In a filing submitted by the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, federal prosecutors sought on Tuesday to join an existing class-action lawsuit challenging the City of Evanston’s "Local Reparations Restorative Housing Program." The DOJ contends that the Chicago suburb's initiative unlawfully distributes public benefits based strictly on race and ancestry."There are sound ways for a city to remedy past discrimination or direct resources to its most vulnerable citizens and neighborhoods," Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K.Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division stated in the filing.
"Simply handing out money based on race, however, is not the answer.It is race discrimination, pure and simple.
And it is illegal."OAKLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT VOWED REPARATIONS FOR BLACK STUDENTS, YET OUTCOMES APPEAR STAGNANT AFTER 5 YEARSThe reparations program by Evanston, Illinois, is the subject of a federal lawsuit.(getty images)The DOJ’s proposed complaint alleges that the program violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, as well as the Fair Housing Act, because the housing-related financial assistance is distributed on the basis of race.Approved by the city in 2019 and launched in 2021, the first-of-its-kind program provides eligible Black residents or their direct descendants with $25,000 grants.
The funds can be used for home purchases, mortgage assistance, property repairs, or received as direct cash payments.To qualify, applicants must be Black and have lived in Evanston as adults between 1919 and 1969—a period documented by the city as marked by systemic housing discrimination and redlining—or be a direct descendant of a resident from that era.The initiative has become a flashpoint in a broader national debate over racial reparative justice.While proponents view the program as a necessary blueprint for addressing generational economic gaps, the federal government argued in its Tuesday filing that the program i...