The Evanston, Illinois City Council voted 8-1 late Monday to approve a plan to make compensation available to black residents over past discrimination and the continuing consequences of slavery.
The plan, which may be the first of its kind in the US, is to issue $ 400,000 to black households. The Associated Press reports that qualifying households in the city of 73,000 are eligible to receive $ 25,000 for repairs to homes or installments on property.
Ald. Robin Rue Simmons, the legislator who proposed the initiative in 2019, called the approval a first step, but said more needs to be done.
“That, alone, is not enough,” she told the Chicago Tribune. “We all know that the road to recovery and justice in the Black community is going to be a generation of work. It’s going to be a lot of programs and initiatives and more funding.”
She told the New York Times: ‘This is the settlement. We are very proud that we, as a city, are leading the country to recovery and justice. ‘
The funding for the program comes from the 3% tax on the sale of recreational marijuana and donations. The city expects to spend about $ 10 million over ten 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.
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Simmons said pro-formation groups offered pro-bono legal aid if the program is contested in court.
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.
In January, Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, reintroduced legislation that would fund a commission to study and develop proposals to provide compensation to African Americans. Repairs have become a particularly controversial topic in recent years and have received backlash from Republicans of Congress.
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.
President Biden indicated support.
According to the Hill, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, told reporters last month.
“He will definitely support a study on compensation. He understands that we do not need a study now to act on systemic racism, and therefore he wants to act within his own government in the meantime,” she said.
Fox News’ Sam Dorman and Associated Press Contribute to This Report