Is this initiative truly a reparation? Or is it just aggravating a decades-old wound by playing at being an ethical and socially responsible government, using it as a façade to benefit banks and major corporations? Largely thanks to the very same discriminatory practices the Restorative Housing Program was established to make amends for, only 35% of black residents of Evanston own their homes. While four hundred families were slated for eligibility to receive the benefit, the actual total: 16 families. Why? Regulations attached to the benefits limited them to only assisting homeowners or purchasers, not renters. Black beneficiaries say that cash payments would be a far better choice and additionally would have given them personal autonomy, or self-determination, allowing them to choose the best use of the funds for themselves. Lawmakers say they elected to go against cash payments because they didn’t have the authority to make those payments tax exempt, meaning recipients would have to pay federal taxes to the IRS on those funds. They also say that only one of the three originally planned marijuana dispensaries opened, so the revenues are lower than anticipated and funding was not yet available to do more.
Cecily Fleming, an Evanston council member and fifth generation black resident, was the only one on the council to vote against the reparations. Fleming doesn’t believe the housing program is a guiding light and is disappointed that they aren’t doing more for the hundreds of African Americans in Evanston who were harmed by the city’s historically biased and discriminatory policies. If reparations are truly to be made, she asserts, they must come from the federal level, where there is enough money and authority to reach the people who need and deserve it most and issuing reparations at the local level only discourages the federal government from taking the initiative to do likewise. Even some locals believe the reparations are just a scam to get “good press.” And, others say that the reparations, while great for the eligible beneficiaries that do receive funding, simply put money back into the hands of the very people who discriminated against them so viciously to start with: banks. They argue that “allowing the money to go directly to financial institutions rather than recipients overlooks banks’ part in mortgage discrimination.” Because the payments were only given to qualifying residents who already owned a home and needed mortgage assistance or were purchasing a home by taking out a new mortgage loan, the money never saw the hands of the individual citizens. Instead, the payments were made directly to the lenders.
Yet, others in the community are just grateful they’re doing something and applaud Evanston’s efforts to make a more equitable America.
In March 2023, Evanston amended the options for payment to include a cash payout amid the cries of black community members who didn’t qualify based on home ownership. Eligible beneficiaries can also elect to split their payouts between cash benefits and mortgage assistance or other housing aid payments. But payments are still slow to come. The city asserts that the delay in fulfilling the grants for beneficiaries is a result of wanting to do things right, saying that in addition to the tax concerns, these payouts would impact recipients’ eligibility for social entitlement programs such as SNAP or Medicaid because it would qualify as an increase in income, and Evanston city officials are still attempting to navigate the bureaucratic red tape that comes with the option of a cash payment. As of August 1, 2023, grants had been disbursed to seventy-six recipients, twenthy-two of those were cash payouts, for a grand total of $550,000 in reparations thus far.
Rue Simmons, the City Council member who led the reparation proposals initially, was unanimously reelected as committee chair in August as well. She hopes community members see the recent increase in payment disbursement as an indication that the committee is hearing their opinions and recommendations and taking them seriously. She is in agreement with the community that cash payouts are a speedier way to get the funds into the hands of the recipients, but states there is no accountability mechanism to date to ensure funds are being spent on housing ventures.
Evanston officials have announced two future reparation initiatives to come. The focus of those will be education and entrepreneurship.
The real, debatable questions here are plentiful, and ultimately there is no easy answer. Should the state and municipal governments be responsible for making reparations to community members harmed by systematic racism and discriminatory policies, or is the issue too big, one for the federal government to mitigate? Do small towns taking on this sort of reparation policy discourage the federal government from leading its own initiatives? And do the reparations benefit the victimizers more than the actual victims of the discrimination? What sort of reparation initiatives do you think would be most beneficial to the blacks in your community? Unfortunately, there are more questions than answers as communities across the country take unchartered territory in their journey to equity.
Join me tomorrow for another installment in the Slavery Reparations Series and a look at another Chicago suburb’s reparation efforts! As always, thank you for reading and supporting our movement. We’d love to hear your thoughts so drop a reply below! And remember, every share or repost, every like, and every reply gets us out there in the algorithm and on the feeds of others who we can educate, one day at a time. Share, Share, Share!
Contributing Sources:
Fleming, C. (2021). Here’s Why Evanston, Ill.’s Reparations Aren’t Reparations. Here’s why Evanston’s reparations aren’t reparations (usatoday.com)
Hope, L. (2023). Some Say Evanston Reparations Program Working, Others Say More to Do Years Later. City of Evanston, IL reparation update: How residents feel reparations program is going – ABC7 Chicago
Krainc, M. (2023). Evanston Has Paid Half a Million in Cash Reparations So Far. Evanston has paid half a million in cash reparations so far – Evanston RoundTable
Li, J. (2023). A Reparations Retrospective: Looking back at Evanston’s Historic Reparations Initiative. Looking back at Evanston’s historic reparations initiative (dailynorthwestern.com)
The Grio Staff. (2023). Evanston Planned $20M for Reparations, Spent Only $400K and Helped 16 People. Evanston planned $20M for reparations, spent only $400K and helped 16 people (yahoo.com)
Treisman, R. (2021). In Likely First, Chicago Suburb of Evanston Approves Reparations for Black Residents. Evanston, Ill., Approves Historic Reparations Plan For Black Residents : NPR
About the Author: Tia is an investigative journalist here at BLACK. She holds degrees in political science and applied economics from SNHU and is a first-year law student at Purdue Global Law School, pursuing her JD. She also holds a certification in Human Rights from the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights in Boise, Idaho, and she recently interned for the Office of Budget and Entitlement Policy at Cato Institute in Washington, D.C. Tia is a RESULTS 2023 Organizing and Advocacy Fellow and Outreach and Partnerships Coordinator. She lives in Hurricane, WV with her husband and three children.
In her free time, she enjoys contemporary art, fashion, home decor, reading, and family. Tia is passioante about protecting American consumers and corporations, and is a strong proponent for open markets, human rights, and equality for all. Her current focus is slavery reparations, entitlement program solvency, and budget appropriations process reform. While Tia is not black, she fully stands with the fight for equal rights and hopes to someday live in a world of harmony. She believes that unearned privilege creates a duty to act against racial injustices.