Reparations: Confronting Histories of Racial Harm in Chicago and Illinois

In the last decade, there have been multiple efforts across Chicago and Illinois to undertake reparations for racial harm, including work to document the history and extent of the harm, to address and repair harm done, and to 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 event will examine what we can learn from some of the Chicago and Illinois efforts initiated by government entities as well as by community-based organizers and organizations making demands on behalf of communities that have been harmed.

Panelists:

• N'nanba, FirstRepair

• Amber S. Hendley, Black Reparations Study

• Joey Mogul, Chicago Torture Justice Memorials

• Terrion Williamson, UIC Social Justice Initiative, Black Studies, and Gender & Women's Studies