250th Anniversary: DOJ Sues to Block Evanston's $25,000 Reparations

A federal judge in Illinois has allowed the Department of Justice to intervene in a lawsuit seeking to block Evanston's municipal reparations program. The government argues the city's distribution of $25,000 housing grants to Black residents violates the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause and the Fair Housing Act. This legal move comes as the administration intensifies its review of race-based initiatives nationwide.

The lawsuit was originally filed by the advocacy group Judicial Watch. Michael Bekesha, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, stated that the Constitution prohibits governments from choosing winners and losers based solely on race. The Justice Department contends that the program fails to identify specific historical harm to the recipients. In a statement, department spokeswoman Kiersten Pels said that race-based government benefit programs are unconstitutional and frequently violate federal civil rights law.

Evanston's program, designed to assist residents whose families were harmed by discriminatory housing policies, has become a model for other cities. Robin Rue Simmons, who now goes by N'nanba and serves as a former city councilwoman, helped create the grant system. She is currently working to expand this framework to more than 100 communities across the country. Rue Simmons, who chairs the local Reparations Committee, said the group remains focused on federal redress despite current political barriers.

The legal challenge occurs while the United States marks its 250th anniversary. The trans-Atlantic slave trade forced an estimated 12.5 million Africans onto ships bound for the Americas. Approximately 1.8 million did not survive the journey, and roughly 388,000 were taken to what is now the United States. Slavery in the country lasted until 1865, followed by decades of segregation and systemic racism that limited wealth accumulation for Black families.

President Donald Trump has voiced opposition to reparations efforts. In a speech in September, he told supporters that they want to steal money for reparations and that the initiative is going nowhere. William Darity, a co-author on a book regarding reparations, noted that no previous president supported comprehensive Black reparations. Darity observed that Trump speaks the word, but with hostility. The administration has also sent warning letters to other municipalities, including Asheville and Buncombe County in North Carolina, which considered similar programs.

International bodies have recently addressed the issue. In March, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution describing the trafficking of enslaved Africans as the gravest crime against humanity. The resolution urged reparations and was backed by more than 120 countries. The United States, along with Argentina and Israel, voted against the measure. Fifty-two nations, including England and 27 European Union members, abstained.

Higher education institutions are also navigating these changes. Georgetown University continues to offer admission consideration to descendants of enslaved people tied to its history. However, other efforts have stalled. Harvard University fired the team that identified nearly 500 living descendants of people enslaved by its past leaders days after President Trump issued an anti-DEI order in January 2025. Richard Cellini, who led that Harvard project, said new work across higher education has stopped. Kirt von Daacke, a historian at the University of Virginia, reported seeing no new scholarship programs since the president returned to office.

Despite federal opposition, some local and institutional programs continue to disburse funds. Virginia Theological Seminary makes annual cash payments to descendants of people who labored on its campus. Its endowment for this purpose has grown from $1.7 million to $2.8 million since 2019. In Evanston, Joe Martin, a 46-year-old flight attendant, received a grant. He noted that when legitimate programs are created, the government often reacts with resistance. Juan Woolfolk, 36, is using a $10,000 scholarship to study museum studies at Southern University in New Orleans.