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The town of Evanston, Illinois, will be the first city in the U.S. to keep its promise of paying reparations to Black residents.
Weathers is a native of the historically Black Fifth Ward until 1969 when he was able to move to a more predominantly white neighborhood due to law changes. The Korean War veteran said he needed to threaten to file a complaint to the real estate board just to get the agent to allow them to sign a sales contract for him and his wife to buy a house.
The reparations program is being funded through a 3% tax on recreational marijuana and a real estate transfer tax. According to News Nation Now, a little over $1 million in revenue has been generated so far.
Officials at the front of the reparations fight feel like this move by the town is a great example for others to follow. “I see it as like a test run for the whole country,” Justin Hansford, head of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center at Howard University, said.
California has been in the news for months in its fight for reparations for Black residents. In January, the San Francisco Reparations Committee advocated for a payback program with the recommended sum of $5 million each.
Source: Black Enterprise
