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

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

From 2017 to 2021, Rue Simmons served as the alderman of the 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 of Evanston.[7] The first stage of the reparations program is focused on homeownership. After leaving office,[8] Rue Simmons now serves as the chair of the City of Evanston's Reparations Committee.

Rue Simmons is Founder and Executive Director of the not-for-profit FirstRepair, which "informs local reparations, nationally." She also is a commissioner of the National African-American Reparations Commission, a lifetime member of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America, a board member of Connections for the Homeless, and previously served as a board member of the National League of Cities' National Black Caucus of Local Elected Leaders.

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)
  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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