“Equity has not been enough”: Illinois city issues reparations in hopes to close wealth gap

An Illinois metropolis selected 16 residents to obtain $25,000 every in reparations in a first-in-the-nation program to handle harms from slavery to discriminatory housing insurance policies. The cash from the fund, which was created again in 2019, can solely go towards a house down fee, mortgages or repairing houses in an effort to extend minority property worth.

Ramona Burton is without doubt one of the eligible residents of Evanston picked in a lottery to obtain the reparations.

“It is a begin, however I do not suppose it is sufficient for all minorities have been put by,” Burton instructed CBS Information when requested if the reparations are sufficient.

Robin Rue Simmons championed reparations in Evanston. She now runs First Restore, serving to different communities do the identical.

“The USA has harmed the black group for 403 years. Eras of terror and hurt. And so restore is important. Fairness has not been sufficient,” she stated.

Economist Ellora Derenoncourt, one of many authors of the examine “Wealth of Two Nations” instructed CBS Information with out change, the hole will develop wider.

“Black Individuals are concentrated on the backside of the revenue and wealth distributions within the U.S. and so, as a gaggle, haven’t shared equally in these features within the economic system previously 30 or 40 years,” she stated.

Burton used a few of her grant to interchange her home windows — however stated the repairs are largely emotional.

“It is type… an apology or admitting we have been wronged previously. So it would not wipe away what my ancestors needed to undergo. However, you understand, it would not damage,” she stated.