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Robin Rue Simmons

As Evanston’s black population continues to drop, city officials will study reparations initiatives

By News & Current Affairs, Reparations

By Jennifer Fisher, Chicago Tribune — Over the last two decades, the black population of Evanston has been shrinking. In 2000, 22.5% of residents identified themselves as black, according to U.S. Census data. The percentage declined to 18.1% in the 2010 Census. The number has continued to fall to an estimated 16.9% in 2017, per the latest American Community Survey estimate. “Black residents are moving because of lack of affordability…

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Senatorial candidate Willie Wilson (l) and Ald. Rod Sawyer (far right) have been working with other community leaders on a reparations resolution for the city.

Reparations Resolution To Go Before City Council Next Week: ‘It’s Time’

By News & Current Affairs, Reparations

By Jamie Nesbitt Golden, Block Club Chicago — CHICAGO — Is the city ready to address the painful past of the Transatlantic Slave Trade? A coalition of public officials and activists — including newly announced U.S. Senate candidate Willie Wilson — seem to think so, and are preparing to introduce a resolution to City Council next week. The move comes as the national conversation surrounding reparations continues on Capitol Hill…

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Roger Goodell and Jay Z

They Didn’t Kneel For This

By Commentaries/Opinions

The NFL is Colin Kaepernick’s antagonist. Expecting billionaire team owners to be serious about social justice, with or without Jay-Z, is a mistake. By Jamil Smith, Rolling Stone — “Inspire Change” could be something you say if you are trying to make people aware of a particular problem. But with regards to the National Football League and racial injustice, that job is already done. Colin Kaepernick, along with his fellow football…

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HBCU

It’s Time for Black Athletes to Leave White Colleges

By Commentaries/Opinions

They attract money and attention to the predominantly white universities that showcase them, while HBCUs struggle. What would happen if they collectively decided to go to black schools? By Jamele Hill, The Atlantic — In the summer of 2018 Kayvon Thibodeaux, who was then ranked as the top high-school football player in America, visited Florida A&M University, in Tallahassee. When a player of Thibodeaux’s caliber visits a perennial football power—say,…

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Slave Patrol

Slavery and the Origins of the American Police State

By Editors' Choice, Reparations

From the beginning, some Americans have been able to move more freely than others. By Ben Fountain, Medium — They were called patrollers or, variously, “paterollers,” “paddyrollers,” or “patterolls,” and they were meant to be part of the solution to Colonial America’s biggest problem, labor. Unlike Great Britain, which had a large, basically immobile peasant class that could be forced to work for subsistence wages, there weren’t enough cheap bodies…

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