The Daily - A City’s Step Toward Reparations

Episode Date: July 12, 2021

For decades, the granting of racial reparations in the United States appeared to be a political nonstarter. But Evanston, Ill., recently became the first city to approve a program of reparations for its Black residents.How did this happen, and can it be replicated in other parts of the country? Guest: Megan Twohey, an investigative reporter for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: The proposal in Evanston in March was pioneering: a blueprint to begin distributing $10 million in reparations to Black residents of the city in the form of housing grants.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. Despite resistance to the concept throughout much of the country, Evanston, Illinois, recently became the first American city to approve a program that will pay reparations to its Black residents. Today, the story of how that happened. Astead Herndon spoke to our colleague, Megan Toohey. It's Monday, July 12th.

So Megan, how did you first hear about what's happening in Evanston? Well, I actually grew up in Evanston. It's this suburb just north of Chicago. It sits on Lake Michigan. It's home to Northwestern University. And it's known for being one of the more racially diverse and liberal suburbs in the country. And this past March, I was scrolling through my Facebook feeds, and I started to see all these posts about the fact that Evanston had become the first city in the country to pass racial reparations. Now, this does feel like a pretty big deal. I mean, I know a little bit about Evanston. I grew up going to summer camps there. My parents met at Northwestern University.

But I've also interviewed several politicians, including many self-proclaimed progressives who have run from the issue of reparations for years. Well, you're absolutely right. I mean, the issue of racial reparations has been discussed for many, many years, but it has really appeared to be a non-starter politically. to be a non-starter politically. And what was surprising to me was that Evanston, that this city, had managed to do it. And on my Facebook feed, I kept seeing all these shout outs to this one particular person who appeared to be behind the racial reparations initiative in Evanston, a woman named Robin Rue Simmons. Hey, how are you? I'm pretty good. Thank you. How are you? I'm good. I'm good. And I actually went to high school with Robin. We're the same age. We were classmates.

Wow. I was trying to remember if and when we would have last crossed paths in person. I don't know. Were you at the 25th high school reunion? Yeah, I'll have to look and see if we're in a picture together. I remember that night and I was crazy enough to get on stage and do the fight song, the cheerleader fight song. That's right. I totally remember that.

Yeah. So what can you tell me about Robin? I totally remember that. Yeah. So what can you tell me about Robin? Well, Robin has very deep roots in Evanston. And could you tell me a little bit about your family? Robin, are you originally from Evanston? Before my family came to Evanston, like many families in the Black community, they migrated here during the Great Migration.

Her family came to Evanston as part of the Great Migration. And it was segregated, but it was a better opportunity than the communities that they came from. She was born in the 1970s and raised in a neighborhood called the Fifth Ward. By far, it was predominantly Black. I can think of blocks that were 100% Black. I grew up in a village of people that looked like me, that respected me, that really loved me, and it was mutual.

She was like completely part of the fabric of this one particular neighborhood. I could not leave the boundaries of the Fifth Ward because that was a safe place where my family had relationships and I would be safe and protected by elders and accounted for. So it wasn't until third grade when she actually enters the public school system that she starts to leave this neighborhood, this cocoon that she's lived in. So in elementary school,

I attended a neighborhood school that was private and it was 100% Black, 100% Black staff, all Black students and friends. And it was later in third grade, I entered into the public school system. I was bused from my fifth ward home with other children in the neighborhood. And I did make friends outside of my neighborhood for the first time. And she's being bused into other parts of the city.

And she's seeing that the rest of the city is predominantly white. seeing that the rest of the city is predominantly white. And so it was there that I saw the difference between my neighborhood and my friend's neighborhood and knew right away that it was race based at an early age. I understood that. So by the time we were in high school in the 90s, it was racially diverse, but it was also segregated with a lot of clear and visible racial disparities. So by the time I got to Evanston Township High School, where we both attended, I was very active in student government and was student council president and cheerleading captain and very focused on doing well in school.

And I didn't have a diverse friend group. And it wasn't something that I had many grievances about. It was just a matter of fact. I didn't have the same social capital or I didn't live in those neighborhoods. I wasn't invited to the party. And I think it was more of the norm that by high school we were segregated. Am I remembering this correctly? Like, was there distinct dances? Was there like a cotillion dance and a black cotillion dance? Exactly. So there was the ebony ball. Ebony ball. That's right. Right. And then there was the cotillion. And Robin left Evanston after we graduated from high school, but she ultimately moved back to the city. And by this point, she's got two children and she's happy to be back.

But she also realizes that the Fifth Ward, this neighborhood that she grew up in, is gentrifying. And I worked really hard towards homeownership in the Fifth Ward, and it was very, very difficult because of how expensive the community and our housing is now in Evanston. And it's actually hard. It's a struggle for her to buy a home. And it was actually near impossible. If it weren't for a childhood friend that reached out to me and had a home he and his mother had that they were going to sell. So I bought that home. And she also is starting to learn even more about the city's history.

What is that history? What do you mean? You know, we are like most other American cities that are implementing and enforcing racist practices historically and even today. Well, the city had a long pattern of discrimination against the Black community. And a lot of the history is documented in the archives of a Black cultural center called the Shorefront Legacy Center in Evanston. And it includes oral histories of longtime Black residents. I'm Louise Sutton Strong. And I'm Albert Strong. O3, Antoinette, Winfield, Love. That's my full name. And it collectively tells the story. story. My father came from Texas. My dad came from Tennessee. I guess like everybody else that was migrating from the South at that time. You know, in the early 1900s, as families moved from

the South, including Robbins' grandparents, there had been this vibrant Black community that had developed. But in 1919, we had housing or zoning laws that were passed that restricted the Black community essentially to living in one area. The majority of the city was white, and it had crafted policies over decades to confine that Black population to one part of the city, to the Fifth Ward. Well, it was difficult for them if they were going to buy. You couldn't get an evidence from the bank to finance a home. And there's a mountain of evidence of real estate brokers and lenders and builders.

And when we told him that we had found an apartment and that we wanted to put in an application, he jumped back, he drew in his breath and he said, Who engaged in discriminatory practices to create and maintain housing segregation in the city. Why no? We don't rent to coloreds. Evanston was integrated, if you ask me, way back when, you know, before they moved all those houses.

You know, there was systemic relocating and actually even demolishing of Black homes. They put all of these veteran houses on the north side, and they didn't take any Black over there. And when they came back from World War II, Black veterans were denied spots in public housing in the city that had been built specifically for veterans, you know, and it went beyond housing. When I first came to Epperson, we had a theater called the Varsity Theater, and all Blacks had to sit in the balcony. There was also segregation in the city's cultural and community institutions,

and, you know, there was also segregation and discrimination in the schools. They had two proms. They had a white prom, which we weren't invited to, could not go to. And then we had the black prom. And so this is the history that Robin is engaging with as she visits this cultural center. It gave explanation to our current lived experience with some background. And it's helping her to have a greater understanding of the things she's experienced and witnessed in the Fifth Ward and how they've played out over generations. It wasn't by default or it wasn't because we were intellectually inferior or had less work ethic or any thought of our own that we lived in lesser conditions than the rest of Evanston in our neighborhood.

So she has all this newfound knowledge, this new historical motivation. What does she do with it? Well, she decides to run for office. And in 2017, she runs for city council to represent her neighborhood. And while she's on the city council, she's trying to figure out the best way to improve conditions in the Fifth Ward. And that's when she starts thinking about this federal effort for reparations for Black Americans that's been kicking around in Congress for decades. Right. I believe you're talking about H.R. 40, the federal bill that's been around since the 1980s. It would not only study the legacy of slavery, but also the possibility

for reparations for the descendants of slaves. That's exactly right. I mean, this is a bill that would create a commission to simply examine how you could possibly do racial reparations in the country. And year after year, it has never been voted even out of committee. So Robin has been paying attention to that legislation and that effort at the federal level. I just put together the goals for HR 40 and realized that chattel enslavement is not the only egregious act against Black people in America. We also have Jim Crowing and we have predatory lending and we had redlining and currently we have racial terror and police terror. So I thought, why don't we start hyper-locally?

So in 2019, she takes this unprecedented step. Living this experience for me was enough to advance reparation because we did not have justice. And she proposes that the city of Evanston do its own reparations. We'll be right back. So Megan, how does one even go about proposing reparations?

Where does Robin start? Well, I asked her that. How daunting did it feel when you first started, Robin? Because I'm picturing you getting this idea and thinking there must be a blueprint out there. That's exactly what happened. I was confident some other city had done this before. Robin actually goes searching around the country. And I, you know, looked into my network at National League of Cities and others that I've known and found out that there was no model. the cities and others that I've known and found out that there was no model. And so it was all. And she told me she couldn't find any other municipalities that had done racial reparations.

And that wasn't a deterrent. It just made me focus more and become more educated. And so. But slowly she starts to build relationships with people across the country who have been thinking really hard about how you could possibly do reparations. And through those conversations, Evanston is starting to see the steps that are required to move from idea into action. It was important that we had a case for local reparations. It was important that we had a case for local reparations. We had to define what specific actions in Evanston did we pass that are responsible for the damages and the disparity that we have today. So this is not. And the first step is to clearly establish why Evanston owes reparations. And I just led with the data and the facts and the history and was able to articulate what we've done already has not been sufficient. And today we still have the same

racial divide that we did before fair housing was passed or during Jim Crow. We still have a $46,000 on average household income divide between Black and white Evanston, a much lower homeownership rate, an embarrassing achievement gap, information divide, opportunity divide, even today. So we get to establish the factual basis. And then what do they do? Well, then they have to find a funding source. They have to find the money to pay for reparations.

And it was actually my colleague, Augment Ann Rainey, that threw out, well, why don't we use the cannabis sales tax? Illinois had recently legalized marijuana, and they decide that they are going to implement a local tax on marijuana sales in Evanston to pay for reparations. 71% of our marijuana arrests were in the Black community, and we are less than 17% of the population. So we thought it appropriate and passed on the city council that we would use that sales tax revenue to fund reparations. And so in 2019, the city council approves a plan to create what will ultimately be a $10 million fund that will pay reparations over 10 years. This feels like a remarkable arc for Robin. She has grown up in this city, has come to the realization of the inequities that

exist there, and has now used her position in local government to really create the political will for something as big as reparations. But what are they actually proposing, giving to the Black residents of Evanston? What do reparations mean here? residents of Evanston. What do reparations mean here? Well, that instead was the biggest question of all. What exactly would they do with this $10 million? How would they actually implement racial reparations? So that work also started in 2019. We had meetings in April, May, and June. And then in July of 2019, we had very specific meetings asking, what forms of reparations do you want to see? Good evening, everyone.

We're going to start out with some remarks from our audience. Thank you. This has been something I've been working on. And to figure that out, they have a series of meetings where the community is invited to give its input. The recommendations were all across the board. I still think that foster school would be the best idea that would serve the most people. Everything from a fifth-world school. There should be a fund for college-bound students.

To free tuition at Northwestern. In terms of the economic development, to find a place in Evanston where we can have some cooperative kitchens. We have a lot of entrepreneurs who can't afford to have brick and mortar stores. To a grocery store, to health programs and technical training. Skill training is so very important and we need to provide it. And what we did with that community feedback is we separated what was in our purview as a city government and what was not. as a city government and what was not.

But, you know, they realize that they can only do what's within their control, what the city has jurisdiction over. So that list largely identified housing programs. The first recommendation I would like to make is look at seniors and other people who needed their homes renovated and repaired. Largely, it had recommendations of housing because of all of the stories that we live today and that we've heard of our history of housing discrimination. My family was born and raised in Evanston, and the home that my

grandfather built for my father and his family was put on a truck and removed from North Evanston to the Fifth Ward. Now, my father never recovered from that. And ultimately, they decide that they're going to focus specifically on housing. So what do Robin and the city council actually come up with in respect to housing? Well, they create a program to distribute the first $400,000 that will be coming out of the larger reparations fund. And they decide it's going to be broken into these $25,000 housing grants that can be used for things like mortgages or down payments or repairs. And who would be eligible for these housing grants? The residents that are eligible for reparations in Evanston are Black residents that lived here

between 1919, which is when we have evidence of anti-Black housing and zoning laws. And 1969 is when fair housing was passed and implemented in the city of Evanston. You'd have to show that you were a resident living in the city between 1919 and 1969, when a lot of these clearly established systems and practices of housing discrimination were taking place. So residents that lived here during that window are their direct descendants. And they'll have to show their lineage, their race and place. They'll have to show that through documents. And so this past March, two years after Robin first began the reparations process in Evanston,

she puts this entire plan up for a vote. And so take us to the vote on March 22nd of this year. How were you feeling going into that vote? By the time I get to the dais for a council action, my practice was the work was done. I had very well educated my colleagues on city council. I was able to show how reparations could uplift the entire city for those that needed more than just the moral argument. So by the time March 22nd came, I was very confident that in this year, 2021, we would be delivering reparations to Black residents in Evanston.

So good evening, everyone. I am Mayor Haggerty, mayor of the city of Evanston, Illinois, duly appointed. So Robin and the city council meet for a virtual meeting. This is a public hearing being held by toll-free conference call and by free Zoom video conference. You know, remember this is the pandemic and they can't show up in person. We have a lot of different issues, including reparations, on the agenda this evening. So we have 63 speakers. But dozens of residents show up to testify. Thank you very much. I am very much in favor of reparations. And most of the people who testify are expressing support. I am excited about the reparations program, and this is a way that we can give back into the Black community.

Thank you very much. into the Black community. Thank you very much. My father returned from World War II as a Tuskegee airman, and we were discriminated against in terms of housing. You know, there are elderly Black residents of the city who are talking about how they can recall some of this systemic discrimination and segregation.

I grew up in the Fifth Ward, and I have seen houses being moved by logs discrimination and segregation. I grew up in the fifth ward, and I have seen houses being moved by laws as they, in Evanston, implemented housing discrimination against people of African descent. And how proud they are that Evanston is going to move forward with some measure of repair. And I'm pleased that the city is acknowledging the housing disparity, as well as to be the first city in the nation to propose redress for it.

And talking about how it's just so important and so historic. As a white person, I just want to start with an apology for my community, the white people who caused this. You're also hearing white residents voice support for it. But there's also a vocal group of residents who are voicing opposition and not necessarily in the way you might expect. Now, what was their argument? Their complaints varied. I think that what's been proposed is admirable, but it doesn't quite rise to the stature of what most people understand as reparations. There were some people who said that this wasn't a true reparations program.

Understand the opposers just do not want this housing program to be called reparations because it is not reparations. Money is going back to the bank, which is the offender, the offender in this process. We have been discriminated against by the banks. Why should they be rewarded with $25,000? There were some people who said that housing assistance would ultimately go to some of these institutions that had actually been complicit in the city's history

of racial segregation and discrimination. I'm voting yes for cash payments and no for housing programs. And that true reparations would be cash, cash payments to residents. Instead of cash payments or other options that respect the humanity and self-determination of Black people, the housing program is restricted. There were other people who argued that this $400,000 that they were starting off with was in no way doing justice to the decades and decades of harm that had been done to Black residents. If any of your family members, their house was burned down, they were killed,

and then someone walks up and says, here's 25 cent as a good start, And I promise to do better later. That's what that looks like and feels like to us. And what was clear was that everybody felt very passionate about their opinions. It's take your time. Why are you rushing? This isn't about your legacy. This is about the people of Evanston, Black people of Evanston.

There wasn't a single person on either side of the debate who got up and said they oppose giving Black residents of Evanston some form of reparations. Not a single one. Wow. recognition on both sides that what they were doing in Evanston was going to have repercussions beyond the city's limits. And in becoming the first city to pass a racial reparations program, they were going to be sending a message to the rest of the country. I encourage you to vote yes, because this is a single step on a thousand mile journey that should have started a long time ago. As we begin this first step, we will set in motion a tide of movement that will benefit tens of millions of Black people everywhere. Start

tonight. Please make history. And in the end. And Alderman Ruth Simmons, if you want to move SP3. Adoption of Resolution 37R27 authorizing the implementation of Evanston local reparation, authorizing the implementation of Evanston Local Reparation Restorative Housing. The city council votes on it. On a 8-1 vote, the Evanston City Council approved adoption of Resolution 37-R-27. And the program passes 8-1. Megan, as you're describing the vote, I was really struck by how there really seems to be an open debate about what reparations even means. Is it housing grants like this example, or should it come in the form of cash? Like you said, other people suggested. I'm wondering, how does Robin wrestle with all of this?

What do you say to people who feel like this program isn't actually reparations? Well, I disagree with them, of course. Well, you know, she rejected this idea that the housing grants were not reparations. It's not ordinary public policy. This is not a income-based program. This is not for all marginalized groups. This isn't for one area of town. This is specifically for an injured community that has been identified by legislative actions. And she also pushed back on the call for cash payments. And that was actually surprising because it was such a low priority in our public process that we had in 2019.

She said that it really hadn't been voiced until quite recently after a long process of community input. And I support cash benefits. I'm not saying that it isn't appropriate, but based on our case for reparations, it's also important that our repair is in line with the injury so that we have a viable legal chance to advance our reparations program. And Robin also believed that if they had gone with the cash route, that it would have been susceptible to legal challenges. It's very clear, the nation that we live in, that white supremacy and anti-Blackness and racism is real and alive. So I knew that if not in our city, outside of our city, we would expect to have a legal

challenge. And the advantage of, say, housing grants as opposed to cash was that it was very specific. It was a specific remedy for a well-documented wrong that had been perpetrated on Black residents in the city of Evanston. And so it was the specificity of housing grants that made it likely to withstand any legal challenges that came its way. It's always been a leading consideration as we've advanced the work, and it will remain

because we don't want to have a ceremonial reparations policy where it's tied up in courts and their funding is not dispersed to residents. And what's next then for Evanston now that the proposal has passed? Right. So the city has to move forward with implementing this reparations program. And it's actually in the process this summer of finalizing applications for those housing grants with the goal of selecting recipients and moving forward with distributing that money this year. And Robin actually didn't run for re-election on the city council, but she's still on the reparations committee. And she's focusing now on how to advance reparations nationally. So she's been talking to people in other cities about different models and how they might work.

What we've done in Evanston may not be exactly ideal for another city. Their injury might be different, their history, their demographics. But I believe what we've done has been inspiration for other municipalities and for federal legislators to sign on. other municipalities and for federal legislators to sign on. You know, as you say that, Megan, I can't help but think about how Evanston is certainly more liberal than a lot of other American cities. And we know it's really comprised of a lot of the type of white liberals that have had a profound change on these racial issues in the last four to five years. Seeing that, how realistic is it that this can be something that is replicated

in other parts of the country? Is this a story of Evanston predicting where a lot of the rest of America is on race? Or is this a story of Evanston being an outlier? Well, listen, Asad, I think by many measures, Evanston can appear like an outlier. You know, today, the majority of Americans are opposed to reparations, and many of those people will always be opposed to reparations. But I also think that we're seeing a growing number of communities who are becoming more determined to do things to address the history of racial injustice in this country.

racial injustice in this country. And, you know, what's also clear is that even for those communities that do decide to go forward with reparations, that if they choose to do so, it can be really complicated. Right. I see how Evanston teaches us about even more of the nuance around the racial conversation in the country. Not only is there a different conversation about race among liberal and conservative or among Democrat or Republican, that even among a community that has a similar ideological set that agrees that reparations are owed to Black Americans in the city, that there is still a big divergence of what they think should happen next and what people think reparations even means. they think should happen next, and what people think reparations even means. Well, you're right, Astead. I mean, even in a place like Evanston, where seemingly everybody agrees that reparations is the right thing to do,

there was disagreement on how exactly they should do it. As the country moves forward with experimenting with racial reparations programs or initiatives, it's clear that reparation means many different things to many different people. What, ideally, would reparations look like to you? I mean, putting aside for a moment the financial, legal, political questions that I know that you've come to understand really well, if you could get your ideal reparations, what would you want? Well, I would want a proper acknowledgement and apology for the acts against my ancestors, my elders and myself, my children. damages that can be calculated in what anti-Blackness has done to the possibilities of my life and the legacy of my family. And it also means access to the mental health care for

the trauma that we experience and the disregard for Black lives that we see in public murders and police terror. So it would look like a combination, a portfolio of benefits and services and compensation, but it wouldn't be limited to a check for me, not at all. Well, thank you so much, Robin. Thank you, Megan. It's good to see you. Thank you, Megan. Thank you, Ested. In April, three weeks after Evanston approved its reparations program, the House Judiciary Committee voted to advance H.R. 40, which would study reparations at the federal level.

It was the first time that Congress has acted on the bill in more than 30 years. But the future of H.R. 40 is uncertain. It faces opposition from some congressional Democrats and most congressional Republicans. Meanwhile, last month, 11 U.S. mayors from Los Angeles to Durham, North Carolina, pledged to pay reparations to residents of their cities. But they did not say how much these plans would cost, how they would pay for them, or who exactly would be eligible? We'll be right back. Here's what else you need to know today. The Biden administration is resisting requests from the government of Haiti

to send American troops to the country to maintain order after the assassination of its president, Jovenel Moise. We are aware of the request by the Haitian government. We're analyzing it just like we would any other request for assistance here at the Pentagon. It's going through a review. Over the weekend, the White House said that instead, the U.S. would send agents from the Department of Homeland Security

and the FBI to help Haiti investigate the circumstances around Moise's murder. And I think that's really where our energies are best applied right now in helping them get their arms around investigating this incident and figuring out who's culpable, who's responsible, and how best to hold them accountable going forward. So far, Haitian authorities have arrested at least 20 suspects in the assassination, most of them former soldiers from Colombia, and at least three of them with ties to the U.S. On Sunday night, the authorities described one of them, a Haitian-born doctor based in Florida, as central to the assassination, saying they believe he had recruited those behind the murder

in a plot to become Haiti's president. Today's episode was produced by Sydney Harper and Eric Krupke, with help from Aastha Chaturvedi. It was edited by Anita Bhattachow, contains original music by Dan Powell and Marion Lozano, original music by Dan Powell and Marion Lozano, and was engineered by Chris Wood. Special thanks to Lisa Chow, Larissa Anderson, and Nina Kaven of Dear Evanston. Oral histories used in this episode are courtesy of Dino Robinson and the Shorefront Legacy Center. That's it for The Daily. I'm Michael Bilbaro.

See you tomorrow.