Communities Across Chicago and the United States
Chicago is not the only city in which Black people and families suffer from low-income. This is a nationwide issue and therefore, action is needed in order to reduce this nationwide issue. However, it is not as easy as many would think it would be, as there are millions of families across the nation that need to be taken care of. It is not impossible to do and may certainly take a lot of time. This is something that many people across the nation have been yearning for, yet nothing has really been done. This then causes anger to spread around the nation.
Evanston Becomes the First City to Give Reparations
Despite many claiming that this is only a test run of a bigger project, there is now a greater sense of hope amongst many families. Therefore, there is going to be reparation money that is dispersed amongst the community. “A suburb of Chicago has become the first to start paying reparations to qualifying Black residents in what is being seen as ‘a test run for the whole country’,” says the New York Post. Furthermore, there is a sense of urgency, as many families are in desperate need of reparations, or money in general, to help with their financial predicaments.
How Much Is Being Given to Residents? Where Did This Money Come From?
This then raises the question, how much exactly does every qualified resident receive in terms of money for themselves? Not only that, but where does this money even come from in the first place? “…through a tax on marijuana sales, with a plan to distribute $10m over the coming decade,” according to The Guardian.
To qualify, applicants had to be at least 18 years old and have lived in the city of Evanston sometime between the years 1919 and 1969, the year the city passed a fair-housing ordinance.
Because this will be taking place over the next decade, it therefore may take some time before families receive the help they need. “Under the program’s first phase, qualifying residents would get $25,000 to use toward homeownership, home improvement, and mortgage assistance,” according to NBC News. This would certainly be a large amount of money that would help these families in need.
What Do Residents Think About This Movement?
As expected, there are many residents across Chicago and the nation that are excited about this movement. Many agree that it should be happening quicker. There are a load of families that need the help, and desperately. For many years, Black people have been suffering.
Their suffering comes from racism, discrimination, low-income, and much more. This furthers the need for this movement. However, there are people that do not believe that $25,000 is enough for everything they have gone through. “Still, not everyone is satisfied with the pioneering payouts. Local civil rights activist Bennett Johnson told a recent meeting that the $25,000 was not enough — and the 1969 cutoff year “totally arbitrary” given that Black people were “discriminated” against long after that,” according to The New York Post.
Positive and Negative Reactions Clash
Clearly, there is a lot of back and forth when it comes to this particular movement. Despite there being people that agree with this, and that say this is a great start when it comes to reparations in general, there are others who disagree wholeheartedly.
Therefore, given time, there may or may not be changes made to this, based on what many people are saying. If there are changes, the amount of money may either increase or even decrease, in accordance with what is decided upon by the nation. However, despite this, this is the start of a long-awaited movement.
Written by David Loran Jr
Sources:
The New York Post: Chicago suburb starts making $25K reparations payouts in ‘test run for the whole country
The Guardian: Chicago suburb to become first city to provide reparations to Black residents for housing
NBC News: Chicago suburb to become first city to give Black residents reparations
Featured and Top Image Courtesy of risingthermals’ Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Tony’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
