Danny Glover To Headline Evanston Reparations Town Hall

EVANSTON, IL — Actor and activist Danny Glover was announced as the keynote presenter at a town hall meeting next week to discuss Evanston's reparations initiative. The event will wrap up a two-day visit to the city by commissioners from the National African American Reparations Commission, or NAARC, following an invitation from 5th Ward Ald. Robin Rue Simmons.

As part of its 2020 budget, the City Council voted 8-1 last month to direct the first $10 million in revenue from the sale of recreational marijuana to a reparations fund formed in October. The initiative aims to "address racially exclusionary policies that contributed to the lack of opportunity and underdevelopment of Black families and neighborhoods that have perpetuated and exacerbated the racial wealth gap in Evanston," according to an announcement of the town hall by city staff. It will distribute $1 million a year over the next decade toward reparatory justice projects, staff said.

Aldermen have also formed a subcommittee to develop proposals for how to distribute the money and who to give it to. That group is currently composed of three aldermen and city staff, but 5th Ward Ald. Robin Rue Simmons said there are plans to add more members in future.

NAARC is organized by Ron Daniels, a longtime activist, distinguished professor at York College of the City University of New York and president of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century.

Glover is ambassador for the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent, which runs through 2024, and a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund since 2004.

The town hall is scheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 11. The event is free, registration is available online. With room for only 750 attendees, tickets are limited.

Other scheduled panelists include:

Iva Carruthers, general secretary of The Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference;
Kamm Howard, national co-chair of N'COBRA, the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America;
Nkechi Taifa, civil and human rights advocate, attorney and NAARC commissioner;
Lionel Jean Baptiste, Cook County circuit judge, NAARC commissioner and former 2nd Ward Evanston alderman;
Robin Rue Simmons, 5th Ward Evanston alderman and organizer of Evanston reparation initiative;
Monte Dillard, pastor of the First Church of God, Evanston Equity and Empowerment commissioner

Read more: Future Weed Revenue Will Fund Evanston's New Reparations Program