A city has approved a proposal to pay reparations to black residents for past racial woes. However, in order for them to qualify, they have to meet a certain set of requirements, which has some supporters dissatisfied.
The Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois, passed a proposal to pay reparations to eligible black residents, NBC News reports. The City Council voted 8-1 to distribute $400,000 to black households, giving each one $25,000 to allocate to home repairs, mortgage payments, or down payments on their properties. The city’s 3-percent tax on marijuana sales will help to fund the program.
“This is set aside for an injured community that happens to be black, that was injured by the city of Evanston for anti-black housing policies,” said Alderman Robin Rue Simmons, who proposed the program.
With identity politics at the forefront of the political sphere, the topic of reparations has been a goal for social justice activists. Although the issue has gained little traction due to the difficulty in determining exactly which qualifications to use in order to decide who gets a cut, Evanston moved ahead with the initiative in the hope that the kinks will work themselves out.
However, it’s the qualifications that have some wondering if the initiative should even be considered progress. According to The Washington Post, approximately 16 percent, or around 12,000 people, of the city’s 75,000 residents identify as black. Since the grant money would be split up into increments of $25,000, only 16 black residents would receive the funding. This means that the city will be giving reparations to just 0.13 percent of its black community.
Of course, with the requirements outlined in the initiative, most of the city’s black residents wouldn’t even qualify for the money in the first place. To receive the grants, black residents must be able to show proof that they are direct descendants of black relatives who lived in the city between 1919 and 1969, and that those relatives suffered from housing discrimination.
The city plans to dispense $10 million over the course of a decade. However, even this increase only funds 400 people over the course of the 10-year timeline. If they are able to meet this goal, the city will have ultimately paid reparations to just 3 percent of its black population upon the program’s end.
While the majority of the city council applauded their own efforts, Alderman Cicely Fleming says that the program is actually inherently racist and patronizing. Having cast the lone vote against the plan, Fleming explained that the program, which is really a housing plan disguised as reparations, treats the black recipients as if they are incapable or untrustworthy of managing their money, as it only allows them to use the funds on their properties.
Of course, before the payments could even go out, many criticized that the plan isn’t a credible form of reparations. Others were outraged that so few black residents would receive the payments. Still, the council feels positive about the initiative and claims it’s the first of many directed at putting reparations into the hands of black individuals.
“It’s a first tangible step. It is alone not enough. It is not full repair alone in this one initiative, but we all know that the road to repair injustice in the black community will be a generation of work,” said Simmons. “I’m excited to know more voices will come to the process.”
Reparations have long been an issue of contention since there are so many factors that make it impossible to implement equitably. Is the rest of the black community okay with paying reparations for only a portion of the black community? What if the reparations recipient is a wealthy person descended from a relative of housing discrimination?
These are just a few of the factors that play into attempting to atone for sins committed by others in the past. There are countless determinants and there is, unfortunately, no way of implementing reparations fairly across the board.
While the payments will mean a lot to the few who will receive them, they certainly won’t put a dent in the real issues that affect the black community. Fatherlessness, broken families, drug abuse, gang violence, and perpetual economic struggle cannot be fixed by throwing money at the problems. There are deeper social issues that need to be addressed and repaired if we want to see success on all accounts for black America.
Source: Tap Worthy Happenings
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