# The first US reparations program is now on trial > Evanston paid Black residents $25,000 each for decades of housing segregation. The Justice Department wants it shut down. - Title: The first US reparations program is now on trial · NPR - Summary: Evanston paid Black residents $25,000 each for decades of housing segregation. The Justice Department wants it shut down. Reparations may survive in court… - Keywords: reparations, evanston, civil rights, housing segregation, justice department, news, first, program, trial, NPR - Source: NPR — https://npr.org/2026/09/14/nx-s1-5869793/evanston-illinois-reparations-trump-administration - Published: 2026-09-14T00:00:00+00:00 - Read time: 3 min - Topics: reparations, evanston, civil rights, housing segregation, justice department, news ## A child of segregation In the 1960s, Allie Zemtseff watched landlords in white Evanston neighborhoods turn her Black mother away. Decades later, the city paid her back. ## Accused of discrimination This summer the Trump administration said Evanston was discriminating by race, because its program compensates Black residents. Zemtseff's reaction: "How ridiculous." > Of course it's only for Black people, because we were the ones affected by the discrimination. ## $25,000 and an apology Zemtseff got a formal apology from the city for keeping Black families out of white neighborhoods, plus a grant she put into a new kitchen. > It was like they were trying to make amends for stuff that happened to Black people in Evanston during that time period. ## First in the country Since 2021, Evanston has sent $25,000 grants to more than 300 people, the first US program to compensate Black residents for historical discrimination. ## Justice joins the lawsuit In June, the DOJ said it would join a suit by conservative group Judicial Watch, arguing the plan is unconstitutional because only Black people qualify. > Simply handing out money based on race ... is not the answer. It is race discrimination, pure and simple. ## A warning about slopes Civil rights chief Harmeet Dhillon told a conservative radio show that letting the payments continue would create "a slippery slope." Her promise: "We're going to put a stop to it." ## The story no one heard Northwestern professor Alvin Tillery says the fight over one suburb's grants is really a fight over what government is allowed to do about racial harm. > What's happening in Evanston is the most important civil rights story that no one has heard of. ## Fixing harm is not harm Tillery rejects the idea that repair has to be handed equally to everyone, including the group that caused the damage in the first place. > To believe that white people have to get all of the same benefits of people of color when you're trying to fix the harms that white people did ... it's just an abomination. ## A zoning law from 1921 Councilmember Robin Rue Simmons traced the shrinking Black population to a 1921 law steering Black residents into one ward, where banks then refused mortgages for decades. > I knew that we had to have targeted redress. As targeted as the harmful zoning that reinforced redlining. ## Weed money pays for it After a historian's report, the council apologized and committed $20 million from cannabis and real estate transfer taxes. Applicants had to be Black with Evanston roots between 1919 and 1969. > It's meant to build wealth, ultimately. And that allows us to stay here. ## Proof in a church basement Applicants crowded into the Shorefront Legacy Center, a community archive, hunting for documents showing their families lived in Evanston during segregation. > They were looking for proof that their families had been here during that time period. ## The plaintiffs' case Attorney Michael Bekesha says the program never asks anyone to show they were actually harmed. His six clients do not identify as Black but have Evanston ties. > It's simply that you lived in Evanston for a certain time period and what the color of your skin is. ## What the court demands Supreme Court precedent says race-based programs must remedy specific, documented discrimination. Bekesha argues Evanston's residency test falls short of that bar. > Under the Constitution, everyone has to be treated equally when it comes to the color of their skin. ## The mayor's rebuttal Daniel Biss says the city is not writing checks based on skin color, it is unwinding a property wealth gap that official decisions deliberately created. > This is a program that is trying to undo the consequences of racial discrimination. ## Document or lose Howard law professor Justin Hansford warns that programs resting on the broad legacy of slavery will lose in court. Cities need dates, policies and names. > Every city in the country ought to be able to do the same thing, because these histories are national. ## A contract, not a mortgage Kimberly Holmes-Ross proved eligibility with her parents' 1960s closing papers. Banks refused them a mortgage, so they bought from the builder at high interest. ## A porch and a basement Her son is converting the basement so he can afford to stay in Evanston. She rewired her mother's house and built the porch where her mom sat before dying in 2024. > She said it's not even about the money. It's about the acknowledgment. The city is acknowledging the harm. ## Key takeaway Reparations may survive in court only where a city can document exactly what it did, in what year, and to whom.