Evanston sued for paying Black residents $25,000 in reparations

A class action lawsuit has been filed to stop the city of Evanston from paying $25,000 in reparations to its Black residents. The lawsuit, filed May 23 in the U.S. District Court of Northern Illinois in Chicago, names six non-Black plaintiffs. Evanston made history in 2021 as the first U.S. city to award reparations to Black residents. Led by Alderman Robin Rue Simmons, by a vote of 8 to 1, Evanston passed an ordinance that created a $20 million program that requires Evanston to pay $25,000 each to its Black residents whose ancestors were victims of housing discrimination during segregation on the North Shore. The city committed to paying out $10 million in reparations over the next decade. The $25,000 payment can be used as a down payment on a house or for home repairs. So far, the city has paid $5 million to 193 of the town’s Black residents over the past two years, according to the Washington Post. According to Evanston’s website, the city expects to make payments to 80 additional direct descendants of Black residents who lived in the city between 1919 and 1969. But Judicial Watch, a Washington, D.C. organization said the reparations discriminate against Evanston’s...