Only one member of Illinois “slavery reparations” commission attended all 2025 meetings

Even the chairman of Illinois “African Descent Citizens Reparations Commission” failed to attend all of its 2025 meetings, and seven of 15 members attended fewer than half.

That’s according to the commission’s 2025 annual report.

The commission met 12 times in 2025 and reached quorum at only 10 of those meetings, the report shows. 

Attendance totals reflect the number of times each commissioner was present and counted toward quorum.

Commission member and State Rep. Sonya Harper (D-Chicago) attended four of 12 meetings. 

State Rep. Tom Weber (R-Crystal Lake) attended zero meetings.

Roger Elion, secretary of the commission, attended all 12 meetings, while Marvin Slaughter Jr., the commission’s chairperson, and Ted Williams III attended 11 meetings.

Monique Jones and Jeffrey Trask, each had ten attendances, while Stephanie Taylor, vice chairperson, and Dominic Watson, attended nine.

Rikeesha Phelon attended seven, Deborah Lane, Carlton Mayers II, Twyla Moore, and Joel Sachnoff each attended six meetings, and Jaquie Algee attended five meetings.

The report notes that attendance totals are calculated only when a commissioner was counted toward quorum, meaning late arrivals or virtual attendance in some cases did not count toward those totals.

Slaughter, of south suburban Markham, is a racism researcher at University of Chicago. He worked previously for State Sen. Michael Hastings (D-Orland Hills).

Elion, of south suburban Olympia Fields, is an executive with Health Care Service Corporation, which operates the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association in Illinois. 

Ted Williams III is an actor who teaches political science at Kennedy-King College, a Chicago community college.

Rikeesha Phelon is a provost at SIU School of Medicine in Springfield. She previously worked as press secretary to Illinois Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago).

Monique Jones, of south suburban Olympia Fields, runs a “mental health” non-profit called Forefront.

State Rep. Harper, whose district includes Englewood and West Englewood on Chicago’s South Side, worked as a television news producer in Cincinnati and at CBS-2 Chicago as well as as a make-up artist for Parfums Christian Dior before joining a government-funded non-profit that seeks to teach city-dwellers how to organically farm. She was appointed to the state house in 2015.

The African Descent-Citizens Reparations Commission (ADCRC) was established by state law in 2021.

It cost Illinois taxpayes $1.626 million in 2025, including $144,750 on personnel and $407,298 on “contractual services” to operate its meetings virtually and to run its web site.

Its mission, as stated in the annual report, includes “preservation of (black) neighborhoods and communities”  and securing more Illinois state contracts for blacks.

The legislation that created the commission was introduced as House Bill 5024 during the 101st Illinois General Assembly, sponsored by State Rep. William Davis (D-Hazel Crest), who authored the bill to set up the commission’s structure and mandate. 

Under the statute, the commission includes members appointed by the governor, legislative leaders, and representatives of “reparations advocacy organizations,” with specific requirements ensuring that “at least a majority of public appointees are descendants of enslaved Africans.”