Illinois Commission To Hold Series of Hearings for Public To Weigh In on Reparations Plan

Illinois’s reparations commission is launching a series of public hearings throughout the state, with the first one set at Chicago on Saturday.  It marks a major public step for the state’s African Descent-Citizens Reparations Commission as it moves forward with plans to pay reparations for slavery, even as one Illinois city, Evanston, already faces a lawsuit for its first-of-its-kind reparations program — and while Chicago is facing criticism for its recently-announced task force.  The state commission says it is aiming “to gather diverse perspectives from the public to shape recommendations for tangible actions towards justice and restitution for Black Americans in Illinois who are descendants of America’s Chattel Slavery.” While the state’s commission was created in 2021, its past couple of years have been focused on research and educational outreach events, its 2023 agenda indicates, as well as launching a Juneteenth awareness campaign. The commission notes that its mandate from the Illinois legislature is to “investigate and make recommendations for reparations to individuals who can demonstrate their lineage as African American descendants of the American slave trade.” It did not immediately respond to a request from the Sun for comment about how lineage would be determined and verified by the...