Local Reparations program under attack

[UWasntThere]

I guess that's what it comes down to? Who has the better legal team?

There's a lot of white money up in Evanston

 

[Hydroking23]

No I'm not being sarcastic. Given scale of the lawsuits, it's obvious a group of high net worth individuals are funding all of these lawyers and court costs for these lawsuits. Just saying they are conservatives or republicans isn't enough.

Ok cool. But a simple Google search will tell you all you need to know about the people funding these efforts. And once you Google it, you'll find that saying they are conservatives/Republicans is more than enough.

 

[At30wecashout]

As someone who is in Evanston literally daily, I will be following this.

So again Are we STILL being obtuse about why politicians don't crash out pushing black-only initiatives? Evanston is blue as fukk and conservatives are meddling just a couple years into the program.

 

[Secure Da Bag]

Lineage based just like they do Native Americans and Jews.

But what happens when a white person finds out that they have Afram blood in them?

 

[Piff Perkins]

Local Democrats should do something about this.

...about the constitution?


This cracks me up. People told reparations supporters ages ago this wouldn't fly because right wing judges would rip it apart. And their solution is to do nothing, sit back and allow republican presidents to install more right wing judges, and then blame democrats. Brilliant plan folks.

There will never be reparations in this country on a federal scale. If it happens on the state level you'd need enough judges in place to shoot down nonsensical lawsuits like this, or you'd need the Supreme Court on your side to throw it out. Of course to get those judges you would need to....nah I'm not even gonna say it.

 

[At30wecashout]

Lineage based just like they do Native Americans and Jews.

But what happens when a white person finds out that they have Afram blood in them?

From the Judicial Watch website

Judicial Watch Files Class Action Lawsuit over Reparations - Judicial Watch

Judicial Watch states in the lawsuit that the six plaintiffs satisfy all eligibility requirements for participating in the program as “direct descendants” other that the race requirement (the actual number of individuals who are potential class members is in the tens of thousands).

The 6 non-black people are being argued to satisfy requirements. We will see if this gets tossed, but imma say it again: if we hitch our political lives to reparations, we are going to be sorely disappointed from front to back. One-drop interference will be a thing.

 

[At30wecashout]

Local Democrats should do something about this.

They did. They passed reparations. From there, the courts have their job. The local papers talk about it all the time since reparations polls positively in Evanston. This is a test-bed where folks literally have to vote in candidates locally and make the movement grow.

 

[Dr. Acula]

I wonder who's funding all of these lawsuits.

Judicial watch is a conservative organization. They brought the lawsuit.

They are funded by monied individuals whose interests they represent. People with a lot of a money are unsurprisingly supportive of policies that enforces hierarchy and removes limits on their ability acquire wealth and power.

 

[I Really Mean It]

...about the constitution?


This cracks me up. People told reparations supporters ages ago this wouldn't fly because right wing judges would rip it apart. And their solution is to do nothing, sit back and allow republican presidents to install more right wing judges, and then blame democrats. Brilliant plan folks.

There will never be reparations in this country on a federal scale. If it happens on the state level you'd need enough judges in place to shoot down nonsensical lawsuits like this, or you'd need the Supreme Court on your side to throw it out. Of course to get those judges you would need to....nah I'm not even gonna say it.

saying, “there will never be reparations in this country on a federal scale” is the equivalent of a slave on a plantation in the antebellum south saying, “we will always be slaves. we ain’t never gonna be free.”

 

[HarlemHottie]

The city of Evanston's "use of race as a proxy for experiencing discrimination between 1919 and 1969 does not limit eligibility to persons who actually experienced discrimination during that time period and therefore is overinclusive," the lawsuit states.

So the law was written poorly? Cuz that should have been obvious to law makers.

This is why we're against "race- based" reparations, for all the pannies.

 

[At30wecashout]

So the law was written poorly? Cuz that should have been obvious to law makers.

This is why we're against "race- based" reparations, for all the pannies.

Full text of bill

In 2002, the City Council supported US House Resolution 40 (HR-40), calling for a Federal Commission to study slavery and its vestiges, and make recommendations for reparations, with the adoption of Resolution 43-R-02, “Slave Reparations.” In November 2019, the Evanston City Council adopted Resolution 126-R-19, “Establishing the City of Evanston Reparations Fund and the Reparations Subcommittee.” The resolution committed the first ten million dollars ($10,000,000.00) of the City’s Municipal Cannabis Retailers’ Occupation Tax (3% on gross sales of cannabis) to fund local reparations for housing and economic development programs for Black Evanston residents. In passing Resolution 58-R-19, “Commitment to End Structural Racism and Achieve Racial Equity,” the City of Evanston government recognizes the government allowed and perpetuated racial disparities through the use of many regulatory and policyoriented tools. The Restorative Housing Program ("The Program"), the first Program of the Evanston Local Reparations Fund, acknowledges the harm caused to Black/African-American Evanston residents due to discriminatory housing policies and practices and inaction on the City's part. The Program outlined in this document is a step towards:

● Revitalize, preserve, and stabilize Black/African-American owner-occupied homes in Evanston;
● Increase homeownership and build the wealth of Black/African-American residents;
● Build intergenerational equity amongst Black/African-American residents; and
● Improve the retention rate of Black/African-American homeowners in the City of Evanston.

Section 2 - Definitions

1. Ancestor: African American or Black resident of the City between 1919 and 1969 who may have children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, or other issue defined as a “Direct Descendant.”
2. Applicant: Black or African-American person seeking compensation based on the criteria outlined in this guideline.
3. Black or African-American:A person having origins in any of Africa’s black racial and ethnic groups.

Everything including the actual reparations webpage mention ONLY decendants. The text in the bill itself merely defined who was wronged and who is eligible, and that 3rd point clearly leaves a bit of leeway e.g. "I had a black grandmother" said by someone who 100% passes as white.

Mind you, this is the 2nd time this same group attacked this law, and this is the first one of it's kind in the nation. It's way too soon to call it a poorly written law when white supremacists are gonna come at it any way they can.

From Judicial Watch's website:

Judicial Watch states in the lawsuit: “At no point in the application process are persons in the first and second groups required to present evidence that they or their ancestors experienced housing discrimination or otherwise suffered harm because of an unlawful Evanston ordinance, policy, or procedure or some other unlawful act or series of acts by Evanston between 1919 and 1969. In effect, Evanston is using race as a proxy for having experienced discrimination during this time period.”

This is there claim, and they have to prove it. Its claiming that they are not proving they were affected and that the 6 people they represent would qualify as well, basically backdooring non-blacks into reparations at large. Its like asking for notarized letters saying "You are black therefore you can not etc etc etc" rather than acknowledging the time period and the laws in place, which means ANY attempt at reparations can be "technically we don't know if that really happened" no matter how you word it. There is literally a city council session for Reparations tomorrow so I am sure this will come up and this law survived the first challenge. I won't fault a lamb for how a wolf repeatedly attacks it.

 

[RamsayBolton]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/06/04/evanston-reparations-lawsuit/

Evanston, a Chicago suburb, has been credited with launching the country’s first government-funded reparations program for Black Americans. It has paid out nearly $5 million to 193 of the town’s Black residents over the past two years.

But now a conservative advocacy group has filed a class-action lawsuit to kill the program, arguing that it discriminates against the suburb’s non-Black residents.

The lawsuit is part of a wave of cases spurred on the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision striking down affirmative action in college admissions. Conservative groups have since targeted diversity fellowships and waged a legal battle to force the federal Minority Business Development Agency to open up to White business owners.

“This program redistributes tax dollars based on race,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, the group that filed the lawsuit against Evanston. “That’s just a brazen violation of the law.”

Evanston “will vehemently defend” its reparations program, said Cynthia Vargas, the city’s communications and engagement manager. She declined to comment on the specifics of the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court at the end of May.
Reparations advocates worry that the lawsuit could derail a national effort to compensate Black Americans for the lingering effects of hundreds of years of discrimination.

Trump's supreme court clearing the way we're really on the backfoot and Black America aint paying attention. Only sliver of hope is to regain some Supreme Court seats as soon as possible

Next few years are pretty much cooked though. 6-3 Supreme Court will allow all of these programs to get shut down. Only thing we can do is thing short term like get a few seats back. long term idk what we gonna do

 

[3rdWorld]

I thought Tariq been endorsing Trump and the GOP because they'd dispense reparation checks to Blacks???

 

[UpNext]

This will be an interesting case to watch.

 

[ajnapoleon]

I thought Tariq been endorsing Trump and the GOP because they'd dispense reparation checks to Blacks???

Tariq not gonna speak on this

Phillip Scott
Oshay
Angry man
Math Hoffa
CTG
Benny
Sauce money
Lawrence Taylor
That founding member of the black panther party


They gonna ignore this