So, I watched the Evanston reparations town hall. Majority of the speakers on the stage all spoke on the terrorism done onto Black people through slavery and Jim Crow. Unfortunately, Black Evanston was told we can’t receive reparations from terrorism. White leadership “allegedly” said it had to be through housing with documented proof, so the vision of true reparations had to change to suit certain figures in Evanston.
Reparations for Black Evanston could not and would not ever be payments like it has been for other groups terrorized in history. It is heartbreaking to witness that our own leadership believed that grown adult Black people living in Evanston would not and could not handle cash payments for the wrongs done to them for generations … and still being done. The Black people of Evanston were TOLD what their reparations will be and the bar set so low that names will have to be drawn from a hat to see who wins a shiny, glittery bank loan … who is deserving of reparations. The money will be passed through so many hands from the City of Evanston to a third party and then a selected bank – not one of those hands is a Black resident directly. They said they listened to the community before Evanston reparations was passed.
Have you ever spoken at Public Comment at a City Council meeting? Did you feel it was a conversation? Did you feel heard? Did anyone respond? Fifty residents can speak against a concern at Public Comment at a City Council meeting and the vote will still pass – regardless of how the people feel. That’s what the Evanston reparations meetings were like. People did not feel heard in regards to bank loans being in the form of their reparations. Spare us with the speakers on slavery and the civil rights movement when Black Evanston was told they will never receive reparations for the terrorism.
So why have speaker after speaker spoken on the terrorism done onto Black people? To stir our emotions? Sixteen Black residents, picked from a lottery, will have their reparations sent from the City of Evanston to some third party not yet confirmed, and then to a bank/lender. Again, other groups did not have to go through this process to receive their reparations for terrorism done onto their people. But a handful of people in Evanston who make decisions believe this is good enough for Black Evanston.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I can stomach any more slavery speeches or scripture at these town halls on Evanston reparations that fire up the soul … just to be hit with reality that we won’t get jack for the pain and harm. Though Black people are thriving in some areas in America … the trauma still exists in us today. We are still experiencing terrorism. It’s just dressed differently. Case in point … Evanston reparations.
One of the reparations stakeholders told me they are tired of hearing the complaints and how no one has come with any suggestions. I let him know there were plenty of suggestions, outside of bank loans, but they fell on deaf ears. He said no one else is doing anything to help their community as far as reparations. I said that wasn’t true. The education bill I helped to draft with Rep. La Shawn Ford is a form of reparations. The difference is, the Inclusive American History Bill doesn’t cherry pick 16 children out of thousands to benefit. Not one child is left behind in that bill. And with that … to some degree … on some level … repair will begin in how our children are taught history. And there are others doing work every day to fight for repair. I will always give respect to Robin Rue Simmons for making reparations a real conversation across the country. I just don’t agree with other leadership placing restrictions on Evanston reparations based on what they felt we deserved for generational trauma.
So the trauma continues … for those who truly want the bank loans or possible home improvement or mortgage assistance, I hope your name is selected. No one is against a housing program. No one would speak out against a housing program. It’s just not reparations. It’s not reparations. And it almost feels criminal that an everyday housing program that anybody can get anywhere has to be considered Black people’s reparations.
I did not post this to engage in a debate and I won’t. I had to get it out before it created an even bigger hole in my soul from past trauma. I refuse to allow this to be added to the hole. To my ancestors, elders, and the next generations in my family … I continue to fight for you and please forgive my mis-steps in my journey. I am still hopeful that Evanston reparations will get better for my community.
Meleika Gardner is founder of Evanston Live TV and co-host of the “Chicago Heal” radio show on WVON-AM and WCPT-AM.
Ms. Gardner, YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT! Unfortunately, as long as members of the Black community defend/support Evanston’s housing program oops, I mean reparations program, TRUE AND EQUITABLE REPARATIONS to the Black community will never come to full fruition.
To Theodore Weston:
You should ask the City Council, not Ms. Gardner, to specify the harms caused by the city of Evanston that led them to vote for the reparations program, who the victims are and how they were victimized by the city of Evanston.
FYI:
Native Americans received land and billions of dollars in reparations from the United States. Japanese Americans, who were interned during World War II, received over $1B in reparations from the United States. And don’t forget, it is the United States who created the very framework for Holocaust reparations and property restitution. As recently as September 2020, Secretary of State Pompeo observed in his Foreword to the Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today (JUST) Act Report that as “World War II ended in Europe, the United States led the effort to seek a measure of justice in the form of restitution or compensation for individuals whose assets were stolen during the Holocaust.
Deborah, The city council has made its argument based on some very spotty historical sources–second hand interviews from a decades-old Northwestern MA thesis, primarily. As I said in my original comment I think their argument is weak and will not be held up on court.
Ms. Gardner obviously doesn’t have an idea either of what specific harms have been caused by the city since she doesn’t discuss anything in her piece.
In your comment you seem to want to see ‘TRUE AND EQUITABLE REPARATIONS’ from the city. So I ask you, Ms. Bell, what are the specific policies of the city that caused harm, what were the specific harms cause by the policies, and what would be ‘true and equitable’ reparations to remedy those harms?
I am truly curious to know.
Well said, Meleika.
You stated “like other groups that were terrorized”. I have not researched this topic but are there other examples of a city paying reparations to a terrorized people? I really think the Evanston reparations program is a remarkable thing. I had never heard of a city doing such a thing. I feel the reparations you seek would need to come from a state or the federal government.
This is the thing that is so weird about her essay. I’m not sure she understands what reparations are. The legal meaning refers to some sort of restitution given to an aggrieved party for a specific harm.
I would really appreciate some specificity about the harms caused by the city that Gardner thinks need to be repaired. She is critical that alleged victims were “TOLD” what the reparations should be. Ok, Meleika, explain who the victims are, how they were victimized by the city, and what proper compensation should be.
I am not expecting a response since she says she “did not post this to engage in a debate and I won’t.” I am not trying to debate. I would just want her to engage in some specificity in terms of the damages caused by city policy, who suffered, and what is proper recompense. Until these questions are answered I am afraid that it is hard to take this essay seriously.
I appreciate Ms. Gardner’s comment, but the reality is that there is a particular legal threshold that the city’s reparation policy must meet.
The city is already being targeted by conservative activist groups who will undoubtedly sue the city as soon as the first housing assistance payments are authorized.
I am not convinced that the current program meets legal scrutiny since the city will have to convince a court that specific city actions led to specific wrongs to specific people. None of the historical material that the city is reliant upon is very convincing in the first step of the equation (identifying specific city actions).
It would be helpful if critics like Ms. Gardner were more specific in identifying PRECISELY the city actions they are concerned with, the people damaged by these actions, and what an appropriate recompense might be.
Until you do that, compensation for past wrongs is unlikely to materialize.