'The Big Payback' will be screened at the Dusable Black History Museum on Dec. 3 - Evanston RoundTable

Submitted by the Black United Fund of Illinois

The Big Payback, a documentary chronicling the historical propulsion for reparations successful the City of Evanston and nationally for reparations measure H.R. 40, volition beryllium presented successful Chicago connected Saturday, December 3 at 5:00 p.m. astatine the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center, 740 E. 56th Place.  The lawsuit is sponsored by Black United Fund of Illinois in collaboration with the MacArthur Foundation and Reparations United.

The documentary follows erstwhile Evanston Council Member Robin Rue Simmons’ enactment to get the transition of the $10 cardinal reparations measure and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee’s continued combat to walk H.R. 40.  While serving arsenic a metropolis assembly member, Robin Rue Simmons introduced the thought to the City of Evanston successful 2019. When it was approved past year, it was considered the country’s archetypal reparations program.

“The Restorative Housing Reparations Program was created to remedy immoderate of the harm caused by the city’s humanities anti-Black lodging policies,” said Rue Simmons.

It has been much than 30 years since the precocious U.S. Congressman John Conyers archetypal introduced H.R. 40 to survey reparations for descendants of enslaved people.  Every Congress since 1989 has failed to walk the bill.  H.R. 40 proposes the instauration of a national committee to survey reparations and urge remedies for the harm caused by slavery and the discriminatory policies that followed abolition. 

While Congress languished connected addressing the wrongs inflicted connected generations of enslaved descendants, Evanston became the archetypal U.S. metropolis to marque reparations disposable to its Black residents for past favoritism and the lingering effects of slavery. 

The film’s co-directors, histrion Erica Alexander and award-winning documentary filmmaker Whitney Dow, volition beryllium successful attendance, on with Robin Rue Simmons and Kamm Howard of Reparations United, for a speech aft the airing of the film.

The Black United Fund of Illinois’ Executive Director Carolyn Day said “BUFI is arrogant to beryllium a cardinal sponsor of this important movie and we consciousness powerfully that each African Americans should beryllium much alert of the issues surrounding reparations and HR40 and whether determination is simply a relation they can/should play successful its passage.”

“Black Americans cannot hold for different generation, cannot hold for different administration, and surely cannot hold until aft different midterm predetermination successful bid to prosecute successful repair,” said Howard.

“This nation’s salvation lies successful the righting of historical and modern wrongs committed against Black radical successful America,” helium added. “Without our vote, America volition descend deeper into an amoral, unjust, ultra-tribal strategy of escalating hatred and unit arsenic we are experiencing this precise moment.”

You tin spot and perceive the makers of the documentary on with Co-Executive Producer Joy Reid, big of MSNBC’s The ReidOut, connected this trailblazing task here.

The lawsuit is free, but registration is required. To registry spell to: Chicago Community Screening of the documentary, The Big Payback | Eventnoire