#evanston

The Sun Shines Through

Wyoming

Digital Sides

[ID: A series of photographs taken on a recent trip; they include the interior of a spice store done in warm wood and stocked with endless jars, a delicious-looking bagel, a retro-looking store with a neon sign reading "Newspapers - Magazines" above it, a Little Free Library shaped like a church, and the entrance to an El platform with two sets of stairs, between which is an old-timey sign reading "TO ALL TRAINS" and pointing to either stair.]

Dylan Blaha at Let's Address Illinois:

Donald Trump’s regime of white Christian nationalists continue to embolden racists and bigots across the country. This week, the White House found some racist, bigoted people to fight for in Evanston, Illinois. In 2021, the Chicago suburb of Evanston became the first city in America to make reparations available to Black residents for past discrimination and the lingering effects of slavery and long-term systemic racism. Each qualifying household receives $25,000 for home repairs, down payments on property, and interest or late penalties on property in the city. It’s been hailed as a model for reparations programs across the country. Two years ago, six plaintiffs whose parents or grandparents lived in Evanston filed a lawsuit against the city, arguing their rights were violated under the equal protection clause, arguing they were excluded from reparations because they are not Black. In a disgusting turn of events, Trump’s regime joined the lawsuit this week, arguing that the “race-based criteria” in Evanston is unconstitutional.

Trump’s racism knows no bounds

The US Department of Justice will now wade into this legal fray. So far, the Department full of Trump loyalists is signaling their continued submission to their master. “There are sound ways for a city to remedy past discrimination or direct resources to its most vulnerable citizens and neighborhoods. Simply handing out money based on race, however, is not the answer,” Harmeet K Dhillon, the assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s civil rights division. wrote in a statement. Daniel Biss, Evanston’s Mayor since 2021 and the future US Representative of Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, said he remains confident in the constitutionality of his city’s reparations program and looks forward to defending it in court. “This lawsuit is designed to intimidate and discourage other communities that are beginning their process of reparations, inspired by what Evanston has done,” said Robin Rue Simmons, Chair of the Evanston reparations committee. Simmons, who spearheaded the reparations program, added that the lawsuit is an “attack on the revived hope that Black communities have felt having a path, through a hyperlocal process, to reparations. So what exactly are the six plaintiffs and the White House challenging? To understand that, you need to understand the specific issue Evanston’s reparations program aimed to fix.

Black residents who lived in the city of Evanston between 1919 and 1969 experienced housing discrimination in a variety of different ways, including exclusionary zoning laws and other city policies. The reparations program focuses on direct descendants of these Black residents.