An activist group at the University of Chicago activists is demanding $1 billion in race-based reparations from its own university. It also has “demanded that the University spend $20 million annually on rental assistance and STEM programs” for blacks, and that it “recommit to not expanding into Woodlawn or Washington Park,” reports The Chicago Maroon.
The university must also “expand its employer-assisted housing to low-income neighborhoods” and “provide $1 billion in grant funding for affordable housing” for black people, and “increase transparency about University-owned land,” demands the activist group, UChicago Against Displacement (UCAD).
Obama seems too conservative for the group. It is hostile to the presence of the Obama Presidential Center, viewing it as a source of gentrification that could bring in white residents and raise rents. UCAD group describes itself as a “student-led organization committed to supporting marginalized communities within Hyde Park and surrounding neighborhoods as a member of the Obama CBA coalition.”
The Obama CBA Coalition demands a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA), which refers to providing specific guarantees and handouts to local residents who are concerned about gentrification or displacement due to former President Obama’s presidential library being built in the area. Obama once was a lecturer at the University of Chicago and represented the area in the Illinois State Senate.
“Reparations are an attempt to restore what resources have been stolen and kept from people for years and years so that they can live their lives with the same benefits and resources as those who pushed them out in the first place,” UCAD says. “As affiliates of the university that is preying on the South Side and its residents, we have a responsibility to work to undo what harm has been done while mitigating future harm. No amount of money will ever equate to all that has been lost and stolen from Black South Side residents over generations, but it’s vital that we act now to protect the South Side’s future.”
The CBA coalition demands race-based set-asides for black-owned businesses, as well as race-based education, housing and job assistance.
These demands are part of an earlier proposal, the Woodlawn Ordinance, now called the Obama Ordinance, which was drafted in 2018 and presented to the city council in 2019.
The goal of the ordinance is to reduce the negative impact of the Obama Presidential Center on the local residents, such as its driving up rents.
“Obama CBA Ordinance is intended to promote equitable neighborhood development,” it states. It also seeks to “increase housing choice for residents of all income levels, minimize displacement of long-term residents in the Obama CBA Residential Area, and address disparities in social and economic outcomes for the residents of Chicago.”
