Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson delivers remarks at his election night party after defeating Paul Vallas in the mayoral runoff election on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, at the Marriott Marquis in Chicago. (Vashon Jordan Jr. / Brandon for Chicago)
Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago has created a reparations task force to study the effects of slavery and discrimination on Black Chicagoans. Maggie Hroncich reports in The New York Sun:
Chicago is moving ahead with a reparations task force to study how slavery and discrimination have “harmed Black Chicagoans” — despite growing concerns over race-based programs in light of the Supreme Court’s decision banning affirmative action for violating the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause.
“Today’s Executive Order is not just a public declaration; it is a pledge to shape the future of our city by confronting the legacy of inequity that has plagued Chicago for far too long,” Chicago’s mayor, Brandon Johnson, said, adding that his administration also seeks to move forward on “targeted investments aimed at rectifying decades of deliberate disinvestment in Black neighborhoods and communities.”
The announcement, made in the leadup to Juneteenth this Wednesday, comes as legal concerns are mounting over race-based programs or legislation in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling in 2023 in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard in which the court held that the university’s affirmative action program was unconstitutional and stating that “eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.”
Chicago’s task force announcement also comes as a Chicago suburb, Evanston, is facing a federal lawsuit over its reparations program on the grounds that it violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. The lawsuit argues that Evanston’s program to provide $25,000 in payments to Black people who lived in Evanston between 1919 and 1969, along with their descendants, is unconstitutional.
While Chicago’s announcement only launches a task force to issue recommendations, constitutional lawyers have told the Sun that they are ready to challenge any race-based reparations programs that are implemented across the country.
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