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Testimony of Nkechi Taifa ,Co-Chair Legislative Commission of NCOBRA

The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America

   

Before the Maryland Senate Judiciary Proceedings Committee

  

In Support Of

 

Senate Joint Resolution 4

"Reparations for the Enslavement of African Americans

  

March 17, 2004

       The Legislative Commission of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (NC'OBRA), appreciates this opportunity to testify in support of Senate Joint Resolution 4, "Reparations for the Enslavement of  African Americans."

      NC'OBRA, founded in 1987, is a mass-based coalition organized for the sole purpose of obtaining reparations for African descendants in the United States.  Its work is organized through nine national commissions:  Economic Development, Human Resources, Legal Strategies, Legislative, Public Information and Education, Membership and Organizational Development, International Affairs, and Youth and Education. 

      The mission of the Legislative Commission of NC'OBRA is to work towards achieving a comprehensive award of reparations for African Americans in the legislative arena based on the period of enslavement and post-slavery discrimination, through support of reparations initiatives at the federal, state, and local levels.  In support of this mission, NC'OBRA's Legislative Commission is an advocate for the introduction and passage of reparations legislation nationwide.  I have served as chair of the Legislative Commission since the establishment of N'COBRA, and currently am joined by a co-chair.

      The Legislative Commission of N'COBRA congratulates State Senator Nathaniel Exum for the introduction of Senate Joint Resolution 4, "Reparations for the Enslavement of African Americans," and urges its swift passage by this Committee.  Passage if this legislation will continue the support for the national effort for congressional hearings and a federal commission to study and consider reparations for African Americans, and to educate all Americans about the history of the period of enslavement and its current repercussions. 

      It is important to note that the U.S. government has never acknowledged, apologized, or otherwise taken responsibility for its role in slavery or segregation, and has never made reparation to African Americans for the generations of labor expropriated form them, deprivation of their freedom and rights, and terrorism against them resulting in widespread injury and death. This is all despite the fact that the federal government has lent its support to other reparations claims even where such claims did not originate on United States soil. 

      Although slavery was codified within many state statutes, Maryland included, this legislation addresses the role of the federal government.  It must not be forgotten that Black people in America are the descendants of Africans who were kidnapped and transported to the United States with the explicit complicity of the United States government and every arm of the U.S. lawmaking and law enforcing machinery.  The dehumanization and atrocities of the enslavement period were not isolated occurrences, but were mandated by formal laws that were codified and even enshrined within the U.S. Constitution. 

      Clause one, section nine of the first article of the U.S. Constitution, expressly guaranteed and sanctioned the importation of kidnapped Africans to every state that might desire their labor until the year 1808.  Article one, section two, clause three, upheld the further dehumanization of the African by relegating their status to that of three-fifths of a white man.  Clause three, section two of Article four, mandated that no enslaved person, even if he or she had reached a free state, was safe, and it was the constitutional responsibility of every white person to track her down for delivery to the government.  Indeed, the travails of one of Maryland's' own, Harriet Tubman, bears witness to this terroristic policy change, as she and the Underground Railroad could no longer suffice by transporting escaped persons from Maryland to Pennsylvania and New York, but were constrained to cross the border of the United States into Canada to escape the reach of the U.S. government. 

      The role of the federal government in supporting the institution of slavery and subsequent discrimination directed against African Americans is an injustice which must be formally acknowledged and redressed.  Such recognition could play a central role in the amelioration of racial discrimination in America.  And just as the role of the federal government must be acknowledged, so too must the role the State of Maryland likewise played in the institution of slavery.  The role of Maryland, however, exceeds the scope of Senate Joint Resolution 4 and, we submit, should be the subject of later legislative initiatives. 

      In 1989 Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) introduced a bill, later designated as HR 40, "to acknowledge the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery in the U.S. and the 13 American colonies between 1619 and to establish a commission to examine the institution of slavery subsequent de jure and de factor racial and economic discrimination against African Americans and the impact of these forces on living African Americans."  This commission would be charged with making recommendations to the Congress on appropriate remedies.  It is a critical observation that HR 40, as important as it is, is a relatively mild and conservative bill.  It does not call for the payment of reparations.  It only calls for the creation of a commission to study the issue, and make recommendations to Congress. 

      The issue of reparations for African Americans was once, in the not too distant past, unthinkable by mainstream America as viable public policy.  That all changed after the 1987 passage of the Japanese American Redress Bill, and the introduction by John Conyers of a reparations study bill for African Americans.   Out of the Maryland Congressional Delegation, Congresspersons Albert Wynn and Elijah Cummings have both co-sponsored H.R. 40.  In 1990 the Legislature of Louisiana passed a concurrent resolution to memorialize the Congress of the United States to enact the Conyers' bill, and eleven years later in 2001, the California State Assembly passed a similar resolution.  In 1994 the Florida state legislature paid $150,000 to each of the eleven survivors of the 1923 Rosewood Race Riot and created a scholarship fund for students of color.  The state of Oklahoma is currently considering the issue of reparations for victims of the 1920 bombings which decimated an entire thriving Black community in Tulsa.  There are also reparations resolutions pending in the states of New York, Texas, and New Jersey.  

      The municipal level has seen much activity within the legislative arena.  In    addition to Baltimore, Maryland; reparations-type legislation has been passed by the City Councils of Detroit, Michigan; Cleveland, Ohio; Inglewood, California; East Palo Alto, California; Dallas, Texas; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Chicago, Illinois; Evanston, Illinois; Atlanta, Georgia; Paterson, New Jersey; Washington, D.C., Passaic County, New Jersey; and Burlington, Vermont.  Other state and municipal legislatures have created or are considering creating a commission to investigate injustices committed against African Americans, assess their impact on living African Americans today, and recommend restitution.

      A growing number of professional, civil rights, labor, and religious and civic organizations have officially endorsed HR 40 and the concept of reparations.  These include the NAACP, the National Baptist Convention, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, the AFL-CIO, the Association of Black Psychologists, the National Conference of Black Political Scientists, the National Bar Association, the National Conference of Black Lawyers, the International Association of Black Firefighters, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Communication Workers of America, the National Political Congress of Black Women, the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, the National Black United Front, the National Conference of Black Lawyers, TransAfrica Forum, and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, to name a few.

      We strongly urge this Committee to join the process of racial healing and repair by enacting Senate Joint Resolution 4 forthwith.

Testimony Download (PDF)

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BLACK FRIDAYS

An UJAMAA Project of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America BLACK FRIDAYS is a national campaign designed to help build the mass based movement of Black people for Reparations.

BLACK FRIDAYS recognizes that Black Capitalism does not liberate Black people; and neither Black businesses nor cooperatives alone will ever liberate Black people who live under the continuing yoke of white supremacists economic institutions, themselves the products of the ill gotten gains from our Holocaust of enslavement. "In short, the crisis of modern capitalism may push the advocates of Black Capitalism squarely into the political camp of the most racist and conservative forces of white America. The logic of Black Capitalism could reinforce the politics of authoritarianism. The Black entrepreneurs' quest for profit could become part of the political drive to discipline the entire Black working class." Manning Marable, How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America. BLACK FRIDAYS educates the Black community that winning Reparations must and can provide sufficient resources to the Black community to enable it to begin building economic capacity to prevent and defend against white supremacist and other exploitative economic injury. BLACK FRIDAYS is building greater unity and greater mutual support between Black people and Black owned and operated businesses. BLACK FRIDAYS asks Black people to support Black owned and operated business that contribute to the uplift of the Black community. BLACK FRIDAYS educates the Black owned and operated business community to understand the fundamental necessity of winning Reparations if Black people are ever to gain control of the economy of the Black community such that the Black community rises in a mutually beneficial process of shared work and shared wealth. BLACK FRIDAYS is N'COBRA's active work to build Black community support for Black owned and operated businesses that support the Back community. BLACK FRIDAYS educates the Black community that we must qualitatively transform the way that we manage our resources as a people. Otherwise, we shall continue to weaken our struggle for Reparations, become susceptible to accepting less than we deserve for Reparations, and be more likely to give our "Reparations" back to the oppressor as soon as we get it as is too often our practice now. BLACK FRIDAYS is a celebration of Black people working more cooperatively together for the benefit of the Black Community. The BLACK FRIDAYS campaign needs you to support Black businesses that support the Black community. And, if you are a Black owned and operated business, contact Black Fridays. Display our beautiful poster in your establishment, hand out our palm card, and join the movement to win Reparations.

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2003: A YEAR OF BLACK PRESENCE IN WASHINGTON

by
Milton McGriff

On the last page of his eloquent book, The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks, Randall Robinson suggests a tactic to keep the policymakers on Capitol Hill from ignoring the reparations issue:

"Every black church, organization, and institution would commit to choose one day of the 130-odd days that the Congress is in session and bring on that day
one thousand African Americans to walk the halls of Congress in support of compensation measures designed to close the economic and psychic gap between
blacks and whites in America. The Congress, for one year, would never stop seeing our faces, never stop hearing our demands, never be relieved of our presence."

On January 30, 2003, the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N'COBRA) brings Robinson's concept to life. Four N'COBRA chapters in the Northeast Region - Philadelphia, D.C. Metro, Baltimore, New York - will pick a day in each of the first four months and take 1,000 African Americans to "walk the halls of Congress" on that day. We need the entire national body of N'COBRA and its supporters to create A Year of Black Presence that Congress cannot ignore.

Let's examine A Year of Black Presence. What it is, how it will function, and what needs to be done to force Congress into action.
Basically, this work is designed to create, for the first time, a full and thorough discussion about reparations between the U.S. government and African-Americans. We believe the mechanism for such a discussion is HR40, "the Conyers bill," that would establish a commission to examine our Holocaust of enslavement, the reign of terror known as Jim Crow, the aftermath of both, and make recommendations to the Congress for remedies to repair the damage.

It stands to reason that if there is no discussion with the U.S. government, there will be no reparations settlement from the U.S. government. If there is a discussion with the U.S. government, and if history is any judge, federal officials will in all likelihood try and create something that looks like reparations without transforming anything meaningful for African-Americans. We must create enough mass support to not only get the HR40 bill passed, we must be strong enough to influence the recommendations a reparations commission will make.

We are presently dealing with an all-Republican Congress. These friendly fascists are currently trying to give huge tax cuts to the rich. If they are successful, they will then plead broke when it comes to funding programs the American people need today - Medicare and Social Security come immediately to mind - and either reduce them drastically, turn them over to the private sector, or eliminate them. These are not people who will look fondly on restitution for our Holocaust of enslavement and the viciousness of American Apartheid.

(It needs to be said: With both parties, we have a fight on our hands. We have not yet received huge support from the Democratic Party, either. Although most of
the co-sponsors of HR40 are Democrats, the party has collectively remained silent. Part of our goal in going to Washington needs to be making reparations and
HR40 campaign issues in the 2004 presidential election if we have not met with success by then.)

Again, we must not only have the discussion, we must create enough mass support to have a strong influence on the outcome of that discussion.

In October 2001, Philadelphia N'COBRA created a pilot project of A Year of Black Presence. We asked several local organizations to join us in a coalition that would focus on just one aspect of the reparations issue: HR 40.

A distinct logo was created for A Year of Black Presence by Khepera Ausar, a brilliant Brooklyn graphics artist. The logo has the ever watchful, all-seeing Egyptian eye of God looking down on the Capitol above the letters AYBP.

Thus A Year of Black Presence Coalition (AYBP) was born. AYBP Coalition is an initiative of N'COBRA, working through the N'COBRA Legislative Commission, and made up of organizations that support getting HR40 passed. Although as many as 15 organizations have been in AYBP Coalition at one time or another, the most active have been Philadelphia N'COBRA, African-American Freedom and Reconstruction League, Phila. House of the Lord Church, Lost Found Nation of Islam, Black Radical Congress, Mother Bethel AME Church Social Action Committee, and the Phila. NAACP.

AYBP Coalition introduced itself to Philadelphia with a forum that featured Rep. John Conyers, the sponsor of HR40. We have funded our work thus far through several sources: each member group has donated money; a grant from Bread and Roses Community Fund, Inc., a progressive non-profit; a donation from an anonymous source. As we move forward, national N'COBRA and the chapters must find creative ways to raise funds to aid the chapters in creating "a year of black presence."

Each N'COBRA chapter should start an AYBP Coalition by reaching out to two or more organizations in your area who agree with the goals of HR 40. (The entire bill can be read by using links at the Congressional Black Caucus Internet website.)

Philadelphia's goal for January 30, 2003, is filling 20 buses with 49 people each, a total of 980 people. We are charging $20 for tickets, with $15 of each ticket going toward the cost of the bus. On a full bus, the remaining $245 will be used either for a "unity item" or for food. A "unity item" is something that will identify the AYBP participants walking the halls of Congress easily: a cap, T-shirt, etc.

We will divide participants into teams and train a team leader for each group. In Washington, the team leader will be responsible for facilitating discussions when the team visits the office of a Congressperson.

For January, we will visit members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and several selected Congresspersons. We will have specific questions designed to either secure a commitment or find out objections to HR40. For instance, in a government that studies everything from the mating habits of whales to you-name-it, why won't they study a subject as important to the nation as the African Holocaust of enslavement?

We will send media kits to all D.C. and Philadelphia news agencies, and also to selected national media (Ebony, Essence, USA Today, BET, etc.)
We are also preparing an information kit for all 435 Congresspersons and 100 senators. We don't want them saying they don't know about it!

Although we are assigning specific AYBP dates to selected Northeast Region cities, this has to do with their proximity to Washington. If any other chapters or individuals can make the trip, we will provide all the information about how we are organizing this effort. Other chapters can either pick a day of their own or come down on a day already being organized. There's no reason we can't have more than 1,000 people or more than one day a month. We do want to coordinate our plans through the

N'COBRA Legislative Commission so that things run smoothly when we're there taking care of this important business.

N'COBRA chapters may also want to hold demonstrations in their city concurrent with an AYBP day in Washington and visit the local office of a Congressperson to talk with him/her about HR40.

If we are visible in large numbers, we can let Congress know that we will no longer be ignored.

The U.S. government will only do for African-Americans what it is forced to do. The Civil Rights Movement is evidence of this. At no other time in this nation's history have it even attempted to right the evils that stain its past.

Reparations and restitution will only come with broad-based support and sustained effort.

N'COBRA Phila, AYBP: 215.604.3658

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Reparations Coordinating Committee Files Tulsa Reparations Case
RCC Files Reparations Lawsuit for Black Wall Street survivors

February 24, 2003

Contact: Adjoa A. Aiyetoro
Chief Legal Consultant
Co-chair, Reparations Coordinating Committee (RCC)
202-904-7561

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

N'COBRA is pleased to be a part of historic reparations litigation for the acts of terror that destroyed the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma (Black Wall Street), murdered and brutalized its residents and forcibly separated them from their homes. This act of terror has continuing consequences to this very day.

The survivors of the mass destruction of the Greenwood district of Tulsa and the descendants of survivors recall all too vividly how Greenwood was burned to the ground and its residents terrorized by white mob violence. The story is made all the worse because the white mob had the blessings of the city, state and National Guard. Indeed, hundreds of the white mob were deputized. acting under the "cover" of law, this mob and the police and National Guard terrorized the Greenwood district and destroyed the homes, businesses and lives of its residents.

This litigation is a major step in raising the claim for reparations for African descendants throughout the United States. Acts of violence, terror, forcible separation and brutalization of African peoples in the United States had their beginnings in Africans stolen from the shores of Africa and Transported to what is now the United States. The Greenwood tragedy is but a continuation of the carnage of chattel slavery that began in the 17th century and had as its hallmark the total vulnerability of African peoples to the violence, disparagement and disrespect of white people.

This litigation will also reveal that the disregard for African descendants that allowed the city, state and National Guard to participate in the destruction of their lives and communities has, much like chattel slavery, continuing consequences today. The African descendant community in Greenwood and throughout the United States is still subjected to disparate treatment in virtually every area of life solely because of the continuing myth of white supremacy and African American inferiority - so well documented by many of
our historians and legal scholars, most notably A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr.

By filing this action The RCC, of which N'COBRA is a part, is continuing in the spirit of Callie House, Rev. Isaiah Dickerson, Queen Mother Moore, Christopher C. Alston, Charshee McIntyre and many others: speaking truth to power and raising its voice in support of the legal and human rights of African descended people in Tulsa to reparations.

 

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ANTI-WAR AND PRO-REPARATIONS

The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (NCOBRA) opposes the immoral United States war against Iraq, and this country's unprovoked aggression against other Peoples around the world. We do not support people of African descent going off to fight and die in disproportionate numbers in yet another war, for a country that refuses to admit to the 500 years of terrorism it has perpetrated against African descendants, and that refuses to admit that it has a debt that must be paid to the descendants of formerly enslaved Africans.

The U.S. war against Iraq transfers wealth from African descendant communities and other communities of color that are ravaged daily by systems and institutions that benefit from our exploitation and our restricted access to wealth and power. This transfer of the nation's wealth only exacerbates our condition and lessens our ability to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable members of our communities. The resources that will be allocated for the war must be transferred to African descendant communities to right one of the most grievous crimes against humanity-the Trans-Atlantic Enslavement of African People.

African descendants are painfully aware that white supremacy, globalization, unbridled exploitation of other nations' land and resources, and the violation of other nations' right to be self-determining can ultimately lead to a recurrence of the horrors that our people suffered during the American Holocaust of African Enslavement. Therefore, we have an obligation to speak in opposition to the war against Iraq and any actions that deny People of other nations, the human rights that Americans take for granted.

January 15, 2003

{approved and distributed by N'COBRA's Board of Directors - January 2003 Board Meeting, Dallas TX}

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Building Towards
MILLIONS FOR REPARATIONS
Rally & Black Friday;
Washington, DC - August 16 & 17, 2002

Principles of Unity

As a collective of various organizations and philosophies, we will respect each other's autonomy in organization and philosophy. The central principles we unify and agree upon are:

1. Our primary goal is to achieve Reparations for Africans in America. The Building Towards Millions For Reparations Demonstration is an immediate initiative designed to mobilize the people toward achieving our goal;

2. The so-called Trans-Atlantic "slave trade" was not trade but was in fact a Holocaust of Enslavement. It was morally wrong and a crime against humanity;

3. We define Reparations as a process of repairing, healing and restoring our people; therefore we continue our ancestors efforts to liberate us by focusing on repairing, healing and restoring the personal, family, and community damages that we suffered during the Holocaust of African Enslavement;

4. Africans in America are due Restitution for the Holocaust of African Enslavement and its vestiges; and

5. We support and work for the passage of HR-40, sponsored by Congressman John Conyers and other state and local legislative initiatives.

Reparations United Front

1. Functioning as a "Reparations United Front," is critical to maintaining a unified public posture. Members of the Collective (organizations and individuals) agree not to attack each other, especially regarding Reparations.

2. In instances where there may be differences of opinion, members will emphasize their commitment to Reparations, to minimize attempts to divide and neutralize the effectiveness of the Collective.

3. The Collective may elect not to recognize those who fail to abide by the aforementioned principles of unity. Everyone is encouraged to support the work of the Collective in ways most suitable for them, whether inside or outside the Collective.

We Believe

We believe the Reparations Movement can empower African Americans to continue our task of gaining social, economic, and cultural parity and liberation for individuals, families and communities. The movement provides an opportunity to address all issues impacting the Black Community by:

1. Creating a path for self, family and community development and liberation;
2. Providing a cause strong enough to unite Black People across socio-economic, and education barriers;
3. Recognizing and assisting with restoring the dignity of over 100 million Africans lost and sacrificed during the Holocaust of Enslavement and one hundred years of lynching that followed;
4. Providing an opportunity to expose the perpetrator of the Holocaust and educate the victims by creating dialogue locally and nationally that thoroughly examines our collective oppression (and mistakes), and exposes the perpetrator's responsibility in creating our past and current social condition;
5. Providing compensation for Black People locally and nationally;
6. We believe our people are ultimately responsible for our collective achievement of social, economic, and cultural parity and liberation. Restitution will only assist in our recovery and building process. The struggle for Reparations is a sacred responsibility that must be assumed by African descendants in the Americas; and
7. We believe there can be no Reparations without mass participation. Mass participation is essential to achieving Reparations (repairing, healing and restoring Black People) and Restitution (receiving compensation for the Holocaust and its vestiges).

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NATIONAL REPARATIONS WEEKEND: A Movement in the Making!

 

Kibibi Tyehimba,

Co-Chair DC Metro Chapter of N'COBRA

 

In the not too distant future, August 16-17 2002 will be marked as one of the major milestones in the growing Reparations movement. This past weekend, Tens of thousands of African Americans converged on the nation's capitol to demonstrate their demand for Reparations in our lifetime. It was the first mass Reparations mobilization effort in this century, and the enthusiasm oozing from all the participants clearly demonstrated it won't be the last.

 

The Millions for Reparations demonstration, which also commemorated the 115th birthday of the honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey, was in response to a call to action issued by the Durban 400 following the World Conference Against Racism in Durban South Africa. Although the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (NCOBRA) did not issue the call, the Coalition supported it and encourage its members to participate because of its commitment to supporting any genuine efforts to further the cause for Reparations.

 

The weekend began with a "Black Friday" observance organized by NCOBRA. African Americans and their allies were encouraged to only spend their dollars with Black owned businesses for the entire day to increase the circulation of money within the Black Community. Although "Buy Black" campaigns have been instituted in the past, it is hoped that the Reparations movement will motivate a long range commitment to this effort.

 

On Friday evening N'COBRA hosted a Pre-Demonstration National Reparations Rally and Forum, at Plymouth Congregational Church in Northwest DC. Reverend Haglar and Plymouth Congregational Church should be commended for allowing access to a standing room only and overflowing crowd, particularly since far too few leaders in the African American Faith Community have come out to publicly support Reparations, with the notable exception of Rev. Willie Wilson, pastor of Union Temple Baptist church, and recently declared candidate for mayor of Washington, DC. The Rally will certainly be remembered by all those in attendance, as an event that rivaled some of the most important milestones during the Civil Rights movement. The speakers ranged from the conservative to what is perceived to be the most radical. Nation of Islam leader, Minister Louis Farrakhan, keynote speaker for the evening, spoke at length about the moral justification for the Reparations movement, the Nation of Islam's history of support for the issue, the importance of land as part of the demand for Reparations, and a call for unity and the formation of a united Reparations Front resonated throughout. Minister Farrakhan spoke of the Reparations movement as a prime opportunity to unite, heal and repair African families and communities.

 

Other speakers for the evening included Dr. Imari Obadele, founder of NCOBRA; male and female co-chairs, Ms. Dorothy Benton-Lewis and Mr. Jahahara Alkebulan Ma'at; Ms. Adjoa Aiyetoro, Esq., Co-Chair of the NCOBRA Legal Commission; Mr. Charles Ogletree, Esq., Professor of Law at Harvard School of Law and Co-Chair of the Reparations Coordinating Council, which will file a class action Reparations law suit in the fall of 2002; Dr. Maulana Karenga, Chair of US Organization and creator of Kwanzaa; Dr. Conrad Worrill, founder and chairman of the National Black United Front; Dr. Ron Daniels, founder and CEO of the Institute of the Black World, and candidate for the presidency of the U.S in the 1992 election; Ms. Harriet Frost of the Rosewood Idella Carrier Foundation, which is the only group of African Americans to receive reparations to date; Mr. Gary Grant of the Black Farmers Association currently embroiled in a confrontation with the United States Department of Agriculture for its documented discrimination against Black Farmers' who have sought farm subsidies throughout the 20th century; Mr. Hilary Shelton, director of the Washington, DC Branch of the NAACP; Mr. Damu Smith, director of the National Black Environmental Justice Network; Mr. Malik Zulu Shabazz, Esq. of the New Black Panther Party; Mr. Senghor Baye of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA); and Mr. Omali Yeshitela of the African People's Socialist Party. All the speakers were able to show a clear connection between their organization's primary mission and the Reparations movement. Of course no event of this caliber would be complete without some form of artistic expression. The night ended with a reading of a poem written by

Washington's own Ms. Laini Mataka, and a very energizing song by Baba Doc entitled "I Want My Money".

 

Saturday morning, August 17, 2002, Reparations supporters gathered at Lincoln Park in Southeast DC to participate in a Spiritual Gathering to commemorate the sacrifices of African Ancestors during the American era of enslavement. The African Diaspora Ancestral Commemoration Institute (ADACI) orchestrated the building of a beautiful altar in front of the Mary McCloud Bethune statue. Ms. Tendai Johnson, Mwangaza Michael-Bandele, Paula Jones, and Eureka Huggins and all the members of the community who assisted, should be commended for their superb work. Participants in the event placed pictures and tiny placards with the names of their ancestors around the altar. The altar even incorporated several of the emotionally charged illustrations from the book "Middle Passage" by Mr. Tom Feelings, who voluntarily brought them all the way from South Carolina. Mr. Feelings indicated that he initially created the book to assist the descendents of formerly enslaved Africans with the healing and repair process that is so important in the Reparations movement. The local chapter of the UNIA, under the leadership of Minister Ahmed Assalaam, honored the life and legacy of Marcus Mosiah Garvey, a strong advocate of Reparations and Repatriation in the early part of the 20th century. Under the leadership of the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey, the UNIA boasted 1100 branches in more than 40 countries around the world. Garvey's "Race First" message awakened the consciousness of black people, and advocated racial pride and dignity among blacks around the world. Later that morning the crowd of Reparations supporters marched down East Capitol behind the "Red, Black and Green" Flag designed by the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey, and the NCOBRA Banner towards the demonstration site in front of the Capitol building.

 

By noon the grounds immediately in front of the Capitol building were beginning to fill up. Despite the oppressive August heat and humidity, thousands of Reparations supporters were out in full force with banners, t-shirts with an array of Reparations slogans, and their voices raised in support of the issue. No, there were not a million people in attendance as the name of the march implies. But one thing is clear, the support for this issue is growing by leaps and bounds, and considering that a demonstration of this magnitude or smaller would have been virtually impossible 30 years ago, the organizers of the demonstration and all those who worked tirelessly to make it happen should be congratulated. No one ever knows what event in history will be the one to thrust a movement forward. Surely in 1955 Rosa Parks had no way of knowing that her refusal to give up her seat to a white man would be the catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement. Eventually, history will reveal the significance of August 17, 2002.

 

Minister Louis Farrakhan greeted the crowd with a message for unity and increased commitment to making Reparations a reality. Congressman John Conyers Jr. of Detroit Michigan, and champion for the H.R. 40 Reparations Bill, submitted to Congress every year since 1989, also raised his voice in support of the issue. Councilman Charles Barron of New York, who recently introduced one of the most extensive Reparations Bills also addressed the crowd. There were few of the notables that one would expect to see and hear at an event such as this. The organizers of the demonstration, very early on, expressed a desire to give the masses center stage, so that it would be clear how they view the Reparations Movement. The presenters and participants during the course of the day, did not include sufficient representation from African American and other progressive organizations who's large constituencies will be critical to the success of the Reparations Movement. But then, this was the first mass mobilization effort. As the movement continues to grow, there's no doubt the people will demand that all Reparations initiatives be more inclusive.

 

Saturday evening was rounded out with a "Rappin' for Reparations" poetry slam hosted by the Howard University student chapter of NCOBRA, under the leadership of Ms. Fahima Seck and Mr. Julius Jefferson, and advisor and long time N'COBRA member Dr. Mary Hoover. The energy was high, and the poetry and songs were powerful. Historically, artists have played a very important role in African American human rights struggles. It was good to see that the tradition is still alive and well. And of course it is heartening to see the young people rising up, and ready to receive the baton from their elders. And everyone knows, once you capture the imagination of the youth, victory is inevitable.

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Milton McGriff,National Coordinator
A Year of Black Presence Coalition (AYBP)

“REMARKS” made at Press Conference on Capitol Hill for kick off of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA) Year of Black Presence (AYBP) Lobbying initiative January 30, 2003

Download A Year of Black Presence Coalition (PDF)

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BLACK REPARATIONS TIMES

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WE WANT MORE THAN JOBS

Ms. Dorothy Benton-Lewis,
N’COBRA National Co-Chair

On August 23, 2003, at Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Martin Luther King III, and a coalition which included the NAACP, the Urban League, the National Council of Negro Women, NOW, the Arab-American Institute, the AFL-CIO, and United for Peace and Justice, hosted the 40th anniversary celebration of the "March on Washington (MOW) for Jobs and Freedom." The theme was "Return, Repair and Renew". NCOBRA member, Brother Mark Thompson (Matsimela Mapfumo) played a significant role in the planning of the event. Ms. Dorothy Benton-Lewis spoke on behalf of N’COBRA and the Reparations Movement. Ms. Lewis shared the podium with Congressman John Lewis of Georgia, presidential candidate Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Jesse Jackson of Rainbow/Push Coalition, Ms. Coretta King, Mr. Martin L. King III of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), former Congressman Walter Fauntroy, and national spokesperson for the Nation of Islam Sister Minister Ava Muhammad.

“Greetings from the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA) We are a diverse coalition of organizations and individuals organized for the sole purpose of obtaining reparations for descendants of enslaved Africans. Brothers and Sisters If we are serious about returning, repairing and renewing the Dream, we must admit that there is a serious debt, a serious injustice looming overhead that happened long before 1963. We must acknowledge the 200 Million Africans lost in the Holocaust of Enslavement from Africa, Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean...for whom there has been no day of mourning, no apology, no atonement or reparations for their survivors. We must acknowledge the uncounted hundreds of millions of Africans who endured a life of suffering, torture, humiliation, and daily terror in hopes that future generations could have a life Free of terror, oppression, and any form of enslavement. Without them, life would not be as we know it today. We must acknowledge the Dr. Kings, Malcolm Xs, John Browns, Ida B. Wells, and Queen Mother Moores of the world for giving their lives to continue the vision of our ancestors for a future worthy of their and our suffering.

N’COBRA also has a vision for a new and better world.

We know that every issue that we speak of today can and must be part of our demand for reparations. Housing, Health Care, Land, Education, Child Welfare, Family Stability, Economic Development, equal treatment under our justice system, .....You name it...it comes under the banner of reparations. Because Reparations is more than a check, more a job. 265 years of slavery was a job. And if the jobs today continue to pay Black people 60 cents on a dollar while whites earn the whole dollar, we will remain wage-earning slaves.

We must face it, while we have been marching for jobs, jobs have been marching out of this country in search of new slaves in foreign countries. Jobs are marching into prisons where they can legally work 2 million racially profiled Black men and women to death again without pay.

In honor of Dr. King, we are the generation to demand that America make good on the check that has always been marked insufficient funds when it comes to Black/African people. We want more than jobs. We want to own and control our own lives and livelihood.

We want Justice, a world of justice. We want freedom, including freedom of the mind and spirit, and we want Equality between all peoples, and between men and women. We want the wealth that our ancestors built. We want the human rights that our fore parents fought and died for. We want power over our own lives. We want the Freedom to choose a new and better future than the one that looms before us, and we want Reparations NOW to make that future real.”

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