Three years ago, it was reported that the Evanston City Council voted to launch the first phase of a reparations program for Black residents in the Chicago suburb.
Initially, residents who qualified for the program would receive a $25,000 grant to repair or buy a home, but the program later allowed Black residents to receive the money in a cash payment. The $20 million reparations program was only open to Black people who lived in the city or could prove that they had Black ancestors that lived in Evanston between 1919 and1969.
But after paying out nearly $5 million to 193 Black people, non-Black residents of the Chicago suburb are trying to end the program entirely.
According to the Washington Post, Judicial Watch, a conservative advocacy group, has filed a class-action lawsuit against the city claiming that the reparations program discriminated against non-Black residents.
This particular lawsuit (along with many others) received a lot of traction due to the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to restrict race-based affirmative action in higher education.
More from the Washington Post:
“This program redistributes tax dollars based on race,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, the group that filed the lawsuit against Evanston. “That’s just a brazen violation of the law.”
Evanston “will vehemently defend” its reparations program, said Cynthia Vargas, the city’s communications and engagement manager. She declined to comment on the specifics of the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court at the end of May.
This lawsuit could have wide-ranging implications. First, it could cause other cities around the country to think twice about these reparations programs that are meant to benefit their Black residents. Large cities such as Boston and states like California have looked into the possibility of starting a similar program for their Black residents. They may not do so if non-Black residents file a lawsuit shortly after citing discrimination.
Secondly, the beneficiaries of this reparations program in Evanston are receiving $25,000, not $1 million. It’s not as if these residents are receiving life-changing money — the city council is simply just righting a wrong done to their Black residents.
Furthermore, it’s not as if they are blindly giving money to any Black person that asks for it. Research by a city subcommittee found that practices such as redlining caused Black people to be limited to a small part of the city.
Their resolution read, “The Local Reparations Restorative Housing Program … acknowledges the harm caused to Black/African-American Evanston residents due to discriminatory housing policies and practices and inaction on the part of the City.”
Adding that the program is a step toward, “revitalizing, preserving, and stabilizing Black/African-American owner-occupied homes in Evanston, increasing homeownership and building the wealth of Black/African-American residents, building intergenerational equity amongst Black/African-American residents, and improving the retention rate of Black/African-American homeowners in the City of Evanston,” according to the Chicago Tribune.