RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The Politics of Expedience: Evanston, Illinois, and the Fight for Reparations
JF RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
FD Russell Sage Foundation
SP 114
OP 139
DO 10.7758/RSF.2024.10.3.06
VO 10
IS 3
A1 Newton, Monique
A1 Nelsen, Matthew D.
YR 2024
UL http://www.rsfjournal.org/content/10/3/114.abstract
AB In March 2021, the city council in Evanston, Illinois, began distributing reparations funds to Black residents in the form of $25,000 housing grants. In doing so, Evanston became the first city in the United States to provide publicly funded reparations to Black people for generations of racist policies, including redlining. Why did the reparations program first emerge in Evanston? This article provides an in-depth look at the politics of the policy design process and describes the unique political circumstances that allowed this historic policy to pass with near-unanimous support. As communities throughout the United States consider how to deliver reparations to Black Americans, the debate over Evanston’s ordinance serves as a cautionary tale for how ambitious historic policies may become watered down when political expedience trumps the political insights of Black residents.