Evanston, Illinois, , Becomes First City in US, to Pay Reparations to Black Residents.
Evanston's City Council approved
the plan on March 22 in a vote of 8-1.
$400,000 will be distributed
among eligible Black households.
According to the Associated Press, those households will be qualified to receive $25,000 for down payments on property or home repairs.
Program funding will come from recreational marijuana tax as well as donations.
Evanston anticipates spending
$10 million over the next decade.
To qualify, residents must have have either been a direct descendant of a Black person who suffered housing discrimination in Evanston between 1919 to 1969, .
or they must have endured
the discrimination themselves.
The sole vote against the plan was cast by Alderwoman Cicely Fleming.
Fleming supports reparations but thinks recipients should be able to decide what to do with the money instead of the city assuming they need it for housing