Professor explains difficulty of implementing reparations policies in Chicago

(The Center Square) – The mayor of Chicago may have difficulty implementing reparations policy. Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order establishing a Reparations Task Force to develop a Black Reparations Agenda. Tio Hardiman, executive director of Violence Interrupters, says the time for more talk has long passed. “I’m thinking about organizing another shutdown of one of the major streets in Chicago to really bring more attention to the reparations struggle,” Hardiman told The Center Square. “It appears that everybody has received some sort of resources or benefits except African American people.” DePaul University Professor of Philosophy Jason Hill said it will be a challenge for the mayor to put reparations policies in place. “Like I’ve said, reparations are very, very difficult unless you can ostensibly point to someone who has suffered real damage,” Hill said. Hill said there are a lot of variables besides slavery that contribute to disparities between and among the races. “The reparations program presupposes that there is a monocausal factor phenomenon called ‘residual effects of slavery’ that account for all the disparities between the races, and I think that’s a very faulty line of reasoning,” Hill said. Johnson said his administration will work with allies...