(PartiallyPolitics.com) – Evanston, Illinois had first committed to providing reparations to Black residents in 2019 and it has not become the first city in the country to go through with those promises. The city first approved a spending of $10 million over a decade. Two years later they also passed a different program that would provide Black residents with the opportunity to take a $25,000 housing grant that can be used either for a down payment, towards their existing home, or for any repairs necessary.
These latest reparations are meant to be an attempt by the city to atone for the racist housing policies that they had previously supported. The program is being funded through a 3 percent tax on the sale of recreational marijuana as well as a transfer tax on real estate for all properties that are sold for more than $1 million. So far, these two methods of raising funds have resulted in $1.18 million in revenue being given.
Following the 2020 police killing of George Floyd, there has been an increased push towards fixing the racial injustices of the past. This has also led to renewed calls across the nation for reparations.
City staff have already had meetings with 48 individuals who would be able to benefit from the payment according to a memo sent from the city manager’s assistant Tasheik Kerr.
By the end of the year, 140 residents are going to receive $25,000 each as part of the reparations.
Louis Weathers, 88, is going to be one of those receiving the payment. The Korean War veteran and retired postal worker revealed that for the majority of his life, he had lived in the Black Fifth Ward and had only been allowed to move to a white neighborhood in 1969 after the laws were changed.
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