Reparations Nation: Evanston program’s architect takes aim at Northwestern University

Evanston’s Reparations Program: Unintended Consequences

Evanston, Illinois, has been referred to as the new epicenter of the civil rights movement when, in 2019, it became the first city in America to guarantee funding for reparations to black residents. The program has been hailed by other cities looking to implement something similar, but it has brought unintended, unfortunate consequences. In part three of this series, Reparations Nation, the Washington Examiner takes a look at the response from the education sector.

Northwestern University’s Checkered Past

Robin Rue Simmons, the founder of FirstRepair, a nonprofit group that works to get millions of dollars for black people affected by decades of discrimination, is taking aim at Northwestern University over its documented racist policies of the past and its refusal in the present to kick in funds aimed at righting those wrongs.

“They have been inappropriately absent from committing to reparations,” Simmons told the Washington Examiner, adding that while some professors have joined the “cause” or started conducting studies looking into reparations, “the institution itself has been completely silent.”

Simmons was instrumental in securing Evanston’s place in history as the first U.S. city to guarantee funding for reparations. Evanston’s decision to focus on housing and not slavery came after residents said housing policies of the Jim Crow era and redlining overwhelmingly hurt them and created a cycle of poverty that some are still stuck in.

But back home in Evanston, Simmons, who was born and raised in the city’s segregated 5th Ward, expressed frustration that Northwestern University, which has a checkered history of denying services to black students, hasn’t done more to help.

In fact, Edwin Jourdain Jr., Evanston’s first black council member in 1931, slammed the city repeatedly for “help[ing] Northwestern University erect Jim Crow housing projects.”

At the time, black leaders saw red when the city approved permits to the school for new housing that specifically barred black students, including those who were veterans. Black students were not allowed to live in campus housing until 1947.

“They had to live at the [YMCA] and other places because they were not welcome to live on Northwestern’s campus,” Simmons said. “All forms of anti-blackness have happened there. We really should be looking [at] how they’ve come into land acquisition in black neighborhoods. Was that done in a fair and just way?”

Northwestern’s Response

Northwestern told the Washington Examiner that it has taken steps to “researching its past and fostering community conversations about how to confront history, both the institution’s history and the nation’s.”

“The university knows that there is no single solution for undoing the legacy of systemic racism in our country. But we are proud of our many equity and diversity initiatives and remain committed to reshaping our institutions and practices and creating opportunities for all the people who call this place home,” Hilary Hurd Anyaso, director of media relations, said, adding that the university commits $500,000 annually to “support programs and projects in Evanston and Chicago that address the root causes of racial inequities.”

To Simmons, it’s still not enough.

Views on Reparations

A 2021 Pew Research Center poll found only three out of 10 U.S. adults believe the descendants of slaves should be entitled to reparations in the form of land or money. About 68% said it was time to leave the past in the past and that descendants should not be repaid, period.

Views of reparations also varied widely by race, according to the survey. About 77% of black adults believe descendants of slaves should be repaid in some way, while only 18% of white adults thought the same. The views were also split when it came to party affiliation. About 48% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents believed descendants should be repaid, while only 8% of Republicans agreed and an overwhelming 91% disagreed.

Catch part four of Reparations Nation tomorrow when the Washington Examiner takes a look at other cities and states following Evanston’s lead.