On the eve of Juneteenth 2026, members of the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus, community advocates, and descendants of the enslaved gathered in Lansing to announce something that rarely happens in statehouses anymore: a serious, specific, legislative response to the unfinished business of American freedom. The package does not promise…
Tag: Redlining
Illinois Reparations Commission
The DOJ Is Moving Against Evanston’s Reparations Program by using the 14th Amendment and the Fair Housing Act.
The first municipal reparations program in United States history is under legal challenge. The Trump administration’s Department of Justice — through its Civil Rights Division — has moved to intervene in a lawsuit challenging Evanston, Illinois’ Local Reparations Restorative Housing Program. The DOJ argues that directing housing assistance and…
Policy & Legislation
The Next 250 Years Cannot Look Like the Last. Equity Week on Capitol Hill Demands Repair.
During Equity Week on Capitol Hill, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) hosted a press conference calling on Congress to advance reparative justice legislation for communities of color who bear the disproportionate burden of this nation’s institutional social, racial, and economic inequities. Speakers included Congresswoman Summer Lee (PA-12), Dreisen Heath (reparations organizer),…
New York State Commission
Update: New York Just Pushed Its Reparations Study to 2029. – New York’s Reparations Hearings Are Doing the Work the Federal Government Refuses to Do.
Update: New York Just Pushed Its Reparations Study to 2029. The new deadline is 2029 — nearly four years past the original target. That’s two more election cycles, one more presidential term, and many more potential setbacks before New York even recommends anything. The commission was never empowered to…
Educational Resources
Cynthia McDonald Makes the Secular Case for Reparations.
Cynthia McDonald — social worker, political advocate, and lead organizer for Black Nonbelievers Chicago. Originally presented at the Women of Color Beyond Belief conference and uploaded to Vimeo in October 2025, her talk is a masterclass in evidence-based justice. McDonald argues that faith-based appeals for reparations are ineffective — they can be…
Educational Resources
Dr. Shango Blake Addresses the New York State Commission on Reparations for African Americans.
Black educators are being maligned, targeted, and removed from schools and districts throughout the state of New York. Y’all didn’t hear what I just said. This is happening. That’s right. From the district leadership level, to the principal level, to the teacher level — we’re talking about reparations, and we’re…