‘Racial Discrimination, Pure and Simple’: Trump Administration Challenges Reparations Plan in Illinois
18th June 2026
The Trump administration has struck another blow against DEI, this time issuing a lawsuit against a “first of its kind” racial reparations program in Illinois.
In 2019, the city of Evanston, Illinois, approved a “Local Reparations Restorative Housing Program” that was set to hand out tens of millions of dollars to residents—or the descendants of residents—who had allegedly been discriminated against.
What’s notable, and suable, about the Evanston reparations program is that the awardees of cash payments from the city government didn’t have to prove that harm was caused to them or their ancestors.
Instead, eligible recipients have been limited to black adults who lived in the city between 1919 and 1969, along with their children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren.
The Department of Justice noted that the “city has not identified any specific acts of discrimination that violated the constitution or a statute that these payments are intended to remedy.”
The program went into effect in 2021, the height of the Great Awokening, and has distributed a considerable amount of money.
The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.