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The Evanston, Ill. Reparations Committee has doled out at least $6.36 million in payments through a constitutionally suspect program
Reparations have become quite popular among the “white guilt” liberal set who insist the rest of us pay for crimes 21st century Americans did not commit. The redistribution of wealth schemes driven by identity politics are popping up in leftist-led cities across the country. They seem to be making critical race theory charlatans and professional race-baiters a lot of money while sowing more division and discrimination.How about reparations for taxpayers forced to pay unjust reparations?
Take Evanston, Illinois, for example. The Chicago suburb teeming with self-loathing, wealthy white liberals and misplaced Big 10 football and basketball teams in 2019 became the first U.S. city to launch a reparations program. The city of some 75,000 souls has committed $20 million to the cause of assuaging its guilt for past transgressions of segregating and redlining black residents.
The money is supposed to compensate today’s black residents for past racial injustice. The recipients were not enslaved nor are they necessarily victims of discrimination. But they get a hefty check, regardless.
‘Incredible’
In its latest round of redistribution with one-sided representation, Evanston announced in February that it will be issuing $25,000 individual payments to 44 people, according to the city’s Reparations Committee. The money, Fox News reported, comes from $276,588 in Evanston’s real estate transfer tax, a collection from the sale of property in the college town. The city also levies a tax on cannabis sales, although that revenue stream reportedly hasn’t been sufficient to meet the reparations wish list.
City leaders would also like to strap a tax on Delta-8 THC products — weed lite, if you will — to keep the reparations train rolling.
Last June, the Reparations Committee announced it had doled out a total of $6.36 million “to ancestors and direct descendants of the Black Evanston community,” the Evanston Roundtable reported.
At the time, Tashiek Kerr, assistant to the city manager, (not to be confused with the assistant to the regional manager), said Evanston officials had met with “116 out of 126 residents in the direct descendants group,” the newspaper reported. “These residents are related to Black Evanston residents who lived in Evanston from 1919 through 1969.”
A total of nearly $3 million was disbursed to those residents, with another 135 recipients sharing $3.5 million, all black applicants who claim to have faced discriminatory housing practices. The payments are supposed to be used for housing assistance — mortgage payments, down payments, home repairs and the like.
The committee’s chairwoman, Robin Rue Simmons, described the funding totals as “incredible.” The audience burst into applause, the Roundtable reported.
Here’s the phrase that pays:
“However, recipients in the next round are wondering when it will be their turn. Rue Simmons said it is undetermined due to funding,” according to the newspaper.
And so it goes with the history of reparation proposals and plans. Like all leftist money grabs, it’s never enough. (*See the expansion of welfare, affirmative action, the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977”, etc.)
Reparations Chaser
It will probably come as little surprise that Simmons, a former Evanston city council member, is the founder and executive director of FirstRepair, a 501(c) (3) “that provides expertise, technical assistance, and advocacy for local reparations nationwide.” The reparations chaser also serves as commissioner of the National African-American Reparations Commission (NAARC) and as a board member of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA), according to her bio.
Simmons’ not-for-profit reported $1.18 million in revenue and nearly as much in expenses in 2024, according to the leftist reporting site ProPublica’s database. FirstRepair paid out $228,142 in executive compensation. Simmons pocketed about $210,000. That’s not a bad living for the director of a tax-deductible “social action” organization.
Simmons, according to her bio, also has developed dozens of “affordable houses” funded through tax dollars, and she manages a “handful of residential and commercial properties that she owns in Evanston.” --->READ MORE HERE
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