Illinois Reparations Fund Was Transferred To A Black-Owned Bank: “This Is A Very, Very Big Deal”

EVANSTON, ILLINOIS – MARCH 23: A Black Lives Matter sign sits in front of a home on March 23, 2021 in Evanston, Illinois. The City Council of Evanston voted yesterday to approve a plan, which may be the first of its kind in the nation, to make reparations available to Black residents due to past discrimination. To be eligible, residents must have either lived in or be a direct descendant of a Black person who lived in Evanston between 1919 to 1969 and who suffered housing discrimination because of city ordinances, policies or practices. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Two historic happenings have taken place in Illinois. In a landmark decision, Evanston, a city just north of Chicago, enacted a reparations fund for its Black residents who were at least 18 years old from 1919 until 1969 and their descendants who were affected by systemically racist policies, mainly redlining. Now five years later, millions in funding will be transferred to one of Illinois’s only Black-owned banks. “This is a way that this repair can be multiplied,” Evanston Reparations Committee Chair Robin Rue Simmons announced per the Chicago Tribune. She continued “… $17 million in a Black bank is going to...