A lawsuit filed by a conservative activist group claims that a Chicago suburb discriminated against non-Black residents when it paid nearly $5 million in reparations to some Black residents in recent years as part of an ongoing program.
Evanston, Illinois, in 2021 became the first city in the United States to offer reparations to Black Americans, including descendants of Black residents who lived in the city between 1919 and 1969, when the city banned housing discrimination. The program has provided 193 residents subject to discrimination with $25,000 each in housing assistance.
Reparations are a form of financial compensation paid to a group of people who have been harmed.
City staff have vowed to fight the new legal challenge. In an email to KeynoteUSA, Cynthia Vargas, the city’s communications and engagement manager, wrote that Evanston will “vehemently defend any lawsuit brought against our city’s reparations program.”
People who support reparations, including a large majority of black Americans, say black descendants of enslaved people in the United States should be compensated for financial losses caused by slavery and decades of institutional racism and discrimination.
What does the lawsuit state?
The lawsuit, filed by the American conservative nonprofit activist group Judicial Watch, alleges a series of complaints about the city’s reparations program, including a claim that it violates the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. It was filed on behalf of six people who do not identify as black or African-American and whose families lived in the city between 1919 and 1969, the claims read. The group filed the lawsuit on May 23.
“Evanston, Illinois’ ‘reparations’ program is nothing more than a ploy to redistribute tax dollars to people based on their race,” Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, wrote in a news release on the site group website. “This scheme unconstitutionally discriminates against anyone who does not identify as black or African American. “This civil rights class action lawsuit will be a historic defense of our colorblind Constitution.”
Judicial Watch has also filed lawsuits against other cities over programs that benefit people of color and LGBTQ+ people.
Where else are repairs paid for?
Other cities that have committed to providing reparations to African Americans include Asheville, North Carolina, Durham, North Carolina, Amherst, Massachusetts, and Providence, Rhode Island.
State lawmakers in Boston, California, Philadelphia, New York and elsewhere have formed commissions tasked with addressing reparations in recent years. In January, California introduced a set of several bills in a package, the first in the country, to address reparations.
‘Failed promises’:Black Californians could soon receive reparations. What should they be owed?
Where do Americans stand on reparations?
The Pew Research Center’s latest research on American sentiment on reparations shows that a majority of Black Americans support reparations, while more than three-quarters of white adults and a majority of Latino and Asian Americans oppose them. to reparations for black Americans.
Contact Kayla Jimenez at kjimenez@usatoday.com. Follow her on X at @kaylajjimenez.
[fifu]
Keynote USA
For the Latest Local News, Follow Keynote USA Local on Twitter.