Justice Department asks court to stop Evanston reparations program
The DOJ joined a lawsuit challenging Evanston’s housing reparations plan, arguing its race-based payments violate the Constitution.
By Hana Yoshida · Markets Reporter
3 min read
The U.S. Department of Justice asked a federal judge Tuesday to block Evanston, Illinois, from continuing a reparations program that has paid Black residents for past housing discrimination, Fortune and The Associated Press reported. The request matters beyond the Chicago suburb because AP described Evanston’s effort as the first U.S. reparations program to distribute money to residents.
The Justice Department joined an existing lawsuit against the city, saying in a court filing that the program is “racially discriminatory” and violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The filing argues that Evanston provides different benefits based on race.
Evanston launched the program in 2021, according to AP. The city set aside $20 million for eligible residents, funded by a local tax on legal marijuana sales, AP reported.
Under the program, AP reported, Black residents and their direct descendants could qualify if they lived in Evanston between 1919 and 1969 and experienced housing discrimination tied to city ordinances, policies or practices. Residents of any race who faced discrimination because of city policies or practices after 1969 also qualified, according to AP.
The city has distributed more than $7 million to hundreds of people, AP reported. Payments have been made in $25,000 amounts and may be used for home repairs, property down payments, and interest or late penalties on Evanston property, according to AP.
DOJ says the program uses race unlawfully
Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement that cities can address past discrimination without making payments based on race.
“There are sound ways for a city to remedy past discrimination or direct resources to its most vulnerable citizens and neighborhoods. Simply handing out money based on race, however, is not the answer,” Dhillon said, according to AP.
Michael Bekesha, an attorney who sued Evanston in May 2024 on behalf of six plaintiffs, told AP the program does not require applicants to prove they were individually harmed by the city. Bekesha said his clients would qualify if they were Black.
Bekesha contrasted Evanston’s approach with earlier compensation programs, according to AP, including payments to Japanese people imprisoned by the U.S. government during World War II and payments to people tortured by Chicago police between the 1970s and early 1990s.
“Reparations programs aren’t new, but they’ve always been lawful, they’ve always been connected to specific harms, specific injuries suffered by specific individuals,” Bekesha told AP. “And here in Evanston, there is no connection between the individuals receiving the money and any action taken by the city of Evanston at any point.”
Program backers cite redlining
Robin Rue Simmons, who helped create the Evanston program and now leads the committee overseeing the funds, rejected the lawsuit’s premise, AP reported. Simmons said redlining and other housing policies in Evanston from 1919 to 1969 harmed Black communities across generations by limiting access to housing, jobs, health care and education.
“Evanston has set a new precedent. It has shown that racial reparations are possible,” Simmons told AP.
Simmons also called the lawsuit and the federal government’s support for it a “fear tactic” aimed at discouraging other governments from pursuing similar programs, AP reported.
About 14% of Evanston’s roughly 76,000 residents are Black and 11% identify as more than one race, according to U.S. Census figures cited by AP. A 2024 study on the reparations program found that most of the city’s Black residents live in the Fifth and Second Wards, which AP described as historically low-income areas.
AP reported that reparations proposals gained momentum after George Floyd’s death in police custody in 2020. At least five states, including California, New York and Maryland, and more than a dozen cities, including Boston, Detroit and Philadelphia, have formed panels to study slavery reparations, according to AP, but Evanston has gone further by distributing funds.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.