On America

On America: The Big Payback and Reparations

Admission

Out of stock

Saturday, 5:00 pm EDT February 18, 2023

The Center for Fiction

The Center for Fiction and Color Farm Media (John Lewis: Good Trouble; Finding Tamika) present a screening of The Big Payback, a film about reparations for African Americans. The documentary follows Alderman Robin Rue Simmons’s fight to pass the first government-funded reparations program for Black Americans in Evanston, Illinois, alongside Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee as she leads a national movement. Featuring interviews with political figures including Simmons Lee, scholars on the subject like Ta-Nehisi Coates, and community members who support reparations and others who remain skeptical, the documentary highlights the legislative process toward restorative justice in a Chicago suburb and throughout the United States. Don’t miss this rich and lively exploration of a subject that historically evaded political action—until a small Chicago suburb and two fearless women challenged the status quo. Co-directors Erika Alexander and Whitney Dow will lead the audience in a community discussion directly after the screening.

Presented in partnership with Color Farm Media.

In Conversation

Erika Alexander

Erika Alexander

Erika Alexander is an actress and creator, making her directorial debut with The Big Payback, co-directed with Whitney Dow, which chronicles the story of the first reparations bill in American history for African Americans. She is a co-founder of Color Farm Media and serves as a board member for One Fair Wage and Exponent.
Whitney Dow

Whitney Dow

Whitney Dow is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and educator, whose work has focused on race and identity for more than two decades. His directorial credits include I Sit Where I Want: The Legacy of Brown v. Board of Education, POV’s Two Towns of Jasper, and the Independent Lens documentaries When the Drum is Beating and The Big Payback.

About the Film

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The Big Payback

For the first time in American history, a tax funded reparations bill targeted for Black Americans is passed in Evanston, IL. The film follows the fight of rookie alderman Robin Rue Simmons as she leads the community in an uphill battle to obtain this ‘big payback’.

Meanwhile, in Washington DC, the formidable Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee continues the fight to pass HR 40: a national bill to examine the merits of introducing reparations for slavery to African Americans.

Together, they pressure the government to deliver monetary justice and appropriate remedies for Black Americans harmed by centuries of chattel slavery, state-sponsored terrorism, systemic injustice, and corporate exploitation. Will the debt ever be addressed, or is it too late for a reparations movement to finally get the big payback?

About this series

On America

Our On America series brings writers, journalists, activists, and change-makers together to reflect on the critical issues of our times. Who are we and who are we becoming? How do the stories we tell shape who we are as a nation? Will we rise to the challenges we face?

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