EVANSTON, Illinois – Evanston, Illinois, on Monday became the first U.S. city to make compensation available to black residents due to past discrimination and the ongoing consequences of slavery.
The Chicago suburb city council voted 8-1 to share $ 400,000 to black households. Each qualifying household would receive $ 25,000 for home repairs or installments on property.
The program is funded by donations and income from a 3% tax on the sale of recreational marijuana. The city has pledged $ 10 million over 10 years.
Qualifying residents must have lived in or were a direct descendant of a Black person who lived in Evanston between 1919 and 1969 and who was discriminated against because of domestic law provisions, policies or practices.
Alderman Rue Simmons, who proposed the program adopted in 2019, said repair groups offered pro-bono legal aid if the program was challenged in court.
“It is set apart for an injured community that happens to be Black, which was injured by the city of Evanston because of the anti-black housing policy,” Simmons said.
The city council acted after dozens of citizens addressed the body and the plan received some backlash from several.
Alderman Cicely Fleming, the one-time voter against the plan, said she supports support compensation, but what the city council is debating is a housing plan called compensation. She said the people should dictate the terms of their grievances. Fleming described the program as paternalistic, and it assumes that black people cannot manage their own money.
Hundreds of communities and organizations across the country are considering compensating black people. It ranges from the state of California to cities such as Amherst, Massachusetts, Providence, Rhode Island, Asheville, North Carolina, and Iowa City, Iowa; religious denominations such as the Episcopal Church; and prominent colleges such as Georgetown University in Washington.
The efforts, some of which have been going on for years, gained momentum following the death of Minneapolis police officer on George Floyd in May last year. President Joe Biden has even voiced support for the establishment of a federal commission to study black compensation, a proposal that has lapsed in Congress for decades.