Tag: reparations

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson Calls for Reparations and Claims Restaurants Are Tied to Slavery in Bizarre Rant 

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is currently embroiled in some sort of feud with the city council over a raise for tipped workers and it’s not going the way he wants so he is lashing out.

This week, while he was remarking on the situation, he suddenly veered into the topic of reparations and then claimed that the restaurant industry has ties to slavery.

How was this man elected mayor of a major city? It really seems like there’s something wrong with him.

FOX News reports:

Chicago mayor links restaurant industry to ‘slavery’ as tipped wage fight intensifies

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson linked the restaurant industry to “slavery” Wednesday as he defended his push to eliminate the tipped wage, doubling down after surviving a City Council effort to block the policy.

Johnson’s remarks came after the Chicago City Council failed to override his veto of a measure that would have halted the city’s phaseout of the subminimum wage for tipped workers — a policy set to raise base pay to the full minimum wage by 2028 that is opposed by restaurant owners who warn it could drive up prices and cut jobs.

He called on Chicagoans to “challenge city council not to do stuff like take wages away from Black and Brown people,” saying that most workers in the service industry who rely on tips are minorities.

“You just watched the entire city council, in transparency, try to take wages away from the very people who are part of an industry that has its ties to slavery is hiding from that,” Johnson said. “I am boldly declaring that we need reparations in this city, and that’s why I’m funding it.”

What is he even talking about?

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Florida officials warned to avoid reparations-style effort as state gears up to restrict DEI even further

Leon County, Florida, wants to address “historical harms” like many other local municipalities, cities and states, but was warned against it.

The Leon County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday in Tallahassee to revive a measure that would address historical harms by conducting a study of the past and providing some sort of compensation.

However, county leaders must also comply with the new incoming state law, SB 1134, banning Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives across public institutions and local governments. The Florida House in March approved legislation to ban local governments from funding, promoting, or taking official actions related to DEI initiatives.

Commissioners changed the language of the county’s initiative to avoid any state or federal law violations by slashing all references to slavery, DEI and reparations.

According to the Tallahassee Democrat, Leon County government staff asked commissioners to avoid the measure as they risk losing $16.8 million in grant money and potentially being removed from the board.

“SB 1134, in part, prohibits the County from funding, promoting, or taking any official action related to DEI and creates a cause of action that may be brought by a resident against a county that violates the bill,” staff reportedly wrote in the agenda.

“The bill also provides that a member of a county commission acting in his or her official capacity who violates the prohibitions commits misfeasance or malfeasance in office and is subject to removal.”

Beyond Florida, reparations have been a growing trend by lawmakers at the local to state level. Similar to Leon County, local municipalities and states have adopted or are considering adopting task forces to study historical harms of slavery, Jim Crow, and redlining policies that led to housing discrimination. 

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Baltimore Creates $35 Million Reparations Fund But None of the Money Has Been Paid Out Because Everyone is Fighting For Control Of It

When the state of Maryland legalized the sale of marijuana a few years ago, they decided that they would set aside a few dollars from each sale to go into a reparations fund which would pay for all sorts of social programs.

Now the fund has $35 million in it but almost none of the money has been paid out because pretty much everyone involved is fighting for control of the fund. Who could have predicted that such a thing would happen?

It’s probably safe to assume that lots of people are going to be very disappointed when this is all finally sorted out and decided.

The Baltimore Beat reports:

Baltimore has received more than $35 million in cannabis reparations money, but none of it has reached residents

In the three years since Maryland legalized recreational cannabis, Baltimore has received more than $35 million in tax revenue to reinvest in communities devastated by the War on Drugs. To date, not a single dollar has reached the people it was meant to help, and the first round of funding may still be a year away.

At the center of the delay is an escalating dispute over who controls the money: City Hall or the Baltimore Community Reinvestment and Reparations Commission, the 17-member body established in November 2024 to oversee how the funds are distributed. City Hall says the mayor has final say, while commissioners maintain the body was created to independently manage the funds.

That holdup means that while Maryland’s legalization of cannabis in 2023 led to over $1.1 billion in sales over the following year alone, even as Black communities continue to be targeted by the drug war, none of it has helped repair that damage…

State Senator Mary Washington, who sponsored SB0894, told the Beat that the law was not intended to give local elected officials control over how the money is spent, and argued Baltimore City’s interpretation is out of step with how the law has been understood elsewhere in Maryland.

“The money was never intended to be a slush fund for a county executive or mayor,” she said. Instead, she said, it was meant to reinvest in communities impacted by the War on Drugs and mass incarceration, which continue to face disparities in homeownership, wealth-building, and life expectancy.

This has disaster written all over it.

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Immigrant Rep. Pramila Jayapal Urges ‘Reparations’ for Illegal Migrants

The top Democrat on the House’s immigration committee wants to compensate illegal migrants and also punish American law enforcement officers for enforcing Congress’s immigration laws.

“The people that have been inflicting this harm [on migrants] need to be prosecuted,” Indian immigrant Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said Friday at a “shadow hearing” she hosted. “They need to be brought before us, and they need to be held account [sic] for the trauma that they have created, and we are going to have to have some form of reparation for the kids and the families that have been traumatized through all of this.”

Jayapal’s March 27 comments spotlight the apparent emotional horror that many progressives feel towards the enforcement of United States borders and citizenship rules.

Progressive empathy for illegal migrants — including criminal migrants — has largely replaced the left-wing empathy for poorer citizens, such as industrial workers in the 1930s or many African-Americans in the 1960s.

But this recent redirection of empathy from citizens towards illegal migrants is a fundamental attack on American society — because it rejects the preferential and reciprocal obligations among American citizens.

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Chicago moves toward reparations with bus tours and town halls as $150M deficit looms

Chicago took its first step after establishing a reparations task force two years ago.

Now, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson plans to hold a public engagement forum called Repair Chicago to “gather lived experiences of harm of Black Chicagoans” in an effort to provide reparations for Black residents.

“Your experience is evidence, and we’ve placed it at the center of our work,” Johnson said. “By engaging directly with residents, we are grounding this work in the voices and lived realities of the people it is meant to serve.”

The first event took place Tuesday, and two more events are scheduled through April.

Johnson’s office announced the Repair Chicago effort would involve “bus tours, panel discussions, town halls and hearings,” helping the task force members gather input for the administration’s reparations study. 

“The community engagement process will gather input from Chicagoans across the city to better understand Black Chicagoans’ experiences across generations and how systemic racism has shaped their lives, opportunities and well-being,” Johnson said.

The move comes two years after Johnson named his chief equity officer, Carla Kupe, to lead the reparations task force with $500,000 in funding. 

In 2024, Johnson signed an executive order establishing a reparations task force of 40 members that addresses “historical harms committed against Black Chicagoans and their ancestors through the form of reparations.”

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U.N. Passes Resolution Demanding Countries Linked to Slavery Pay Trillions in Reparations

The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a resolution calling on Britain and other countries involved in the transatlantic slave trade to enter talks on reparations.

Campaigners say potential payouts could run into the trillions of pounds.

The motion, introduced by Ghana on behalf of the African Union, describes the slave trade as the “gravest crime against humanity.”

It calls for “good-faith dialogue on reparatory justice, including a full and formal apology, measures of restitution, compensation.”

The non-binding resolution passed 124 votes to 3. The United States, Israel, and Argentina voted against.

The U.K. abstained, alongside 52 other countries, including all European Union member states.

In supporting the resolution, member states s affirmed “the importance of addressing historical wrongs affecting Africans and people of African descent.

It also meant accepting that “claims for reparations represent a concrete step towards remedying historical wrongs.”

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So-Called ‘Moderate’ San Francisco Mayor Signs Ludicrous Reparations Scheme That Could Award Each Black Resident $5 MILLION

The People’s Republic of San Francisco has decided to enshrine race-based reparations into law with the help of their alleged ‘moderate‘ mayor.

As the Daily Mail reported, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie gave black residents of his city an early Christmas gift by signing a reparations bill that could grant each one of them a whopping $5 MILLION in reparations. The legislation was signed on December 23.

Per The Daily Mail, here is how this scheme will unfold:

The ordinance establishes a reparations fund, as recommended by the city’s African American Reparations Advisory Committee (AARAC) in its 2023 report.

The legislation establishes the fund but does not allocate any money to it, setting up the framework for any future contributions, whether they be through the city or privately donated.

The AARAC is tasked with developing ‘recommendations for repairing harm in our black communities,’ according to its website. Per the 2023 report, every eligible African-American adult in San Francisco should be handed a $5 million lump sum to ‘compensate the affected population for the decades of harm that they have experienced.’

Approximately 50,000 black people live in San Francisco, and the qualifying requirements remain unclear.

This move also comes despite the city facing a whopping $1 billion budget deficit. But this did not deter Lurie in the slightest.

“For several years, communities across the city have been working with the government to acknowledge the decades of harm done to San Francisco’s black community,” Lurie wrote.

“While that process largely predates my administration, I am signing the legislation to create this fund in recognition of the work of so many San Franciscans and the unanimous support of the Board of Supervisors.”

Roughly a week before Lurie signed off on the plan, the city’s Board of Supervisors voted in favor of it.

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Somali Activists Who Can Barely Speak English DEMAND Reparations Over Trauma From ICE Raids in Minnesota

Somali Activists with Neighbors United demanded reparations after the recent ICE raids.

Neighbors United is a far-left organization started by the Somali community in Minnesota.

The Somali activists gathered together for a press conference on Friday to demand “relief from the damages of ICE terror.”

The Department of Homeland Security arrested more than 4,000 dangerous criminal aliens, including sex offenders, gang members and terrorists in Operation Metro Surge.

“Despite coordinated attacks of violence against our law enforcement, our officers have made more than 4,000 arrests of illegal aliens including murderers, pedophiles, rapists, gang members, and terrorists in Minnesota since Operation Metro Surge began,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. 

“We need sanctuary politicians to cooperate with us by notifying us before releasing public safety threats back onto the streets to commit more crimes and create more victims. We will not back down from our mission to remove criminal illegal aliens from American neighborhoods,” she added. 

The Somalis spoke broken English as they made outrageous demands which included direct grants to immigrant, black and brown small businesses making less than $200,000 per year.

“We believe programs fit into our criteria. For Somali –small business owners, not those who make $200,000 and above,” the Somali said.

“We don’t make that much amount. We have been suffering since the crisis of ICE. We also demand an immediate help to evictions so families are not pushed to homelessness during the crisis,” she said.

“Our community deserves accountability. Our community deserves safety. We need also justice for those who lost their lives defending the community,” she said.

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San Francisco Reparations Fund Now Causing Infighting Among Various Groups in the City

San Francisco passed a resolution right before Christmas, creating a reparations fund that is supposed to pay a ridiculous amount of money to black residents, despite the fact that California never even had slavery.

Bear in mind that there is no money for this. The city has a massive deficit.

To make matters worse, the divisive policy is now driving infighting among various groups in the city. It seems like this was inevitable.

FOX News reports:

San Francisco residents band together to shut down reparations fund, claiming it’s ‘dividing’ the city

Richie Greenberg, one of the plaintiffs suing San Francisco over its reparations fund, claimed the measure is divisive because it solely favors Black residents.

“It is dividing the city rather than trying to unite. So, what we really need is to be focusing on how to uplift everybody rather than focusing on one group giving everything to that one group. And then everyone else is then responsible for paying for that one group,” Greenberg told Fox News Digital…

The city was sued over its reparations fund on grounds its taxpayer money is being “unlawfully” used for a policy that allegedly violates the equal protection clause.

According to the Pacific Legal Foundation, several San Francisco residents and Californians for Equal Rights Foundation sued San Francisco Thursday, challenging an ordinance that establishes a fund for Black residents.

The lawsuit alleges that the ordinance is discriminating on the basis of race because it allows taxpayer money to be funneled into the fund. The plaintiffs said a win would protect taxpayers from supporting a government-based racially motivated program and establish boundaries for other cities implementing similar policies.

“Acknowledging past injustice does not give the government license to spend public resources on programs that sort people by race and ancestry today,” said Andrew Quinio, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation.

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Illinois City Issues $25,000 in Cash to Black Residents for Reparations

More than a million dollars will soon be doled out to black residents of Evanston, Illinois, under the city’s reparations program.

Evanston’s Reparations Committee announced last week that 44 people will be getting $25,000 each, for a total of $1.1 million, according to the Chicago Tribune.

All 44 are descendants of individuals who qualify under the city’s program that pays out reparations to black residents who claimed they experienced housing discrimination between 1919 and 1969.

The payments are intended to be used for housing expenses, Cynthia Vargas, Evanston’s communications and community engagement manager, said.

Through Jan. 31, the city has received $276,588 for the Reparations Fund from its real estate transfer tax. The city’s Cannabis Retailers Occupation Tax, which by state edict does not share amounts, also kicks in to the fund.

No private donations have been reported to fund the program.

To keep the cash flowing, the city is debating putting a tax on Delta-8 THC products such as gummies or vapes.

Second Ward Councilmember Krissie Harris noted that the city is not holding back on cash to those who qualify, but it has to wait until it has the revenue to spend.

Evanston made history by being the first city to pass a reparations plan.

It set a goal of handing out $10 million over a decade to black residents, according to Fox News.

Judicial Watch has sued the city over the program, saying it violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

In its lawsuit, Judicial Watch argued that the “program’s use of a race-based eligibility requirement is presumptively unconstitutional, and remedying societal discrimination is not a compelling government interest.”

“Nor has remedying discrimination from as many as 105 years ago or remedying intergenerational discrimination ever been recognized as a compelling government interest,” the lawsuit said.

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