5th annual FirstRepair symposium to bring reparations advocates to Evanston in December

FirstRepair, an Evanston-based nonprofit reparations organization, is hosting its fifth annual National Symposium for State and Local Reparations with the National African American Reparations Commission on Dec. 3-5. The weekend will include guest speakers, youth involvement, art showcases and a town hall. This year’s theme is “ACT: Acknowledge, Commit, Transform.” “We’re really hoping that attendees leave with the knowledge, leave with the connections we want them to, leave with the spirit to go back to their towns and keep pushing for reparations,” said Elisa Walker, the program director of special initiatives at FirstRepair. Walker said the organization is expecting over 200 attendees. She is most looking forward to hosting the first student session, which invites youth into the reparations conversation, she added. Walker said she is working on developing FirstRepair’s Student Democracy Program in partnership with Northwestern, an initiative that invites young people in the community to learn about and engage in reparations initiatives around the country. The program hosted its first event in July, where students heard from prominent reparations advocates about the process of reparative justice. “Students will continue to learn about policy advocacy and their place within democracy and the reparations movement,” Walker said. “Even though they’re young, there’s still so much that they can do. People still want to hear from them, and we want to develop their skills so that they’re able to communicate their ideas properly.” As an NU faculty member involved with the Student Democracy Program and FirstRepair, political science Prof. Alvin Tillery said he thinks it’s important for students to learn about Evanston’s past through reparations work. Tillery has attended FirstRepair’s symposium since its inaugural year and has been featured as a speaker three times. Through his involvement in the reparations movement, he said Evanston stands out as a pioneer of restorative justice. “Evanston is really a beacon for progressive policy experimentation, and it’s a beacon for people who are highly engaged in our local democracy to take on hard questions and get stuff done,” Tillery said. “What I’ve learned at the symposium is that other cities around the country come to Evanston to learn how we did that. It is awe-inspiring to think that tiny Evanston, of 75, 000 people, is this hub of knowledge development for these other cities.” After representatives from the reparations task force in Tulsa, Oklahoma, attended the symposium in 2024, they obtained the toolkit to further their reparations initiatives, according to Walker. In June, Tulsa’s mayor unveiled a $105 million reparations plan to address the effects of the Tulsa Race Massacre. Walker said this was in part because Tulsa’s elected leaders attended many of the reparations conversations. This year’s symposium, she said, is expected to have the largest presence of elected officials from other states as well as from Evanston. “Local leaders from different states are going to be able to collaborate with Evanston,” Walker said. “We think it’s very important to hear from the people who have been doing the groundwork for reparations, especially in our city, and provide (other leaders) with their knowledge, their experiences and suggestions on reparations initiatives in other states.” Also new to this year’s symposium is a stronger focus on faith and culture, according to Jumoke Ifetayo, a senior advisor at FirstRepair. Ifetayo has been involved in the reparations movement since 1996 and said he thinks this introduction to spirituality in the conversation is a positive modification. He said around 30% of the workshop proposals sent in focused on culture and spirituality, which mirrors FirstRepair’s intentions to introduce Black art and culture into their work. This year’s symposium will feature sessions showcasing local Black artists and musicians. “Something that I have personally taken on myself is infusing culture and spirituality in the movement,” Ifetayo said. “I’m excited about the fact that we’ll have quite a number of workshops this year that are looking at how to infuse culture and spirituality more into the reparations work we do.” Chicago-based photographer and FirstRepair board member Tonika Lewis Johnson is this year’s keynote speaker, bringing the mix of social justice and art to the reparations conversation. In addition to Johnson, FirstRepair plans multiple speaker sessions to further inspire reparations advocates to continue repairing the past, according to Louis Romain, a program assistant at the Institute of the Black World, NAARC’s parent company. “Inspiration is one thing that I really think folks will get from this conference to really continue to do the work,” Romain said. “And also find nuanced ways to do it with joy, because there’s definitely going to be trying times, especially in this political season that we’re in, where the joy of this work can kind of get strained or even suppressed because of the pushback.” Email: [email protected] X: @wallis_rogin Related Stories: Capturing History: MacArthur Grant recipient Tonika Lewis Johnson brings her craft to Evanston’s FirstRepair Reparations nonprofit FirstRepair serves over 100 local communities, to open resource center in December.
https://dailynorthwestern.com/2025/11/20/city/5th-annual-firstrepair-symposium-to-bring-reparations-advocates-to-evanston-in-december/

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