Federal Pushback Tests Local Reparations Programs

A federal court has allowed the Justice Department to intervene in a lawsuit against the nation's first municipal reparations program. This move marks a significant escalation in the administration's effort to limit race-based local initiatives.

The conflict began in Evanston, Illinois, where officials created a housing grant for Black residents. The program was designed to address harm caused by discriminatory housing policies over many decades. Robin Rue Simmons, who now goes by N'nanba, helped build that initial $25,000 grant. She is now working to expand similar models to more than 100 other communities across the country.

The legal and political pressure has intensified as the nation approaches its 250th anniversary. The White House has launched a broad campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. These moves have led some institutions to pause or quietly scale back their own reparations efforts. The shift is happening while the rest of the world looks at the issue differently. In March, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution calling the trafficking of enslaved Africans the gravest crime against humanity. More than 120 countries supported that resolution, while the United States voted against it.

Rue Simmons, who chairs Evanston's Reparations Committee, says the federal stance creates barriers. She describes federal redress as a collective north star for the movement. Historian William Darity notes that no president has supported comprehensive Black reparations in the past. He says President Trump now speaks the word, but with hostility. In a speech in September, Trump told supporters that critics want to steal money for reparations. He added that the effort is going nowhere.

The administration is actively litigating this position. A lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch argues that Evanston distributes funds by race without identifying specific harm. Michael Bekesha, who represents the plaintiffs, says the Constitution bars governments from picking winners and losers based entirely on race. A federal judge allowed the Justice Department to join this case this month. The department alleges the program violates the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause and the Fair Housing Act.

This is not the first time the department has sent a signal. Last year, it sent a warning letter to leaders in Asheville and Buncombe County, North Carolina. Those leaders were considering their own local programs. Kiersten Pels, a Justice Department spokeswoman, stated that race-based government benefit programs are unconstitutional. She said they often violate federal civil rights law.

Higher education is feeling the impact as well. Georgetown University continues to offer admission consideration to descendants of enslaved people. However, Richard Cellini, who previously led a Harvard project to identify such descendants, says new work has stalled. His team found nearly 500 living descendants of people enslaved by Harvard leaders. Harvard fired the team days after Trump's January 2025 anti-DEI order. Research by an outside firm continues, but Harvard has not provided redress. Kirt von Daacke, a historian at the University of Virginia, says he sees no new scholarship programs since Trump returned to office.

Despite the federal pushback, some local programs continue to pay out. Juan Woolfolk, a 36-year-old descendant of enslaved people at Georgetown, is using a $10,000 scholarship. He is studying 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 endowment for this purpose has grown from $1.7 million to $2.8 million since 2019. In Evanston, Joe Martin, a 46-year-old flight attendant, received a grant. He says the government is resistant when a legitimate program is created.