Reparations: Confronting Histories of Racial Harm in Chicago and Illinois

Nationally, there are increasing conversations about reparations for long histories of racial harm. In the last decade, there have been multiple efforts across Chicago and Illinois to undertake reparations, including work to document the history and extent of harm, address and repair harm done, and make payments to harmed communities and individuals. These efforts have ranged widely including organizing in Chicago on behalf of the Burge Torture Survivors, in Evanston to address long histories of discrimination in housing, Arts/activism related efforts to address the history and present harm of land sale contracts in the Englewood neighborhood in Chicago, and the State of Illinois’ legislative creation of new African Descendants Citizens Reparations Committee.

This panel will examine what can be learned from these efforts – some initiated by government entities and some initiated by community organizers, and organizations making demands on behalf of communities that have been harmed.