WEBVTT

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My name is Marvin Slaughter Jr.
and I am the chairman

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of the Illinois African Descent Citizens
Reparations Commission.

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The Commission was formed in 2021
as part of a broader strategy

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from the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus
to dismantle systemic racism.

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Specifically, it falls under the economic
pillar of reform, seeking to

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promote equity, equality, and parity
for those who are African American

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descendants of slavery.

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We're dedicated to being transparent
about the work of the commission.

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And as a part of that transparency,
we do have a website

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adcrc.illinois.gov
where members of the public

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can go to review our meeting
minutes, our meeting recordings,

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and also stay aware
and abreast of any upcoming meetings.

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We're intentional
about attempting to engage with the public

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and we also do have a petition of support
and an email newsletter

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that will also help

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to keep the public aware of what
the Commission is currently doing.

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My name is Twyla Moore,
and I am a commissioner

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for the ADCRC. For sure,
my professional background has driven

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me to be involved in the commission
and to continue to move the work forward.

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I was a probation officer for 21 years,
so I have a passion

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for serving the underserved,
people who don't have a voice.

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People who tend to be overlooked.

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You know, that passion has really pushed me

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to become involved in the commission
and to really,

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give a voice to say
these are the areas that I know

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we need to focus on and these are
the areas where we can do more work to

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give a voice to those who aren't able to
speak up and have a voice for themself.

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My name is Ted Williams III.

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I teach political science in the City
Colleges of Chicago

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and I am a commissioner on the Reparations
Commission.

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So reparations work is important
not only for the nation,

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but really for the state.

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African-Americans have 1/10th the wealth
of people of European descent

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in this country.

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And so and across the state of Illinois,
we consistently

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rank in the lowest
numbers around inequality for states.

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So this inequality will not fix itself.

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We have to do something.

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And so this work is really about exploring

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what the injustices have been,

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educating the public around this
and then recommending

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public policy that would address
these issues specifically.

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But one of the issues
that I'm personally very passionate

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about that we were kind of starting in
and we're dealing with other ones as well.

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But housing inequality, the loss of wealth

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in housing across the state,
this has been a big issue.

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If you saw Evanston's work,
they started with that issue as well

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because really housing is the number
one way to build wealth in this society.

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So if you can deal with housing,
you can start to deal with the wealth gap

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more quickly.

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But of course there's education,
of course there is a lack of access

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to the trades through unions historically
for African-Americans in the state,

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a number of other issues.

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But I think, you know,
as we go through this work,

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we are going to really fortunately
and unfortunately, see a wide, wide

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variety of spaces and places
where these injustices exist.

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Sometimes I think about

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people like Dr. King

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and Malcolm X
and some of my heroes from the Sixties,

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and I wonder what they would be doing
if they were alive today.

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I think they'd be doing this.