31-01-2025
Illinois residents could get reparations if a new bill is passed
Ill. (WTVO) — Companies in Illinois with historical ties to slavery could have to pay reparations to residents.
Illinois's Chicago Representative Sonya Harper has named the legislation the .
The plan would require corporations to provide a statement regarding contributions to a redress fund that would go to the black community.
The city of is the first in the nation to take part in a reparations program. The city provides reparations to black residents in cash for past unfair treatment and practices.
The program is being challenged in court.
Harper gave a straightforward description of what the bill would accomplish.
'This is an effort to pay those who were enslaved family members their share of reparations for the harm their family members endured during slavery,' Harper said during a news conference Tuesday.
The Illinois Office of Equity would be in charge of overseeing the redress ordinance.
'If we are going to be honest today, our honesty requires us to look truthfully at the American story and reshape it to its actual facts so that people will know that you are not giving us a handout,' said Illinois's Urbana Representative Carol Ammons. 'You're giving us what is deserved to those who are descendants of the enslaved.'
The bill would also provide notices for public hearings about the disclosures.
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