmarks $400,000 in So-Called “Reparations” Bill for Black Residents, Limited to Homeowners

The city of Evanston, Illinois approved a limited “reparations” program for African-Americans on Monday, appropriating $400,000 for black  residents who lived in the city from 1919-1969 and their descendants.

The $400,000 will be doled out in $25,000 increments to qualifying applicants. Only a small percentage of individuals eligible for the payments will receive them, in a legally questionable format that could leave Evanston liable in lawsuits.

The city council is citing housing discrimination in the Chicago suburb during the aforementioned period. Cities in the Chicago metro area remain highly segregated to this day.

Only homeowners will be eligible for reparations payments under Evanston’s plan. The $25,000 increments can only be spent on home improvements, home purchase, or mortgage payments in Evanston. Such a structure ensures that the money spent on the reparations program will remain in Evanston’s economy.

Proponents of the reparations plan have suggested it’s a way to pass the buck to Chicago, essentially pushing the larger city to pass a reparations program of its own.

Slavery was abolished in the United States in 1865. Systems of oppression have been utilized across the world in universal fashion, with world civilizations practicing slavery and ethnic caste systems since the beginning of recorded history.

President Joe Biden has refused to rule out a federal reparations program, while declining to expressly endorse any proposal that would alienate powerful suburban moderates who supported his candidacy. Evanston’s rigged, for-show program could serve as the impetus for other cities to enact performative reparations program, passing the buck to “someone else” while touting their own virtue.


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