Sign Illinois Work Order Later

Document type sign work order illinois later

40 acres and a mule a phrase passed through my grandparents and their grandparents probably yours as well the promise to free black people in america was that after centuries of bondage they would get their fair share since then the fight for reparations has continued and to this day that promise remains unfulfilled but then there's evanston illinois a small community outside of chicago that has taken a bold and controversial step will the rest of the country follow nightline anchor byron pitts has the story early in my childhood i was invited to have a playdate my white friends never had a playdate at my home so i went to megan's house the streets were wider the homes were bigger and brighter it was obvious that it was the barrier of race that kept us from that because the segregation was race based even here evanston illinois a proudly liberal suburb of chicago the barrier and burden of race have long weighed heavy like a winter storm evans alderman for the fifth ward robin roo simmons was born and raised in the historically black neighborhood she represents this community was redlined historically and that has come along with damages that continue today resources were stripped away from the black community along with wealth as well the city's plan to change that reparations an idea long debated proposed over 150 years ago first 40 acres of land later a mule for formally enslaved people to share the american dream built on their backs for free we built this nation prom was long broken until now this is a historic vote evanston is set to become the first u.s city to pay out reparations a total of 10 million dollars starting with increments of up to twenty five thousand dollars per person for housing i didn't start my elected career even discussing reparations i was looking at data i was looking at what we had done and reparations was the only answer the only answer the only answer only the only any more of the same was gonna only at best help us sustain the oppressed state and the disparity that we have only that's a big word the only legislative response for us to reconcile the damages in the black community is reparations we anticipate litigation with the premise that you cannot use tax money that's from the public to benefit a particular group of people but throughout history taxes were used to benefit a certain group of people while others were excluded from that dino robinson is the founder of surefront an archive dedicated to chronicling and celebrating black life in evanston a richness long undervalued his documentation going back to the late 1800s invaluable in measuring the cost of racism and the need for reparations black community members were moving throughout evanston and forming you know pockets in the city of evanston and it caused the white community to start panicking what do we do about this [Music] the response to that panic redlining a federally sanctioned project assigning market value to neighborhoods a grading system a to d the d areas were usually relegated to the black community the area d was always in red this deliberately pushed evansen's black families into an area that became the fifth ward segregating them from white families sought after property and ultimately wealth banks in edmonton were not loaned to black families real estate agencies would not show you anything other than the fifth ward that map still is the map of our concentrated black community our disinvestment today white residents of evanston have nearly doubled the income and home value of black residents this racial wealth gap is prevalent nationally black americans possessing less than 15 percent of the wealth that white americans have i am 98 years old we moved to evanston in 1959. this is a lot black residents who live through redlining and their descendants are eligible for reparations that includes ben gaines senior and his son ben jr ben senior grew up in 1920s dixon kentucky part of the old south the business end of an era's most violent weapon against african americans jim crow he landed in evanston here jim crow wore a smile but still inflicted harm on black homebuyers the contractor he said fine a lot anywhere in evanston and i'll build whatever you want well when he said that he'd mention in the black neighborhoods and we still have these same types of problems uncle ben is a realist he calls it like he sees it younger members of ben senior's family his grand nephew jared and his children nick and maya know a more progressive era growing up in evanston for me was definitely good despite the racism that i faced will you apply uh for the reparations i will yeah and why because it's old quote unquote wealthy african-americans are not the equivalent of quote-unquote wealthy white americans in this country a national reparations policy is a moral democratic and economic imperative house resolution 40 is the latest national step toward reparations supporters have included tanahasi coats and actor danny glover hr 40 was an opportunity to have a commission to study reparations but also the further context in which we look at slavery and the impact that it had on us so you think evasion could be an example for the nation i think it can everson illinois did something that that no other city has done if we're able to use that as a platform maybe other cities might adopt the whole idea of this and other cities could take up evanston's sweetly ironic funding solution a three percent tax on newly legal marijuana sales it's the most appropriate use for that sales tax and in our city 70 percent of the marijuana arrests were in the black community and we are 16 of the community all studies show that blacks and white consume cannabis at the same rate there's been debate over whether those taxes can sustain the fund long term and even those who proudly support reparations wonder aloud is twenty five thousand dollars too little too late this is a drop in the bucket you have denied me all my 98 years hopefully before i die i'll see the world change uncle ben he's 98 so we can understand his skepticism where does your skepticism come from i would say it's less like skepticism and more education people who are acting like they're ready for change and behind closed doors other things are happening right and we see that all the time in politics what does this say that my 25 year old has to feel like that you don't learn about these issues at your high school we aren't really taught black history outside of oh you know slaves came from africa so part of reparations it can't just be money like you have to teach us what we need to know one could argue it's potentially more symbolic than it is substantive i disagree that it's symbolic at all i understand that twenty five thousand dollars is life-saving for some families but relative to the injury it's not nearly enough and i get that this notion of reparations nevinson isn't meant to be a drop in the bucket but the beginning of a stream that becomes a river that becomes an ocean there is a lifetime of work ahead for us to get to justice for all of your work in this space what worries you still not enough resource not quick enough i do believe that we're committed as a city and i can't wait to celebrate the family that receives their first reparation benefit i cannot wait for that day hi everyone george stephanopoulos here thanks for checking out the abc news youtube channel if you'd like to get more videos show highlights and watch live event coverage click on the right over here to subscribe to our channel and don't forget to download the abc news app for breaking news alerts thanks for watching