The Trump administration is throwing its legal weight behind an effort to dismantle what was once celebrated as a groundbreaking model for racial justice, targeting Evanston's reparations program with a constitutional challenge that focuses on race-based eligibility.
The Justice Department joined an existing lawsuit in recent weeks seeking to halt the Chicago suburb's initiative, which since 2021 has distributed over $6.3 million to Black residents and descendants who experienced housing discrimination between 1919 and 1969. The program offers eligible applicants up to $25,000 for documented harm from exclusionary zoning, occupancy limits, and other discriminatory city policies that concentrated Black families in specific neighborhoods.
Harmeet K Dhillon, the assistant attorney general overseeing civil rights, signaled the administration's stance: "There are sound ways for a city to remedy past discrimination or direct resources to its most vulnerable citizens and neighborhoods. Simply handing out money based on race, however, is not the answer."
The lawsuit, originally filed by conservative activist group Judicial Watch in May 2024 on behalf of six non-Black residents, claims the program violates equal protection rights by excluding people who weren't Black during the eligibility period. Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss responded by pledging to defend the program in court, saying the city is "confident in its constitutionality."
Evanston's reparations initiative launched with unusual fanfare for a municipal program. When approved in 2021, it was hailed as a potential template for reparations movements nationwide. Funded by local cannabis tax revenue, it compensates residents and their direct descendants for specific historical harms through funds usable for home purchases, repairs, improvements, and mortgage payments.
The legal challenge hinges on how narrowly the program targets victims. Michael Bekesha, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, argues that applicants need not demonstrate they personally suffered from Evanston's policies, making race effectively the sole criterion. He drew contrasts to other reparations programs, such as the payments to Japanese Americans interned during World War II and compensation to Chicago residents tortured by police, both of which connected payments directly to documented individual harm.
"Reparations programs aren't new, but they've always been lawful, they've always been connected to specific harms, specific injuries suffered by specific individuals," Bekesha told the Associated Press. "Here in Evanston, there is no connection between the individuals receiving the money and any action taken by the city at any point."
Robin Rue Simmons, the community activist who spearheaded the program and now chairs the reparations committee, flatly rejected that characterization. She argued that residents living in Evanston during the eligibility period and their descendants experienced "calculated harm that was quantifiable" through the city's documented discriminatory practices that disproportionately affected the Fifth Ward neighborhood.
The consequences of that historical harm remain measurable. A 2022 study found a 13-year life expectancy gap between residents in Evanston's predominantly Black neighborhoods compared to those in mostly white areas of the city.
Simmons framed the federal intervention as a coordinated effort to suppress similar efforts elsewhere. "This lawsuit is designed to intimidate and discourage other communities that are beginning their process of reparations, inspired by what Evanston has done," she said, characterizing it as an "attack on the revived hope that Black communities have felt having a path, through a hyperlocal process, to reparations."
The timing reflects the Trump administration's broader assault on diversity and equity programs, which have become a centerpiece of conservative policy targeting during his second term.
Author James Rodriguez: "The federal government joining a lawsuit to block the first major reparations program in the country is a stark signal of intent, and it will likely chill other cities considering similar initiatives."
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