Chicago aldermen urged to get moving on slavery reparations

Chicago aldermen were urged Thursday to get moving toward granting some form of reparations to descendants of African American slaves, using as a model the redress paid to victims of the Jon Burge police torture era.

Testifying virtually at the first meeting of a City Council subcommittee on reparations, Kamm Howard, co-chair of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America, cited five essential elements of reparations.

They are: government structures to make certain it doesn’t happen again; restitution to make victims whole for disparities in education, health care, life expectancy and economic opportunity; compensation if restitution does not suffice; “satisfaction” through things like apologies, curriculum change and monuments; and “rehabilitation of the heart, mind and spirit.”

“Flash back to the Jon Burge reparations. Each of these areas was addressed in one initiative in the [$5.5 million] reparations that they got. They got a monument. They got curriculum change. They got compensation. They got a process in which torture does not happen again,” Howard said.

“It could happen to us in this city. You already did it in the case of Jon Burge. You could do it for all Black people in this city.”

Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) countered that “the work is still not done” to deliver all elements of the Burge reparations package engineered by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel at Brookins’ behest.

“The monument has not been built and the curriculum — whether or not they are adhering to that at Chicago Public Schools is sketchy,” Brookins said.

Once aldermen agree on ways to compensate Chicago descendants of slavery and Black residents as a whole, Brookins said, “It’s gonna be incumbent on us and the members that follow us to make sure that the administration follows through with whatever it is we decide to do. Because they may just pacify us now to get to the next fight.”

Howard agreed aldermanic vigilance will be needed. He noted a 20-year-old Chicago ordinance intended to force city contractors to come clean about past ties to slavery has not been rigidly enforced.

In November 2019, Evanston made history by establishing a $10 million reparations fund to make amends to that suburb’s Black population for historic wrongs traced to racial inequities. The money will come from a cannabis sales tax.

A prime mover in that pioneering effort was Evanston Ald. Robin Rue Simmons, who spoke at Thursday’s hearing, welcoming Chicago aldermen to the fight.

“I believe you’re the first major city to take such an action towards repair for the Black community. So, congratulations. The work is just beginning,” Simmons said.

“I can tell you from where we’re at in passing our policy in 2019, you need to start now. There is a lifetime of work ahead of you. You need to lead in the urgency of now.”

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Simmons urged her Chicago colleagues to “be thoughtful and broad in their community engagement strategy” and let the “remedies be led by the injured communities. … Black folks need to weigh in on what injury is. And because the injuries are so great and so painful and so traumatic, it’s gonna be difficult to agree on the first one.”

She also urged Chicago aldermen to “find designated funding,” knowing the initial down payment is only a start.

“The philanthropic community, foundations and institutions and businesses will begin to contribute. That’s what’s happened here in Evanston,” Simmons said.

“We started with $10 million of tax dollars from cannabis. And now, we have residents. We have synagogues. We have Catholic churches, businesses that have earmarked a percentage of their funds to build up our reparations fund.”

Ald. Carrie Austin (34th) noted the Council has been talking about reparations since then-Ald. Dorothy Tillman was “raising Cain” by championing the slavery disclosure ordinance.

“To have it 20 years later and we’re still talking about it — when will the action come? … I haven’t seen much action from those who have deprived us all these years,” Austin said.

“We talk about education. We talk about health. We talk about employment. We talk about everything. But nothing is moving. I want to know when will something start to move? ... When will something actually change? That’s what I want to see. … I don’t want to leave this Council and we’re still talking about the same thing. I’ve been here 26 years. We’re still talking. I want to see action.”