Evanston, Illinois is set to become the first city in the U.S. to give reparations to black residents.
The city, which is just north of Chicago, “voted to approve a groundbreaking measure in 2019 in which the city would financially compensate its Black residents to address the wealth and opportunity gaps they have experienced because of historical racism and discrimination,” reports NBC News.
Evanston will give out $10 million over 10 years after raising donations and using revenue from a recreational cannabis tax.
According to officials, the first $400,000 will be used to address housing needs and the City Council is set to vote on the matter on March 22.
In the first phase of the program, residents can obtain $25,000 to put towards homeownership, mortgage assistance or home improvement. In order to qualify, they must have “lived in or been a direct descendant of a Black person who lived in Evanston between 1919 to 1969 who suffered discrimination in housing because of city ordinances, policies or practices,” reports NBC.
Robin Rue Simmons, an Evanston alderman who introduced the legislation said, “Reparations is the most appropriate legislative response to the historic practices and the contemporary conditions of the Black community. And although many of the anti-Black policies have been outlawed, many remain embedded in policy, including zoning and other government practices.”
“We are in a time in history where this nation more broadly has not only the will and awareness of why reparations is due, but the heart to advance it,” Simmons said.
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A Bill Pushing Left Leaning Politics Into the Classroom in Illinois Has Officially Passed
In an article we previously wrote concerning the Illinois State Board of Education passing a bill called “Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards has officially been upheld by the Illinois Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR).
Some of the new standards include teachers assessing “how their biases affect how they access tools to mitigate their own behavior (racism, sexism, homophobia, unearned privilege, Eurocentrism, etc.)”
Bettina L. Love is a prominent advocate of Critical Race Theory in education and she believes “White Teachers Need Anti-Racist Therapy.”
If teachers do not do so voluntarily the new standards would allow schools to force teachers into therapy for their whiteness , along with punishing them with a loss of license and certification if complaints are made about them not adopting “progressive” ideologies. Teaching about “systemic racism” will be required as well.
Some Republican lawmakers voiced their opposition to the standards earlier this month, saying they add unnecessary politics to the classroom.
Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, said she asked ISBE to include more diverse perspectives on their task forces to avoid standards like this from being so controversial in the future, and said the board made some of the changes Republicans asked for.
Rezin said her office got an unusually high number of calls and emails about these standards.
These new teaching standards will take effect in October 2025.
Some lawmakers were not happy with the decision including Republican Candidate for Governor and Former Senator Paul Schimpf:
“I am extremely disappointed that JCAR approved the State Board of Education’s Culturally Responsive Teacher Standards. These standards politicize the teacher certification process and undermine the authority of local school boards, superintendents, and parents to control their children’s’ education. This is yet another example of top-down, administrative overreach by the Pritzker Administration and illustrates a clear example of why Illinois needs a new governor.”
Gov. Pritzker of Illinois Signs Bill That Will Make It The First State To End Cash Bail
Law enforcement slam the signing of a bill by Governor J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, which will make them the first state to end cash bail.
One of the changes in the new bill will be strictly defining the use-of-force rules which can make it even more dangerous for officers in close encounters that become violent.
But major organizations representing police and prosecutors say they weren’t consulted on critical pieces. Opponents, including the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association, have criticized the bill.
The Illinois Law Enforcement Coalition said it is ‘a blatant move to punish an entire, honorable profession that will end up hurting law-abiding citizens the most’. They argue that it will hamstring police and discourage talented people from joining law enforcement.
Among other things, they contend the use-of-force rules are too restrictive as to endanger officers; that dangerous people may be set free while awaiting trial; and that requiring body cameras for all departments by 2025 will be too costly.
‘The governor is willfully undermining public safety – endangering citizens, emboldening criminals, and making Illinois less safe for families,’ Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy said.
“This 700-plus page proposal was rammed through in the middle of the night with just hours left in a lame-duck session without the transparency and discourse expected in a democratic process,” GOP Sen. John Curran stated.
One of the supporters of the bill is Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx who dropped felony charges against Jussie Smollett, the Empire actor accused of staging a racist, homophobic attack on himself in January 2019.
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