The City Council in the "woke" Chicago suburb of Evanston voted to establish a $400,000 housing grant program for Black residents.
The grants will be funded through a 3% tax on the sale of recreational marijuana and along with donations. The city expects to spend about $10 million over 10 years.
The grants will $25,000 and can be used “to help with a home down payment or closing cost assistance within the city; help pay for repairs, improvements or modernizations of an Evanston property; or help pay down mortgage principal, interest or late penalties on Evanston property.”
To qualify, residents must either have lived in or been a direct descendant of a Black person who lived in Evanston between 1919 to 1969 and who suffered discrimination in housing because of city ordinances, policies or practices.
Of course, officials say this is just the beginning. Evanston Ald. Robin Rue Simmmons who first proposed the plan back in 2019 says “it is, alone, not enough.We all know that the road to repair and justice in the Black community is going to be a generation of work. It’s going to be many programs and initiatives, and more funding.”
Reuters is so excited about this reparations program, they declare that:
“The program could become a model for other cities and states grappling with whether to pursue their own reparations programs. The burgeoning national movement has gained traction amid a reckoning on racial inequity following the police killing of George Floyd and other Black Americans last year.
In Congress, a bill that would establish a national reparations commission to study the issue has drawn around 170 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives, all Democrats. President Joe Biden has not endorsed the legislation but says he supports a study. Advocates plan to lobby the White House for executive action if the bill, as expected, fails to pass a divided Senate.”
Yes, Democrat please pursue reparations. Ideally, before the 2022 midterms. They’ll lose the House & Senate as a result.