Robin Rue Simmons

Robin Rue Simmons (born March 12, 1976) is an American former politician and advocate for reparations for African Americans.

Simmons was born and raised in the largely segregated[1] 5th Ward of Evanston, Illinois.

From 2017 to 2021, Simmons served as the alderman of 5th Ward. As alderman, she led the passage of the United States' first government-funded reparations legislation.[2][3][4][5] The local reparations initiative[6] is being funded by the first $10 million of adult-use cannabis sales tax revenue collected by the City.[7] The first stage of the reparations program is focused on homeownership. After leaving office,[8] Rue Simmons was selected to continue as a member of the City Council’s Reparations Committee.

Simmons now serves as the Executive Director of the not-for-profit FirstRepair, which “advocates for local reparations, nationally.” She also serves on the National African-American Reparations Commission.

References
  1. "Redlining Evanston". City of Evanston. Evanston Community Foundation; Shorefront Legacy Center; Northwestern University; Evanston History Center; YWCA Evanston. August 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link) CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. Samee Ali, Safia (March 11, 2021). "Chicago suburb to become first city to give Black residents reparations". NBC News.
  3. Gray, Madison J. "Chicago Suburb's Black Residents Explain Why Reparations Are Owed To Them". BET.com. BET.
  4. Manjapra, Kris (October 6, 2020). "How the long fight for slavery reparations is slowly being won". the Guardian. Guardian.
  5. Kapos, Shia. "A college town fired up reparations talk with $25K checks. Who's next?". POLITICO.
  6. Berfield, Susan. "What Happened When Evanston Became America's First City to Promise Reparations". www.bloomberg.com. Bloomberg.
  7. Bookwalter, Genevieve (November 29, 2019). "Evanston to use pot sales tax revenue to pay for reparations". Chicago Tribune. p. 5. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  8. Smith, Bill (October 31, 2020). "Rue Simmons won't seek another term". Evanston Now.



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