N'nanba Expands Evanston Model as Federal Courts Clear Path for DOJ Challenge

A federal judge permitted the Justice Department to intervene in a lawsuit challenging Evanston, Illinois, housing grants, clearing a legal path for the Trump administration to block the program. The grants provide $25,000 to Black residents whose families were affected by discriminatory housing policies. Robin Rue Simmons, who goes by the name N'nanba, helped create the program and now chairs Evanston's Reparations Committee.

Simmons is currently working to replicate the Evanston model in more than 100 communities across the country. This expansion effort is occurring as the administration intensifies its scrutiny of race-based initiatives. The legal challenge was originally filed by Judicial Watch, with Michael Bekesha representing the plaintiffs. Bekesha argued that the Constitution prohibits governments from selecting beneficiaries based solely on race.

The Justice Department alleges that the Evanston program violates the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause and the Fair Housing Act. Kiersten Pels, a Justice Department spokeswoman, stated that race-based government benefit programs are often unconstitutional and frequently violate federal civil rights law. This follows a warning letter sent last year to leaders in Asheville and Buncombe County, North Carolina, who were considering similar local programs.

Simmons said her group maintains federal redress as its primary goal despite the current administration's barriers. "Under this administration, of course, there are many barriers to achieving that, but we still stand on federal redress as our collective north star," she said. President Trump has publicly opposed the concept, telling supporters in September, "They want to steal your money for reparations," and adding that the effort is "going nowhere."

The federal move coincides with increased international attention on the issue. In March, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution declaring the trafficking of enslaved Africans "the gravest crime against humanity." More than 120 countries supported the resolution, while the United States, Argentina, and Israel voted against it. An estimated 12.5 million Africans were forced onto ships for the Americas during the trans-Atlantic slave trade, with approximately 388,000 arriving in what is now the United States.

Institutions of higher education are also adjusting their approaches. Richard Cellini, who previously led a Harvard project identifying descendants of enslaved people, said new academic work in the field has stalled since Trump's January 2025 order on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Harvard fired Cellini's team days after that order, although the team had identified nearly 500 living descendants. Georgetown University continues to offer admission consideration to such descendants, and Virginia Theological Seminary makes annual cash payments funded by an endowment that has grown to $2.8 million.

In Evanston, recipient Joe Martin, a 46-year-old Delta flight attendant, said the grants are a necessary correction. He noted that when legitimate programs are created, the government often resists. "40 acres and a mule didn't go down the way it was supposed to," Martin said. "And that when a legitimate program is created, the government's like, naw."