“I feel jubilation. I didn’t sleep much last night. I woke up very early just looking forward to this moment. I was thinking of my grandmother and my great-grandfather and all the ancestors that have come before. I know they never thought this could happen.
“We cannot underestimate Evanston. I’m a third-generation Evanstonian. I love this city for lots of reasons. I was born here. My dad was born here. My grandmother came here when she was 18. My great-aunt came here before that and opened her own beauty shop.
“I went to Foster School [when it was a neighborhood school in the predominantly Black Fifth Ward]. I was integrated when I was in third grade. At 8 years old, I never knew what color was. I did not face discrimination when I was young. I, of course, know it exists. I’m a graduate of Spelman College and I learned a lot when I went away to college because I didn’t see it here in Evanston.
“You’ve got to be living under a rock not to see discrimination, racism and just bigotry.
“Housing is such a necessary part of life. If you have no place to lay your head, you can’t live. You can’t get a job. You can’t do anything.”
— Bonnie Lockhart, a member of the Reparations Committee
That’s my best friend. So proud of her.