When Kenneth Wideman, 80, learned in 2023 he would be one of the first recipients of a $25,000 reparations payment from the city of Evanston, he viewed it as a long-awaited redress of housing discrimination that disrupted the lives of Black residents for generations.
“It was more money than I ever had at one time,” Wideman recalled to Pioneer Press of receiving the direct cash payment, which he said he used to pay rent, housing maintenance fees and other burdensome costs.
In 2021, the City of Evanston launched the nation’s first municipal reparations program, an initiative intended to address the lasting impacts of historically discriminatory housing practices on Black residents living in the city.
Now, Wideman is watching as the federal government under the Trump administration moves to dismantle that same program.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday it is joining the pending civil rights lawsuit, Flinn V. City of Evanston, challenging the Evanston Reparations Program. It contends the program’s use of race as a requirement for awarding payments is unconstitutional.
The program awards payments for housing-related fees to Black residents and direct descendants of Black residents who experienced housing discrimination in Evanston between 1919 and 1969.
In the Justice Department’s motion to intervene, the filing claims the program allegedly violates the 14th amendment’s equal protection clause by using race as an eligibility requirement. The motion also claims it violates the U.S. Fair Housing Act.
The lawsuit was originally brought by several longtime Evanston residents who are not Black and claim the program is racially discriminatory because it awards payments exclusively to Black residents.
Robin Rue Simmons, chairperson for the Evanston Reparations Committee, anticipated there might be backlash against the program.
“It is not at all unexpected that the federal government would attempt to intervene to protect the lies of white supremacy,” said Simmons, who is also founder and executive director of FirstRepair, a not-for-profit organization that informs local reparations efforts nationally.
“What it means is we have to continue fighting,” she said.
Simmons has been at the helm of Evanston’s reparations effort since its inception in 2019 and its subsequent approval by City Council in 2021.
The former 5th Ward alderman told Pioneer Press that although the news of the federal government’s involvement in the suit is “unwelcome,” the city will not be backing down.
“We have not had an interruption of fighting for our justice, for our lives, for our human rights, in this case, for reparations. What it means for our city is to unite together. We stand firm in our values. We’re committed to that promise,” Simmons said.
The pending civil rights suit
The original suit filed against the program in May 2024 by conservative activist group Judicial Watch represents six Evanston plaintiffs, all of whom identify themselves as non-Black individuals and direct descendants of Evanston residents who lived in the city during the same time period required for the program’s eligibility.
The federal government’s involvement marks the latest hurdle for the city, and by extension for reparations advocates throughout the country, in the ongoing litigation.
In March, U.S. District Judge John F. Kness rejected Evanston’s efforts to dismiss the case, allowing the class action lawsuit to continue.
“There are sound ways for a city to remedy past discrimination or direct resources to its most vulnerable citizens and neighborhoods,” said U.S. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in a June 16 news release on the federal government’s motion to intervene.
“Simply handing out money based on race, however, is not the answer. It is race discrimination, pure and simple. And it is illegal,” Dhillon said in a statement.
U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Andrew S. Boutros wrote on behalf of the motion that the “Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed that government actions classifying citizens by race are presumptively unconstitutional.”
“The Constitution demands that the government treat citizens as individuals, not as members of a racial class. Distributing public funds based on an individual’s ancestry or race divides the citizenry and establishes the very hierarchy the Equal Protection Clause was designed to dismantle,” Boutros wrote.
A spokesperson for the City of Evanston said the city “maintains its position on the legality” of the program and is aware of the Justice Department’s filing, but declined to comment further.
In a statement to Pioneer Press, Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss wrote that the city is currently “reviewing the Justice Department filing.”
“We stand behind our first-in-the-nation reparations program, are confident in its constitutionality, and look forward to defending it in court,” he wrote.
Wideman, one of the first 16 reparations recipients, said he questions the grounds for the lawsuit altogether.
“If they’re not Black, what makes them qualified for reparations?…it was for Black people being discriminated [against] and their ancestors, and their forefathers.”
Program eligibility and ongoing hurdles
Since its launch in 2021, the Evanston Reparations Program has received a total of 456 applications from qualifying descendants, according to previous reports.
In March, Ald. Krissie Harris, 2nd, told Evanston Reparations Committee members that payments to 44 additional recipients were expected by the year’s end, increasing the total number of those who have received funding to 171.
By 2027, Evanston will have distributed over $4 million to direct descendants, accounting for one-fifth of the $20 million the city has pledged overall towards the program, according to Simmons and previous reports.
Qualifying recipients must identify as a Black resident who lived in Evanston between 1919 and 1969 or a direct descendant of a Black resident who resided in the area during that time.
Recipients can use their $25,000 payment for a variety of housing-related purposes, including mortgage assistance, home repairs and other late penalties on their property.
To fund the program, the city currently collects a 3% Cannabis Retailers Occupation Tax on recreational cannabis sales, alongside funding from its real estate transfer tax.
In recent months, officials have considered introducing an additional municipal tax on Delta-8 THC products to help mitigate low city-wide cannabis sales, but questions remain surrounding the program’s continued financial viability.
Ald. Harris has previously acknowledged that the process for handing out payments to descendants has moved more slowly than originally anticipated and that the city was “still learning” on how to “make it more equitable.”
Meleika Gardner, a current 3rd Ward resident in Evanston, told Pioneer Press there have been “ongoing concerns” among residents about the city’s ability to follow the flow of funds once they are distributed and make sure those who qualify receive the payments they were allotted.
“I do not support the lawsuit against Evanston’s reparations program, [but] I also do not support how the City of Evanston and Robin Rue Simmons designed and administered this program,” Gardner said in a statement.
“I fully support reparations for Black Americans and I was one of a small group of advocates who fought for direct cash as a [payment] option. But that support must include transparency, accountability, and the ability for residents to clearly understand how funds are collected, tracked, and distributed. Without that, public trust breaks down.”
Darlene Cannon, a 2nd Ward resident, said she is still on the waiting list to receive her reparation payment.
Funding for the program is distributed through a lottery system, with applicants receiving a randomly assigned number that determines their place in line for payment.
Cannon said her number is in the three hundreds.
“I think the system is kind of flawed because I feel like if you’re going to the people who are oldest, and I’m not talking about myself, but there are some elders…who have numbers in the two hundreds, and that doesn’t make sense,” Cannon said.
“Those people should have been taken care of already.”
If the lawsuit succeeds in dismantling the program, recipients like Cannon, who have spent years on the waiting list alongside hundreds of others, may never receive funding.
Simmons said while the suit moves through the court system, Evanston will continue to disburse reparations as planned.
“Our steps are to continue expanding ways that we repair the harm that’s (been) done in Evanston…we (will) continue to affirm to our Black community that we are wanted, we are safe, we are celebrated,” Simmons said.
“The eligibility [for this program] is broad and inclusive, and we had a very public process. There was ample time for applications during the process, there was plenty of support from our City staff, our library and community members to make sure the community was informed and able to apply.”
In response to what officials will do if the courts ultimately rule against the program, Simmons said Evanston will lean on “companion programs” in the city.
“There are other institutions, there are families, there are industries that are also supporting and practicing reparations — that work will continue. [Evanston’s Reparations Committee] is grateful for the other organizers outside of the legislative process that have given us support to sustain reparations,” including the city’s interfaith community, Simmons added.
“I believe that what the government is seeking to do is to confront what is happening successfully in Evanston because they are afraid that it is going to start a tidal wave, as well it should, of reparations around the country,” said Rev. Michael Nabors, senior pastor of Second Baptist Church in Evanston and a supporter of the program.
“They have chosen Evanston because we are the first and we are the pioneers at being able to write and address a wrong that has occurred in this country since its founding 250 years ago,” Nabors said.
“And we are not, as an Evanston community, going to allow that to happen.”
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton told Pioneer Press several pending reparations programs nationwide have been “on hold pending the resolution of this case.”
“It’s welcome, but no surprise the Justice Department would seek to intervene. It’s about as blatant as you get in terms of violating civil rights laws on a variety of levels, so from our perspective, it wasn’t a matter of if [they’d get involved], but when.”
According to a proposed briefing schedule filed by the Justice Department on June 16, the City of Evanston has until July 20 to file a response to the motion.
The federal government will have until Aug. 3 to reply to the city’s response, should it choose to do so.
The next federal court hearing for the suit is scheduled for Aug. 6, Fitton said.
