N'nanba Expands Reparations Model as Federal Courts Open Path for DOJ Challenge

The Justice Department has entered the legal battle over Evanston, Illinois, housing grants, aiming to block a program that distributes $25,000 to Black residents. A federal judge granted the intervention this month, allowing the department to argue that the city's distribution method violates federal law.

Robin Rue Simmons, who now goes by N'nanba, helped create the Evanston program. She chairs the local Reparations Committee and serves as a former city councilwoman. She is currently working to expand this municipal model to more than 100 other communities across the country.

The federal challenge comes from a lawsuit originally filed by Judicial Watch. The plaintiffs argue that the city distributes funds based on race without identifying specific historical harm. Michael Bekesha, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, stated that the Constitution prohibits governments from picking winners and losers based entirely on race.

The Justice Department contends the program violates the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause and the Fair Housing Act. Kiersten Pels, a department spokeswoman, said race-based government benefit programs are unconstitutional and frequently violate federal civil rights law. Last year, the department sent a warning letter to leaders in Asheville and Buncombe County, North Carolina, who were considering similar initiatives.

This legal pressure occurs as the administration scales back support for diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. William Darity, a co-author of a book on reparations, noted that no president has historically supported comprehensive Black reparations. He said President Donald Trump will use the word but does so with hostility. In a speech in September, Trump told supporters, "They want to steal your money for reparations," adding that "it's going nowhere."

The trans-Atlantic slave trade forced an estimated 12.5 million Africans onto ships bound for the Americas. About 1.8 million died during the journey. Roughly 388,000 arrived in what is now the United States, where chattel slavery lasted until 1865. Jim Crow segregation and systemic racism later limited Black Americans' ability to build wealth, which remains largely concentrated among white families.

International bodies have recently addressed the issue. In March, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution calling the trafficking of enslaved Africans "the gravest crime against humanity" and urging reparations. More than 120 countries backed the resolution. Argentina, Israel, and the United States voted against it. Fifty-two nations, including England and 27 European Union members, abstained.

Universities are also facing pressure. Georgetown University continues to offer admission consideration to descendants of enslaved people tied to its past. Richard Cellini, who previously led a Harvard project, said new work across higher education has stalled. His team found nearly 500 living descendants of people enslaved by Harvard's past leaders. Harvard fired the team days after Trump's January 2025 anti-DEI order. Research by an outside firm continues, though Harvard has not provided redress to descendants.

Some local and institutional programs continue to reach beneficiaries. Juan Woolfolk, 36, is using a $10,000 scholarship to study museum studies at Southern University at New Orleans. Virginia Theological Seminary makes annual cash payments to descendants of people who labored on its campus. Its funding endowment grew from $1.7 million to $2.8 million since 2019. In Evanston, recipient Joe Martin, 46, said "40 acres and a mule didn't go down the way it was supposed to." He added that when a legitimate program is created, "the government's like, naw."