I will
scatter them, and then I will gather them: Deuteronomy 4:27; 28:64; 32:26;
Isaiah 11:12;
Jeremiah 23:8 / Read about the African Slave Trade in Deuteronomy 28th Chapter.
REPARATIONS
NOW
IN OUR
LIFETIME
N E W S L E T T
E R!
>>>>> #29 <<<<<
AUGUST 2002
***
SPECIAL EDITION
ON
THE
“MILLIONS
FOR REPARATIONS RALLY”
IN
WASHINGTON, D.C.
<>
“NEVER AGAIN,”
AND
“WE WILL NEVER
FORGET!”
<>
*********
WE ARE HUMAN BEINGS, AND WE
OWE IT TO OUR CHILDREN TO ESTABLISH AND DEMAND BETTER LIVES FOR THEM AND FOR
OURSELVES!
*********
GIVE POWER AND MEANING TO
THE REPARATIONS MASS
MOVEMENT - GIVE OF YOURSELF!
*********
“Take
direct action against the U.S. government!”
Dr.
Robert Brock
*********
Note
from the REPNOW Newsletter Editor:
Although (for religious reasons) I couldn’t make it to the August 17th “Millions for Reparations Rally” in Washington, D.C., I was able to see the recorded taping of the entire program that Saturday night. I greatly appreciate C-SPAN for being considerate enough to air the Rally for those of us who were not in attendance.
Speaking
of attendance, where were the Civil Rights VIPs? You know who I’m talking about! There are Civil Rights Chapters all over
the nation, so where was even just its smallest representation? If Black Civil Rights Advocates cannot
move in directions that benefit Black Peoples in every respect, then do we
really need them? Of all times,
those of us involved in the fight for Reparations need them now - where it
counts! We need them and most Blacks, if not all,
to make it known that REPARATIONS MUST BE PAID and regardless of which Whites or
other Peoples were here during the time of the TransAtlantic Slave Trade. This DEBT is the responsibility of the
U.S. Government (and all countries) involved in this peculiar
institution!
Several of us have criticized the Rally, but I prefer to criticize those who flatly refuse to support the REPARATIONS NOW IN OUR LIFETIME MOVEMENT. To not support Reparations is to say that you are satisfied with the status quo. It is to say that you have no problems with the way Descendants of the Slave Masters are treating Descendants of Slaves.
There is much injustice against Black Humanity throughout this globe, and it’s been evident ever since our enslavement. Those Blacks who don’t see and understand this reality have their own agendas and could care less about those who suffer and who lead miserable lives in impoverished communities under the control of White Folks.
The “Millions for
Reparations Rally” was a huge success!!! And Marcus Garvey, founder of the United
Negro Improvement Association, and founder of The Black Star Shipping Line would
have been really proud.
If some organizations could have planned better for August 17, why didn’t they and in their communities? A Rally, Demonstration, and Protest March could have marked Marcus Garvey’s 115th Anniversary in at least 30 states. AND THE MORE, THE MERRIER AND THE BETTER in order to get the word out about the meaning of Reparations and why every Descendant of Slaves should get out and support this “OUR” Movement. These gatherings give everyone an opportunity to get involved, speak out, and share their souls, testimonials, songs, RAPS, poems, history, etc. These rallies are also all about letting our people know that we are making our move and are preparing Descendants of Slaves to get ready for a long awaited renaissance, whereby, Black Peoples will once again be the “Movers and the Shakers,” but in a compassionate and positive sense that will bring new meaning to World Leadership.
The Internet, countless newspapers, and radio stations carried stories about this August 17th Millions for Reparations Rally. As well, C-SPAN broadcast the gathering LIVE - TWICE! Accordingly, at least - AT LEAST 500,000 more Black Folks were awakened to knowledge of Reparations and got the message that many organizations are involved in a fight to acquire Reparations from the government to end all the affliction, degradation, mis-education, ghetto life, and injustice we withstand in a land of plenty where there is supposed to be freedom, liberty, pursuit of happiness, and justice for all. You can be sure that August 17’s “Millions for Reparations Rally” was an eye opener for many Blacks who knew nothing about Reparations and who will now volunteer their services in this our fight for REPARATIONS NOW IN OUR LIFETIME! Let’s face it, WE ARE TIRED OF THIS LIFESTYLE and of WORKING LIKE A SLAVE!
Yes, indeed, there is no question that the
“Millions for Reparations Rally” was a huge success!!! And it has even made the efforts of
having other Reparations Rallies that much easier. Future planners can now design a program on
a larger or smaller scale and with or without VIPs. But whatever is planned, we now know
from August 17th that it is so important to inform as many people as
possible, organizations, and churches so that all will get involved. Also, because of this Rally, we have
learned that we must all write to our government officials for their support of
H.R. 40 which is for the study of U.S. Slavery and the feasibility of
Reparations.
And
besides, these rallies are also an opportunity for Black Folks to come together
during the summer months to enjoy each other’s company in outdoor settings and
even during the winter months to enjoy some good indoor, Black entertainment, as
well as hear factual history about our people that we don’t see and hear on
television or read about in the newspapers. There are any number of things to do to
raise Reparations awareness. Hey,
make plans for a Fashion Show sporting Afrikan Garb around a Reparations
Conference. Now, that would be
exciting. In any case, just remember to take your
children and especially our teenagers so that they, too, will get involved in
this phenomenal thrust for Reparations.
Personally,
I would have liked to have seen more famous names in sports, the entertainment
industry, authors, educators, attorneys, politicians, and clergymen speaking out
for Reparations. However, between
now and next summer, there is plenty of time to organize scores of Reparations
Rallies throughout the country and from one coast to the other enabling everyone
to attend and support this our Reparations Movement. And don’t you just know that this
lead will encourage Blacks all over the world to get involved, also. And once we have these Conferences,
Demonstrations, and Rallies down to a science, I would like to see AN
INTERNATIONAL FUND established for contributions from ALL Nations that grew
wealthy from the free labor of Blacks out of Africa.
Make no bones about it, the
“Millions for Reparations Rally” was a huge success!
We must build a UNITED FRONT
in fighting for Reparations. And
the sooner the better! Make every
gathering a success! It’s our input
and our great NEED for Reparations that will bring this DEBT to fruition. If Brothers and Sisters are desirous of
putting on a REPARATIONS RALLY and seek assistance as to how to go about setting
one up, then we should make it our business to help them in every way
possible. Bottom line, this is a
BLACK TOGETHERNESS THANG!
Many thanks to everyone responsible for making the August 17th “Millions for Reparations Rally” possible!
Tziona Yisrael, Editor
REPARATIONS NOW IN OUR LIFETIME Newsletter
www.thelawkeepers.org
(Click on “Repnow”)
*********
PLEASE
CONTACT YOUR CONGRESSMEN AND SENATORS
(As soon as they return
from their summer vacations in about a month from now.)
Viola Plummer, Conrad Worrill, Representative John Conyers, ((D) out of Michigan), Bob Law, Ken Bridges, and many others who attended and spoke at the August 17th “Millions for Reparations Rally” all encourage us to write to our Congressmen and Senators to let them know that we mean business - if they want our vote then they should know to support H.R. 40 which is a STUDY of the legacy of Slavery and the feasibility of Reparations. Therefore, suggested letter to these government officials follows:
SUGGESTED LETTER TO OUR GOVERNMENT
OFFICIALS
REQUESTING THEM TO SUPPORT
CONYERS’ BILL H.R. 40
Date
Your
Address
City, State Zip
Your Telephone
Number
Name of Your Government
Official
Address
City, State
Zip
Dear Representative (or
Senator, whatever the case may be):
Please be advised that I am
involved in the Reparations Movement for the benefit of Descendants of Slaves,
and accordingly I am seeking your help to correct an historical injustice of an
untold magnitude that effects Blacks in all facets of life in these United
States.
I am requesting that you be
so kind as to support Rep. John Conyers Bill H.R. 40. Please know that this Bill is only a STUDY of the
legacy of Slavery and the feasibility of Reparations.
Your help in this regard
could very well be a first step in enabling Descendants of Slaves to heal from
the horrors of our past, as well as from the many injustices, race hatred, and
discrimination we now endure.
Your speedy efforts to
support H.R. 40 would be most appreciated.
And if I can count on your assistance in this regard, then you can be
sure that you can count on my support in the next
election.
Respectfully,
Your Name
(You can obtain your
government official’s D.C. addresses from the Internet or from “Information” by
dialing 411. If you dial the
Information Operator, ask for the telephone number of the Congressional
Representative of your district, as well as the telephone number of your
Senators for your state.)
*********
REPARATIONS MARCH: A SOBER ASSESSMENT
August 18, 2002
When people said things like, "I'll see you
at the Reparations Rally" -- I laughed it off as impossible, since my experience
from the Million Man March was that finding any one particular person in the
crowd, would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Of course I didn't expect a
replication of the numbers of folks at the Million Man March, but I hoped for at
least a quarter million (250,000) Africans to turn out.
Well, I went to D.C. yesterday and I saw
nearly every friend and comrade whom I knew would be in attendance at the
March.. This is because the crowds were so disappointingly thin. There were
only a few thousand people (top estimates 20,000 -- low estimates 5,000) in
attendance and the hundreds of people whom I personally knew were very visible.
The positive spin on this march was that it was "a beginning." Hopefully so. But
others, self-included, had reasonable fears that such a low turn out could have
more negative impact than not having a march at all, as it would be exploited by
the white media to show there was little support among black people for
reparations
In examining the pros and cons of a March which was
designated "Millions for Reparations" yet turned out perhaps only 10,000 die
hard nationalists rather than the masses of our people (it did not even attract the local masses
from the immediate DC/Baltimore area), we have to examine the role of
leftwing opportunism. This event was
prematurely organized by a small cadre anxious to seize a vanguard position in
the reparations struggle --- and therefore, a vanguard position in the black
struggle since reparations is the key black struggle of the 21st century. (This
is not to negate the serious work that this organization has done in Durban and
on other local, national and international issues; it is merely to say that a
serious and avoidable mistake is a mistake, and in fact, a major strategic
error, and that no group is above criticism).
After the March was first announced some months ago, another more established reparations organization reluctantly joined in to give an outward show of solidarity to the masses. But behind the scenes there was much animosity and infighting between organizations, as they each struggled for hegemony over the movement, or the vanguard position in the movement.
A Friday evening pre-March rally in DC --which actually amounted to a counter-rally -- featured ketnote speakers Minister Louis Farrakhan, Maulana Karenga, Prof. Charles Ogletree of Harvard (Randall Robinson's ally), as an effort by one reparations organization to re-assert its centrality and leadership in the struggle and take it back from the usurping organization. Yet these speakers should have been at the Saturday rally (but only one was there: Farrakhan).
This march could have been successful if it had not been called prematurely, and if it had had the broad support of many groups, rather than being the work of one or two small organizations seeking the limelight, and another larger organization seeking to undermine the limelight-seekers. A march like this, needed at least two years preparation, building momentum from city to city with smaller pre-March rallies, in the same fashion that the NOI built up support from city to city for The Million Man March.
We are still unfortunately in a stage of
development, where this movement is fractured due to the rivalries, jealousies
and egos of various political players and their organizations.
Can we afford this sort of petty rivalry and jealousy when our LIBERATION is at stake???? Are we gonna repeat the same mistakes of the sixties and seventies which allowed COINTELPRO agent provacateurs to exploit inter-organizational and intra-organizational rivalries and thereby derail and destroy our movement?
Wake Up, Black people, Wake Up!
Submitted by wewinnin@juno.com
***
THE REPARATIONS MARCH: A SOBER ASSESSMENT
August 19, 2002
Dear, "Correct-To-A-T" Brother Statesman!
Fear NOT! Although you are ABSOLUTELY correct about the Reparations Demo on Saturday, we must be glad that ANY effort is made...we also recognize that self-aggrandizing motivations are self-defeating in the long run, and we ARE in the struggle for actual SURVIVAL in this racist/colorist-diseased society FOR THE LONG DAMN RUN!
Worry
NOT! We, who have been partially
'behind-the-scenes-Blacktivists,' are fully AWARE of HumanTraits like envy,
fear-of-being-in-the-background and counterproductive jealousy which permeate
ANY human movement - but because those
of us who know WHO "WE" are, will
not be deterred, confounded, dismayed OR derailed by the recognition of such
MINOR, flea-bite, frenetic peregrinations, the attempts of small-minded,
paranoid Blackfolk will NOT tangentialize the movement or determination of
strong minded Blacktivists!
Remember! Yea, though I walk through the Valley of
Racism/Colorism, I will fear no evildoers, for my BlackAncestors' MONUMENTAL SPIRITs are
with me!
And YOUR contribution, by stating the obvious is NOT to be downed....we're fighting not only for reparations, but for FREE SPEECH FOR BLACK FOLK too! (Remember the U.S. Congress denunciation of Brother Khallid Muhammed's speech in Keane, N.J! I certainly will NEVER forget THAT! - They have NEVER denounced David Duke OR Prat Buchanan!)
Hope to see YOU at The International Conference Against RACISM, in Barbados, WI 2nd through 6th October, 2002!
The Struggle Continues!
Your Sister-in-THE-Struggle,
Carol Taylor R.N.
President/Founder:The Institute For "Interracial" Harmony, Inc.
littleblackbook@juno.com
Submitted by TheBlackList
***
THE
REPARATIONS MARCH: A SOBER
ASSESSMENT
August 18, 2002
Dear Scholar Statesman:
I will stay with your positive assessment that at least it is a beginning. Well, actually a second beginning because Dr. Brock had a national Reparations march from Frederick Douglass' home to the National Jewish Holocaust site some 6 or 7 years ago.
But we will
need to work through the issues you present. I feel that it is important to look
at the fundamental human dynamics of these problems in addition to the fact that
we are grappling with some slave mentality. I just don't want us to Black out on
ourselves. Neither Dr. Brock nor The Honourable Silis Muhammad were invited to
this Rally. What could account for such an error as that? These are major,
major players in the Reparations Movement, especially as pertains to
International Law. So, were these the domestic law Black Reparationists at the
Rally? Does it break down like that? At
any rate, we must go forward to a larger more organized gathering as Nurrudin is
calling for and to coordinate that gathering through the people who have been
attempting to organize it over the years.
Thanks for your insights. I think a much overdue statement was made to the world nonetheless via C-Span. That is progress!
Omowale Za
African Reparations Activist
***
THE REPARATIONS MARCH: A SOBER ASSESSMENT
August 18, 2002
I,
believe your assessment is on point, concerning the March. These "leaders" were
well aware of the efforts of others in the field of Reparations, most notably,
The Honorable Silis Muhammad, whom these same people had seen and been within
the United Nations, as Mr. Muhammad pointed the finger at America and her utter
destruction of Black Human Rights.
By
trying to ignore the valid legal argument of Mr. Muhammad in the United Nations,
their stated basis for Reparations trivialized the argument and plight of our
people. It made them appear as scam artists trying to extort a dollar.
The
ending of the March played to that theme, by a rapper chanting "I
want a house on the hill, with a 2002
Cadillac Coupe Deville."
RK
*********
A
FORWARDED MESSAGE FROM AN N’COBRA MEMBER
FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH PT. II
August 18, 2002
To: N'COBRA
These
are my feelings and observations the morning after the August 17
reparations
march and rally.
As I said in my last e-mail N'COBRA's
town hall meeting on Friday evening
would be a great contribution to the
reparations movement. From what I
have been told by Adjoa Aiyetoro, by phone,
it was just that. In fact that
event was the highpoint of the weekend-and in
fact the participants in that
event,
and others, should have been the body to call for the march and
rally, in the
first place, if in fact the call should ever have been
issued.
Somebody please tell me what I read in Rev. Sun Yung Moon's
Washington
Times is untrue. If what I read is true or even close to true
then-
>From where I am
sitting the reparations movement is in a crisis-on the
brink of losing all
credibility. In order to regain
credibility N'COBRA
must take the lead and declare that something larger,
more expansive than
N'COBRA is needed to advance the movement. N'COBRA must
be serious about
building a coalition. We can do this by shifting our focus,
not our
support, our focus away from the lawsuits and towards politics. We
must
engage America politically on the issue of reparations. This has yet to
be
done as far as I can see.
In no
way am I saying N'COBRA should become something else. In fact
N'COBRA needs
to become stronger but we need to be about building something
that is bigger
and broader than we are. Once again I
return to the issue of
H.R. 40. Here is the tool to move and empower the
reparations movement.
(I've been saying this for some time.) Don't get
stuck on the bill itself.
The point
is creating the political power, and the tool through which the
political
power is expressed, to get the bill passed. In this way we can exercise hegemony
over the issue.
> The second element that August 17
exposed is that there needs to be some
organizational structure to this
movement. At the moment it is
totally
anarchistic with everybody going off in different directions filing
this
lawsuit and that lawsuit. There needs to be, it seems to me a
reparations
coordinating council, made up of delegated organizational
representatives,
that actually do the work. People like Johnetta Cole and
Richard America
have no place on such a body. Though I know Johnetta well and
love her
dearly, she sits on the board of Coca Cola and is inaccessible to
the
people. Richard does great research and should be utilized thusly. If such
coordination is developed never
again would a national reparations rally
and march be called in such a
sectarian, politically stupid manner. All
regions of the nation should be
represented on this coordinating council,
that would not need to meet more
than once or twice a year. John Conyers, or someone from his office should chair
this body.
Adjoa informed me that Ajamu suggested
N'COBRA hold a meeting of all the
chapter chairs. This is an excellent idea.
If such a meeting were held
the main points of discussion, it seems to me,
should be the political
development of the reparations movement and how to take this issue to as
wide a
spectrum of black America as possible. Another point would be
the
development of the above discussed co-coordinating council. A third point
could be defining short
term achievable political goals for the movement.
Everybody needs to win
sometimes. An Army that never wins any battles has
no hope of winning the
war.
Finally, N'COBRA needs to distance itself
from the most reactionary, sectarian elements of the Black movement. More than
at any time in the past, the class nature of the African-American community is
most pronounced. The Reparations
Movement needs to develop relationships within and without the Black
community. Those Black elements that would sabotage those goals and needs
are not to be trusted. I am referring, of course, to the New Black Panther
Party. In the Bay Area (San Francisco-Oakland) where the New Black Panther Party
has absolutely no presence, David Hilliard, Fredericka Newton and Erica Huggins
(former Black Panther Party leaders)
have denounced the New Black Panther
Party as being likely agent provocateurs. This is the organization that created
the only incidence of violence during last springs anti-war rally. Using them as
security for the reparations rally was as politically brilliant as the Rolling
Stones hiring the Hell's Angels as security for their Altamont concert.
Obviously N'COBRA didn't ask the NBPP to do security but why would we have
anything to do with anyone who would?
So
where do we go from here? Where we should have been going all along-away
from the NBPP, D-12 etc., toward Black workers, Black Churches, those within the
black community who are already organized and have been so for some time. And
who knows, just maybe, it might be possible someday (in the distant future), to
build an insurrectionary movement within
the NAACP, around the issue of reparations that would turn the whole
organization around.
***
FORWARDED MESSAGE FROM N’COBRA MEMBER
August 19, 2002
To:
All Reparationists
I am Gregory Carey, President of Reparations Central
And I am very proud of the exposure that reparations is getting. All events and activities are precursors to the things to come. In the future we will know exactly what else can better serve the reparations movement but for now, this was an excellent start.
We all know we can criticize or analyze
this historic event that has just taken place, but the beauty of it all is that
it happened and was televised world wide. I say to all of you, THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING OF THINGS TO
COME!
We need a National Congress where delegates
from all over the world can come and strategize and plan for the winning of
reparations. Once we have a couple
of those we will be taken much more seriously by all nations. Once we have a
National Congress we can come to
agreement on everything that we are in disagreement about, mainly what form reparations should take and who
should pay reparations.
Just
remember for me; we didn't get out of slavery on the very first insurrection or
meeting by abolitionists, but we did get out of it. We didn't get out of
segregation when we gave the first march or protest. There had to be further
planning and strategic meetings. So for
now, be positive because this event August 17th did a lot for the reparations
movement.
G. Carey
http://www.reparationscentral.com
[I agree with you completely! T.Y., Editor]
***
A
NATIONAL CONGRESS!
August 19, 2002
To: Reparationists
Here's a challenge to all of you....A NATIONAL CONGRESS!
Let's work
on having one next year in September or October. Let's contact people
that
would be interested in helping to have this Congress, so delegates from
all over the world can come and bring resolutions, analyses, and remedies on the
subject of reparations. That way a National Congress would break up any
negativity or cooptation from just a few that have their own agendas.
G.
*********
MILLIONS FOR REPARATIONS RALLY
August 19, 2002
To: All Reparationist
That rally August 17th was just that, A RALLY.
It was a place where people came together to show some support for the reparations movement, that's all. Now it's time to get serious and to do what we need to organize an InterNational Congress.
- At an InterNational Congress we can establish policy that we can circulate to our political bodies for endorsement,
-We can create and pass resolutions supporting reparations,
-We can figure out in committees exactly how to move the Conyers Bill forward, and
-We can have worldwide participation from reparationists from all corners of the globe present their issues about reparations.
It will cost millions of dollars to launch an InterNational Congress but it is necessary, so we can get down to business.
The rally in Washington, D.C. was not a place where they wanted to get down to business. Nor was the town hall meeting set up for that. This issue of reparations deals with Afrikan people from all over the world, and we must make the Congress one that will include our people from all over the world.
If you are serious about reparations then you need to talk about convening an InterNational Congress. I don't care to talk about the rally because it served its purpose.
Now it's time to get real! Even the first InterNational Congress might not go off without errors, but at least it will deal with the political, economic, social, and cultural aspects of reparations. And it will be represented by people from every organization that deals with reparations and people from all walks of life.
G. Carey
[If there is anything positive to be said about the White “Jews,” it is that they can organize effectively, politically and socially, to meet every single one of their objectives!!! And with our intellect, if we just work together, we will be just as successful. No, we don’t have the money, but there are many Black celebrities that do! They must see that we are serious, and then we will see all the fruits of our labors. T.Y., Editor]
***
INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON REPARATIONS
Count Reparations Central in on the planning for a worldwide congress on reparations. I will have to attend your meeting through conference calling, and I would like to suggest you set up a way that all out of country, town, or state people can join the discussion via teleconferencing or web conferencing.
THE FOLLOWING IS AN EMAIL I JUST SENT
REGARDING WHY AN INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON REPARATIONS IS NEEDED: Can you think of anything else that I might
have left out?
Whereas I think that the upcoming conference will serve some specific purpose it does not come close to what I am talking about. In the past we had Pan African Congress' led by such notables as George Padmore, W.E.B. DuBois, Kwame Nkruhmah and others. They were designed to deal directly and specifically with the Negro, as we were called then.
The Congress that I am talking about will deal only with the worldwide issue of reparations. The only way that you solve any problem is to bring together your educated elite and let them criticize, analyze, and theorize the problem. Then have them make suggestions for solving them. This InterNational Congress on Reparations will firstly bring all the reparations organizations together from all parts of the world so we can understand the international aspect of this movement.
Secondly, this Congress will bring resolutions from the common people from all parts of the world that they think are important to the movement.
Thirdly, this Congress will have information sessions, seminars, lectures on every aspect of reparations that is needed for a clear understanding.
Fourthly, this Congress will start the process of unifying the movement.
And fifthly, policy, resolutions, and a clear set of remedies will start to formulate from it. We have to stop playing games and get serious about getting reparations and the only way to do that is to come together....
G. Carey,
President
Reparations Central
*********
NEED FOR A NATIONAL REPARATIONS ASSEMBLY
August 18, 2002
Within six months of this high energy
mobilization march and rally, we must assemble somewhere to have a serious
national grassroots conference, parliament, assembly or congress (or the first
of a series of such conferences, parliaments, assemblies, or congresses) where
we plan our strategy and our destiny.
At this First National Assembly, First National Congress, First National Parliament --whatever we choose to call it -- we need delegates from all of the major cities and regions were our people are concentrated. Usually national black conferences are dominated by high profile organizations and high profile charismatic leaders. Without excluding the high profile organizations and leaders, this needs to be a conference of grassroots organizers representing the rank and file of our black nation. This congress needs to reflect collective leadership.
There needs to be a national call for position papers, before this congress actually meets. These position papers should lay out how reparations should be implemented and should deal with issues such as how much money is owed to us; how it should be dispersed (my own view is that they should pay us annual installments for the next 100 years); whether it should be allocated to individuals or to communities; if allocated to communities, what the major projects should be (building universities, public elementary and secondary schools, hospitals, our own radio and tv netwooks, our own publishing houses, our own factories, by our own farmlands), etc.
We need to get serious about this and approach the issue of reparations payments as a self-governing people. . . .We need to see this struggle as wrestling a payment from the United States such that we can become as sovereign and independent as possible.
Black people, this reparations payment is supposed to be the money that finances the institutions which become the foundation of our own nation-state. We shouldn't be begging for this as their head-scratching, "yes-suh boss" second-class citizens looking for a hand-out, we should be demanding this. In short this is payment from one government to another for war crimes. That's why we need to self-organize into a National Congress. . . a black government of our best and brightest revolutionary minds. We need to create 5, 10, 25 and 50 year growth and development plans. Once we have decided upon a plan that is national in scope, then the black National Assembly needs to issue our demands to the white government.
Reparations Now! One God,
One Aim, One Destiny! It's Nation Time!
Peace
and Blessings,
Brother Yusuf
YusufNuruddin2@aol.com
Submitted by TheBlackList@topica.com
[It
would be better for Blacks to determine how REPARATIONS should be spent than to
wait for Descendants of the Slave Masters to do it for us. Therefore, any National Assembly,
National Congress, or whatever it might be called is, of course, definitely
necessary for disbursement of Reparations monies. And we would be remiss and irresponsible
NOT to include the
grassroots. T.Y., Editor]
*********
A
REPARATIONS WEBSITE
August 16, 2002
I sent a suggestion to TheBlackList recently about the need for a National Assembly, which would be preceded by a call for position papers and policy papers. I think that a lot of people have various ideas and formulations about how reparations should be implemented.
I myself have a position paper with footnotes, “Promises and Pitfalls of Reparations," which is too large to post in its entirety. I have tried to send it to TheBlackList as a file attachment and it bounced back to me as undeliverable. I do thank the person who posted the entire text minus the extensive footnotes. Is there a website, or can some of you brilliant young brothers and sisters create a website, which would be solely for the purpose of posting position papers and policy papers on reparations?
In fact those of us who are at universities, should do a call for papers and put together symposiums, so that we get the best and brightest formulations from all over the country, as well as from all over the world, since reparations is a global issue. But a website for posting position and policy papers is crucial and while I don't have the skills to set up a website, I know that several of you out there do have the skills and I hope that someone will take up the challenge.
Perhaps this website is already accomplished. A brother whose email is greg@carey.net informed me about a website named Reparations Central. Below is an excerpt from his email. I am not sure if the website is up and operating or under construction. I will send a copy of this email to him to solicit his response.
From greg@carey.net: On Reparations Central...One of the main objectives of this organization is to unify the reparations movement. We plan to have everyone working on reparations place a link on the website, so people can support them or at least know what they are or are not about. We also plan to put all reparations information on this website from all sources so we can be a major database so reparationist can see what other reparationists are doing. It's mandatory to have a central database to work from. Our goal is to have everyone use this database to do scholarly research so we can solve the issue at hand.
Submitted
by Yusuf Nuruddin <YusufNuruddin2@aol.com>
TheBlackList Discussion Forum -
http://themarcusgarveybbs.community.everyone.net/
[The
Greg Carey’s Reparations Central is
up an running, and his E-mail address and WebSite are as follows: greg@carey.net
http://www.reparationscentral.com]
*********
RALLYING
‘ROUND REPARATIONS
August 17, 2002
WASHINGTON - “They owe us. I want justice. They built this country off the free labor of our ancestors” Antoinette Harrell-Miller, at the rally
(CBS) A few thousand black demonstrators rallied on the Mall in Washington on Saturday to demand that the federal government pay blacks reparations for slavery and decades of discrimination.
"I want
to go up to the closest white person and say, 'You can't understand this, it's a
black thing,' and then slap him, just for my mental health," Charles Barron, a
member of the New York City Council, told the crowd.
The demonstrators, numbering about 2,000 to
3,000, came from all parts of the United States, many traveling by bus from as
far away as Texas.
With the
U.S. Capitol in the background, they chanted "Black power! Reparations!" and "Start the
Revolution!"
"Apologize White
America," said a sign carried by one demonstrator.
Barron,
a self-proclaimed "elected revolutionary," said if the government did not act
swiftly he personally would storm the Treasury Department and take the money for
reparations.
Nation of Islam
leader Louis Farrakhan told the crowd, "America owes the black people a lot for
what they've endured. We cannot settle for some little jive token. We need
millions of acres of land that black people can build.”
“We're
not begging white people,” said Farrakhan, one of several speakers at a rally
organizers billed as “Millions for Reparations.” “We are just demanding what is justly
ours.”
While Farrakhan and
Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., attended, many major names in the black civil rights
movement were absent, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al
Sharpton.
“The people on the ground are the ones we
want to give exposure to,” said one speaker, Hannibal Afrik, 68, of Port Gibson,
Miss. “If it's grounded in the people, it will be victorious.”
Conyers, who for 13 years has been
proposing a commission to study the institution of slavery, urged the crowd to
pressure Congress.
“Only the Congress can do what we want
done,” Conyers said. Lawmakers are now on their summer break until
September.
The reparations movement has gained
momentum in the past year.
Earlier
this year, a group of slave descendants sued three companies, claiming the
companies - or their corporate predecessors - unjustly profited from slavery.
The Reparations Coordinating Committee, which includes many prominent
attorneys and scholars, is working on a separate lawsuit against the federal
government.
Those at the rally said it
was time for action.
“They owe us. I want justice,” said
Antoinette Harrell-Miller, who drove 19 hours from New Orleans with her husband
Dennis to attend. “They built this country off the free labor of our ancestors.”
Jaki Mungai of Philadelphia called the
rally “a dream that's starting to come true.”
“Every other group has been compensated for
the wrongs done against them. Africans in America - we are the only ones who
haven't,” said Mungai, who heard about the rally on the radio and decided to
join in.
Ken McDouall of Durham,
N.C., one of a handful of whites at the rally, said the reparations issue “cuts
to the core of the history of injustice of America.”
“America likes to pretend there are equal
rights for everyone but look at the history of black people,” McDouall said.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/04/13/national/main506099.shtml
By Antoinette Harrell-Miller, at the rally
CBS Worldwide
Inc.
Submitted by ALARKAM@webtv.net
*********
ORDER YOUR REPARATIONS RIBBON-PINS TODAY!
The Reparations
Ribbon is now Available!
From: Reparations Mobilization Coalition
The ribbon-pin has been a very popular
item! It is a small plastic lapel pin shaped in the form of a red, black and
green ribbon. The Reparations
Ribbon is appropriate for any style of clothing that a Sister or Brother would
wear.
If organizations and individuals need 100 or more pins, please allow 3-5 weeks delivery time due to the fact that we have to re-order an even larger quantity. Now, that's a great "problem" to have!
They
go for a donation of at least $1.00. Include 75 cents for every 10 ribbons
ordered for shipping and handling.
All
organizations and individuals interested in bulk quantities as well as any
correspondence, please email the Reparations Mobilization Coalition at: <reparationsnow@tbwt.com>
Please make checks payable to: "Brecht Forum/Reparations" and send to:
Reparations Mobilization
Coalition
122 W. 27 Street 10th Floor
New York, New York 10001
All proceeds go towards the Coalition's Reparations Update! Newsletter and its grassroots educational/mobilization work.
Thank you to all who have responded so positively
Reparations
Mobilization Coalition
<reparationsnow@tbwt.com>
Visit:
www.murchisoncenter.org/joshua/reparations
*********
HUNDREDS
OF BLACKS RALLY IN WASHINGTON D.C.
FOR SLAVE
REPARATIONS
SAYING
COMPENSATION OVERDUE
The Associated Press
August 17, 2002
W A S H I N G T O N — Hundreds of blacks rallied in front of the Capitol on Saturday to demand slavery reparations, saying that compensation is long overdue for the ills of that institution.
On the Net:
Millions for Reparations:
http://www.millionsforreparations.com
Submitted by The BlackList
*********
CASH ALONE CAN NEVER RIGHT SLAVERY’S WRONGS
August 18, 2002
Page C01
At the Millions for Reparations rally on
the mall yesterday, a group of supporters began a spirited call-and-response
that quickly spread through the crowd.
"What do we
want?"
"Reparations."
"When do we want
it?"
"Now."
Although nobody that I spoke to believed for a second that they'd ever see a dime in restitution for slavery, the chanting continued at a fevered pitch. And the cause, as it turned out, was not just money.
"We have, emerging in America, millions of black people who understand that there has been some long-term harm done by the evil practice of slavery," said Conrad Worrill, chairman of the National Black United Front in Calumet Park, Ill., and one of the organizers of the rally. "As more people get involved, we hope to have deeper discussions about the impact of slavery and try to develop a consensus on what kind of reparations would be appropriate."
In other words, the reparations they want now is the educating of America about slavery, which would at least facilitate some conversation about that "peculiar institution." Not that getting people to take a hard look at the massive subjugation, dehumanization and genocide that occurred on American soil would be any easier than winning financial redress.
In his 1998 book, "Rituals of Blood," Harvard sociologist Orlando Patterson argues that the most serious problems affecting African Americans today are rooted in 2 1/2 centuries of slavery and its aftermath, the neoslavery of Jim Crow.
In making his case, however, Patterson bucks a disturbing trend.
"I go against the prevailing revisionist view that slavery had little or nothing to do with present gender and familial problems," he writes. "This revisionist denial, I insist, is not just an academic absurdity. It is an intellectual disgrace, the single greatest disservice that the American historical profession has ever done to those who turn to it for guidance about the past and the etiology of present problems."
This
perverse yet widespread notion that slavery was largely benign is, as Patterson
asserts, "worse than the more than two
centuries of racist historiography that preceded it."
No wonder, then, with much of academia in denial about the consequences of slavery and many Americans so uninformed as well, opinion polls routinely show 80 percent of whites opposing reparations of any sort.
The highest levels of government are not immune, either.
In every legislative session since 1989, for instance, Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) has introduced a bill that would establish a commission to study slavery and its lingering effects on African Americans. But the legislation, known as the Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act, has never even been debated.
Says Worrill, "The fact that this country, founded on the ideals of freedom, could spend centuries importing and breeding human beings as chattel, set them 'free' and then say, 'forget about it,' is not only unforgettable, it's unforgivable."
A recent Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that when whites were asked if they agreed with the statement "White Americans have benefited from past and present discrimination against African Americans, so they should be willing to make up for these wrongs," 58 percent said no.
Blacks, on the other hand, are less inclined to dismiss slavery as something that they ought to just "get over."
A poll of Alabamians taken in June, for
instance, showed that 67 percent of blacks favor the federal government paying
reparations to slave descendants. In Illinois, a poll taken in May 2001 found
that 66 percent of blacks favor reparation payments. But their actual numbers
are minuscule compared with the 85 percent of whites in the state who disagreed.
Supporters on the Mall were not fazed by the magnitude of the opposition.
"There have always been majorities in this country who said never -- never to freedom, never to civil rights," said Uzikee Nelson, a sculptor who lives in Washington. "Regardless of what others think, we are the ones who have to keep on kicking about reparations."
The Washington Post Company
"In his 1998 book 'Rituals Of Blood,' Harvard sociologist Orlando Patterson argues that the most serious problems affecting African-Americans today are rooted in two-and-a-half centuries of slavery and its aftermath, the neo-slavery of Jim Crow."
By Courtland Milloy
Submitted by ALARKAM@webtv.net
*********
ANTI-REPARATIONS PANEL
August
18, 2002
The Anti Reparations Panel sponsored by the
conservative "think tank" The Heritage Foundation, broadcast over CSPAN, proved,
the Honorable Silis Muhammad' International argument that, the essence of Black
people has been destroyed by our enslavement.
To witness, Gregory Kane, supposedly a
writer and a scholar, and a finalist for the Pulitizer Prize state that "he is
not affected by the lingering effects of slavery," when he does not even realize
that he does not even know his true name, is indeed pathetic.
To hear Jay Parker, of the Abraham Lincoln
Institute refer to black people as "those people", as if we don't have the same
common plight is indicative of the identity theft and destruction wreaked upon
our people by the slave masters and sanctioned by the U.S. government.
Linda Chavez, is also a victim of self
hate, though she is Mexican. She rose to fame by opposing bilingual education
for her own people.
This panel was a prime example of the human
rights violations perpetrated against Black people, that have been so aptly
pointed out to the United Nations by the Honorable Silis Muhammad.
RK
rkarriem@webtv.net
Submitted by TheBlackList@topica.com
*********
FARRAKAN STEPS INTO THE BLACK REPARATIONS LIMELIGHT
August
17, 2002
Today The Honourable Louis Farrakan, head
of The Nation of Islam, stepped forward into the global African Reparations
Movement at the Millions for Reparations March in Washington, D.C.
Today, August 17th, is also the 115th birthday celebration of Marcus Garvey, founder of the United Negro Improvement Association, and founder of The Black Star Shipping Line that actually traded with Africa.
Farrakan acknowledged that it was the organizational genius of Marcus Garvey that first effectively made the connection to Africa in our ongoing struggle for freedom here in the Western Hemisphere. It is clear that The Nation of Islam has had a pro-Reparations policy under Farrakan. That was inherited from The Honourable Elijah Muhammad who advocated a separate Black Nation within the Nation. This, of course, would require the acquisition of land from the U.S., which Farrakan demanded today.
Following his break with The Nation of
Islam, Malcolm X was the first to actually speak before the United Nations for
Reparations on behalf of Africans in America. But until today, Farrakan had not
clearly stepped forward in active support
of African Reparations. This is a key point of progress for the
Movement due to Farrakan's national and international profile as a Black
leader.
Of equal note is that it is the Reparations work of yet another Black Muslim leader, The Honourable Silis Muhammad of The Lost Found Nation of Islam, who has placed African Reparations firmly into International Law with his activism in the United Nations since 1994.
Now that Farrakan is more actively on board the Movement, perhaps more Africans of notoriety, such as Oprah Winfrey, will come on around. We are now at an historical juncture where it is time to come out.
On yet another note, we are aware that we have two slave masters; i.e. the White or Red Arabs and the Europeans. What has been frustrating about Farrakan's international profile is his opposition to U.S. and/or Western sanctions against Arab Nations such as Libya and Iraq and his silence on African Reparations. Today he added African Reparations while restating his opposition to Arab sanctions and the looming war against Saddam Hussein. Farrakan exclaimed that Hussein has never called us the "n" word. But Hussein is most likely using a different word that means the same thing, like maybe kaffir. Farrakan's flirtation with the Arabs all has to do with some Arab international sources of Farrakan's financial base. The Honourable Elijah Muhammad also received funds from the Arabs but seemed to be clearer on his loyalties, a point of maturation Farrakan may now be approaching.
Omowale
Za
African Reparations Activist
Wewinnin@juno.com
Submitted by TheBlackList@topica.com
*********
DESCENDANTS OF SLAVES RALLY FOR REPARATIONS
August 18, 2002
Raising red, black and green flags and clenched fists, thousands of African American activists descended on the Mall yesterday, demanding reparations from the U.S. government for centuries of slavery and racism against black people.
Young and old traveled from nearly every
corner of the country, but the assembly for Millions for Reparations was modest
by Washington standards, as the rally filled a small swath of the grassy expanse
near the U.S. Capitol.
But organizers called it an important
moment for a largely grass-roots movement that has gained momentum over the last
several years, with prominent lawyers and professors now calling for
compensation to the descendants of slaves for free labor and decades of Jim Crow
laws that they say are responsible for the economic and social ills in the black
community today.
"This is the first time there has been a
mass rally demanding reparations from the United States government," Conrad
Worrill, chairman of the National Black United Front, told a spirited crowd.
His group, which escorted dozens of Chicago residents on a 12-hour bus ride, was
one of the chief organizers of the rally.
"They owe us!" Worrill
added.
Throughout the afternoon, speakers from
across the country spoke about the need for uniting the African American
community behind the single banner of compensation and the need for lobbying
lawmakers and others who have long been skeptical about the merits of
reparations. Others spoke of the continued disparities in their
neighborhoods and how reparations were needed to spark a new beginning for many
communities of slave descendants.
With the U.S. Capitol as his
backdrop, Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), who has introduced legislation in
Congress for 13 years to create a commission to study reparations, urged people
to contact their congressional representatives as soon as they arrived
home.
"We will get [reparations]
by contacting every single member of the House of Representatives, every single
member of the Senate," he said, adding that blacks have been dealt a "historical
injustice that can only be corrected" in Congress.
His
challenge drew a wave of cheers from the chanting, sometimes swaying crowd of
thousands that assembled at Third and Constitution from late morning to early
evening. Before the line of speakers
came to the platform, groups spread across the Mall, arguing how reparations
should be administered. There seemed to be a soapbox every few feet.
"We built this country from the ground up,"
Willie Francona, who came from Philadelphia with his two daughters and son, said
to those at his table filled with pamphlets and books. Pointing to the U.S.
Capitol, he added: "That was our labor. And not a dime was given to any of the
ancestors who sweat."
Such
comments resonated throughout the hot summer day, and nearly half the crowd took
to the shade along the edges of the Mall rather than brave the heat in front of
the stage.
Many lay out on kente cloth and African print blankets and
lawn chairs.
Manotti Jenkins of Chicago heard about the
march on the Internet and flew to Washington with his wife and two daughters,
ages 6 years and 6 months.
"Regardless of how much money I make as a
corporate attorney, the impact of slavery is still here," he said. "We don't
have the dignity and the respect we deserve as humans."
The rally got
its most energetic jolt just before 2 p.m. when Minister Louis Farrakhan, head
of the Nation of Islam, gave a short speech on the need to use the money
responsibly, if reparations are ever approved.
"We
cannot settle for some little jive token," he told the crowd. "We need millions
of acres of land that black people can build."
Although police and rally organizers gave
no official estimates, some acknowledged that the turnout was low compared with
other events on the Mall. But supporters said the reparations movement was
gaining. They cited lawsuits filed
in federal courts in New York and New Jersey against companies that allegedly
profited from the slave trade and a lawsuit planned against the federal
government. Some civil rights organizations have yet to take a formal position
on reparations, but the NAACP has called for a federal study on the
issue.
"A fire has been started here today by a
grass-roots movement, and that's the real victory of today," said Benjamin
Chavis Muhammad, a leader in the Nation of Islam and a former head of the
NAACP.
Critics
of reparations contend that payments, whether to individuals or institutions,
would present a logistical nightmare, and they question who should pay the money
and who should receive it.
"I think it's bad politics and that the
African American community would be better served trying to reach out to other
groups," Glenn Loury, a Boston University sociology professor and critic of the
reparations movement, said in an interview.
Some passersby also were skeptical. "The
biggest problem, for example, is recent immigrants from, say, the Philippines,"
said Guy Tillinghast, 44, a doctor from Abingdon, Va. "Should their tax dollars
go to pay for something 150 years before they came to this country?"
Many who
attended the rally said they are passionate about the movement but realistic
about its chances. "My
great-great-grandmother was a slave in Florida, but I don't expect we're going
to get any cash," said Suzanne Andersen, 51, a nurse from West Hempstead, N.Y.
"What we need now is a foothold. We're still at the bottom. We've got millions
of people in the prison system, and they all look like me."
For
those who have fought for reparations for years, the day symbolized a movement
coming of age. Ray Jenkins, a Detroit
activist known as Reparations Ray, embraced the cause in the 1960s and has since
been hailed as a pioneer of the reparations movement.
"They laughed at me when I
talked about reparations all those years ago," he said after appearing on stage
with Conyers. "But people aren't laughing anymore."
To view the entire article, go
to
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31363-2002Aug17.html
By
Chris L. Jenkins and Hamil R. Harris
Staff writer Ian Shapira contributed to
this report.
Submitted by TheBlackList@topica.com
***
According to
this article, Representative John Conyers told the rally that "Blacks have been
dealt an historic injustice which can only be corrected in (the U.S.) Congress."
However, the Congress is the legislative branch of white America's government
which, along with the executive and judicial branches, has violated our human
rights for
centuries by imposing ethnocide and forced assimilation against
all Afro-Descendants. The major defect
of his rally was its failure to explain to the participants the significance of
the international legal battle for Reparations which has been spear-headed
inside the United Nations for years by the Honorable Silis Muhammad.
Minister
Malik Al-Arkam
***
DESCENDANTS OF SLAVES RALLY
FOR REPARATIONS -
U.S., U.N., AFRIKA, AND
GLOBALLY!
August 18, 2002
Let’s
accept that some of us are not Global in perspective nor Universal in Principle!
Some of us see no connection between Johannesburg and Pittsburgh, let alone the
Caribbean and the Cameroons or Botswana and Brazil! So if some of us are still
stuck in the glory days of Brown vs Topeka, historical legacy and cannot see how
useful was for Liberia and Ethiopia to take the Namibia nationalist question to
the UN in the
1960's! Namibia was a legal mandated territory as fifth
province by League of Nations in 1918 to ruled by South Africa European
settler-colonialist.
The lesson is here those who believe they can sue the US within the confines of white supremacist legalism are free to do that! And those who think they can support internal legalism and extend the legal-political moral and financial battles into the Global arena such as the United Nations Agencies including World Court and other public and private international instruments should and do so.
We need not KNOW and DO everything all at once. But lets honor and respect those who are seeking justice through historical facts and not rhetorical metaphysical obsifications rampant in the USA today in the name of RELIGION!
Each can have a path to the same goal. We need operational unity in diversity of ACTION locally, statewide, nationally and Pan-Africanist Globally!
By
azaniaheritageintl@yahoo.com
[That’s what
I’m talkin’ ‘bout! T.Y.,
Editor]
***
DESCENDANTS OF SLAVES RALLY
FOR REPARATIONS -
U.S., U.N., AFRIKA, AND GLOBALLY!
August
18, 2002
I believe I can feel what both speakers are
saying on this issue. I agree that our African Reparations Movement will take
diverse forms from the local to the international and perhaps all of these forms
can play a useful part if properly coordinated; not as just random events.
However, I also think that at some point we must be clear about the law, I mean REAL LAW. For instance, some spokespersons for Reparations at the August 17th rally on C-Span were clear that we were not freed in 1865 and others either were not clear on that point or did not take the time to clarify the point in rallying the energy (which is not easy at all) to get a point across. The point here is that we need to stop propagating stuff that simply is not true.
What Malik is addressing is the fact that
our REAL rights are in International Law, not in U.S. Congressional Law or the
U.S. Constitution. This statement of fact does not have to amount to a
personal statement against Congressman Conyers, who is doing the best he can do.
But at the same time, Conyer's statement
about Bush's being the loser and the winner having to go back to practicing law
really deals with somebody else's issues, especially the notion that "we" have
got to get a democratic president back into The White House before we can win
Reparations.
Winning Reparations depends upon what WE do, not whether there is a Republican or Democratic President in office. If we can make that mental adjustment we can go on forward and ahead with this rather than waiting on yet something else to occur.
We are beginning to do what is necessary, i.e. making an effective DEMAND for Reparations. The rally was about African Reparations. Maybe Conyers needed to say what he said about Bush for his own personal balance, and I'm happy for that, but otherwise he was confusing issues. No doubt that writing "your" Congressman will be a needed level of getting involved for some slave descendants who haven't been doing anything for the Reparations Movement. But the fact is that, as Conyers clearly stated, this is a global Movement.
It is unfortunate that Conyers was not able to expound on the International Law aspects of the Movement above and beyond H.R. 40 and the ongoing background of that work by The Honourable Silis Muhammad and others. He is clearly aware of the bigger picture.
Omowale
Za
African Reparations Activist
Wewinnin@juno.com
Submitted by TheBlackList@topica.com
[Representative Conyers might be a strong fighter for Reparations, but he is also a politician, and he wants the Democratic Party to win in the next election. We can’t forget that Clinton was in office for eight years and did absolutely nothing for our acquiring Reparations, even in light of Rep. Conyers and other Black Congressmen doing everything they could to support that idiot and save him from being removed from office. And if Clinton did nothing during his eight years in office, what makes anyone think that some other Democratic President will do otherwise?
You must realize that we are not “FREE” until this country gives us Reparations AND our “FREEDOM” to either return to the shores of Africa or to a friendly country. We must be given “OUR” opportunity to pursue genuine happiness. If we do not leave the lands of our Captors, we will never, ever experience Self Determination. Descendants of Slaves, I am sorry to say, are under the control of White Folks whether we accept this fact or not, and we won’t be happy until all that this entails changes! T.Y., Editor]
*********
DESCENDANTS OF SLAVES RALLY
FOR
REPARATIONS
August 18, 2002
SADA Africans must do their own repairs.
Yesterday, Saturday 17, 2002,
should go down as the day Africans were led to
believe that we are organized.
I tried to find out the real organizers of
the reparations march, maybe I
talked to the wrong people. What is the co
foundation? We were told to give money to assist in the massive amount spent to
erect the stage and other instruments used. Checks were to be made payable to co
or ko foundation.
I gave
$20. I just wanted to know why such a work can be done by groups that
do not
show their identity. Well I was there
and it was nice and good to
meet folks who are ready for work. SADA is
convinced that we have work to
do. Of all the people whom I contacted to find
out the real people behind
the program, no body could give an answer. Whoever organized the system did a
good
job.
I have also realized we have to organize
ourselves to do something for ourselves instead of going to a place where the
organizers do not show up or no article on them in the post. Did you read
about the organizers? Let us know. No white man will repair us. We are so messed
us that we do not even know we belong to one race. We are human beings and not Africans.
How can we repair ourselves the enormous damage that has been done to our right
brains. How do we go about the issue of our oneness.
We all accept one
fact, and that is, we are damaged, and those who caused the damage are so
indifferent to our suffering and our interest that they clearly show that they
have serious interest in our suffering and will continue to perpetuate it rather
than assist us to repair the damage. How
come we call for reparation.
SADA any
African who doubts that reparation is due us is not correct or
he/she is
benefiting from something none of us is benefiting. The reparation
is the
right of the Africans. It is a right which can only be conferred by
the
Europeans. When the Europeans confer such a right to the Africans. SADA does not see its way clear on
this.
When you look at the people who have
received reparations, you will note that
they have formal organizations
backing them up. Look at us and you will weep. Even in USA where Africans have
received the European education since the days of Frederick Douglass, the
Africans have not been able to mobilize themselves to create a social
interest. Therefore SADA does not see how disorganized people such as us can
mobilize ourselves to reach such a massive goal attainable by organized
society.
Reparation is a clarion call for Africans
to come together to achieve a goal.
Our goal is not necessarily to achieve
reparation, our main goal is to pull together our disjointed body of individual
people who have as different agenda as our masters' goals. Each African has
his/her own way of going through this life and hence we all should agree that
William Lynch has made his point.
SADA
therefore says the pushers of reparation are either opportunists
or
subverters of Africans because, how can disorganized people get
anything.
After 62 years of life, I
am convinced that those who advocate such ideas do so because they are keeping
the chattel slaves busy and getting their pay from the system. How about
those who advocate revival of the Black Panther Party.
How
about them? Are these agents of the system also? But how can anybody in
his or her right
thinking keep on pushing a program which has brought so
much calamities to
the African families. All the good
works of the Panthers were buried and all the dirty works were brought
up.
Did you know the Panthers had school
programs? Did you know they had clothing programs for the young? How about their
feeding programs and story
telling programs? These are what our children
need. Stories about the
African people in USA told by men and women who had
feelings for the youth.
All of a sudden, the image of the Black
Panther Party changed to drug users,
pushers, killers and what not. Don't
you thing someone in the FBI AND CIA
AND KGB, AND CID AND MOSAT AND what not
introduced the Panthers to all the
negatives that became a nightmare of the
Africans in our upward journey towards Africa? How about the reparation movement?
Don't
you think some of our brothers and sisters who are getting paid are
pushing
us to join them because they benefit and furthermore, they it is
their duty
to keep the chattel slaves busy by dangling before the greedy the
billions of
dollars to be gotten from the so called "reparation"?
Do you really think that our masters will repair the damage done? What damage? Ask Obasanjo and he will say there has never been a damage done to us as a people?
By
KAfrica33@aol.com
Submitted by TheBlackList@topica.com
*********
A
REPARATIONS – YES
ANNOUNCEMENT!
NOW IS THE
TIME TO UNIFY
OUR
MINDS..OUR HEARTS
&
OUR
SOULS
COMMUNITY by
COMMUNITY
CHURCH by
CHURCH
BUSINESS by
BUSINESS
ORGANIZATION
by ORGANIZATION
CITY by
CITY, STATE by STATE
AND
YES
COMPUTER by
COMPUTER!
TO PROMOTE
GENDER UNIFICATION and TO PRODUCE AN UNWAVERING
MOBILIZED
LINK OF HUMAN
CONCERN,
ACTION, POWER and RECOURSE
To Disable
the MANY Social, Economic, Moral and Political,
confrontational
adversities effecting our entire earthly existence.
Therefore:
MARK YOUR
CALENDAR TODAY!
As of
January 1, 2002 you will be able to log onto the web site:
>>>>>>4thepeople.com<<<<<<
To register
to receive your
“I'm For
Reparations” Membership Card
This card is
only the beginning in our efforts to create a sense of
"Real
Unity"
in our
struggle for reparations because it shall also represent our collective
involvement to work to combat any and all other
issues,
that we face
as a race of people!
Please
Note:
After
January 1, 2002, be sure to check the web site on a regular
basis
because it
will also provide you with updates on all the special
offerings
that you
will be entitled too, once you have activated your membership
card.
Message
Sponsored by:
UIMSC
Unity
International Multi-Service Corporation
Home of
the
REPARATIONS-YES
MOVEMENT!
Host of the
2003 Million Dollar March for Reparations
The
International Petition for Reparations
&
>>>>>>4thepeople.
Com<<<<<<
The Web site
is dedicated to serving and being of service to the
people!
Submitted by
MzWayMaker@AOL.COM
*********
The Reparations Movement’s
goals are as follows:
- Obtain Reparations from all countries
that prospered from Black Slave Labor
- Schedule Conferences, Marches, and
Protests until the White Society
apologizes and compensates
Descendants of the Slave Trade
- Speak at the United Nations on
Reparations for Survivors of the Slave Trade in
order
to gain International Support from
all or most countries
- Demonstrate in front of the UN in Geneva
for World Attention
- Establish an International Fund for
Descendants of Slaves
- Target Companies that existed during the
days of Slavery for Reparations, and if they
do not comply, then list them as
“Unworthy” for Black patronage
- Seek support for Reparations from
Companies that prosper off of Black Clients
- Seek Celebrity support for
Reparations
- Involve the
Media
- Make “Reparations” the buzz word for
this new century
- Etc., etc., and by “any means necessary”
within the Law
*********
REPARATIONS YES - MOVEMENT
Announces Historical Nation-Wide Petition Campaign
The
Reparations - Yes International Petition
Drive Web
Site is Up and Running!
The
International Reparations Petition
located
online at:
>>>unity4theworld.com<<<
has
reopened!
Please
pass the word
&
Remember
the goal is
No Less
Than
150
Thousand signatures per state!
Please
visit www.unity4theworld.com and sign the petition Today!
Remember
we are trying to secure 50 Thousand signatures from each state and foreign
country, every signature counts, including yours!
CONTACT:
Ms. Clara Peoples
503-287-7532
Ms. Lisa Clay
503-284-6152
www.unity4theworld.com
www.nabvets.com
JoeWynn.Nabvets@verizon.net
Dr. Saharra Bledsoe
202 783-3705
MzWayMaker@aol.com
*********
IN SUPPORT OF REPARATIONS!
WAKE
UP!
STAND
UP!
STEP UP!
and DO SOMETHING IN SUPPORT OF REPARATIONS!
OR
THERE CAN BE NO REAL - PEACE!
Ahna Tafari
*********
EXAMPLE
OF THE BROADENING
OF THE
REPARATIONS MOVEMENT
The Reparations Movement in the US and thruout the African Diaspora is growing exponentially. This is a good thing... that can get out of the control of the true and principled Reparationists if let alone to evolve uncoordinated.
That's why a Reparations Manifesto that groups and individual activists sign on to is key at this moment.
Check out this example of the positive broadening of the Reparations Struggle:
http://www.savannahnow.com/stories/032202/LOCReparations.shtml
In Struggle,
Sam Anderson
Submitted by BRC-REP
*********
WANT TO
HOST A “RAP?”
RAP (Reparations Awareness Presentation) sessions are designed to educate your organization, religion institution, or Family/friends about the Reparations Movement by discussing some of the basic Issues surrounding the demand.
· Reparations
defined
· Recipients of
Reparations
· Forms of
Reparations
· Wrongs committed against
people of African descent
· What you can do to build
the National Rally in Washington D.C. August 17th
If you can help in Brooklyn let me hear from you! If you can help in another Boro let me hear from you twice!!
Millions For Reparations New York City Organizers
Phone: 718 398-1766
Brooklyn: Lateefah, Omowale or Greg
Queens: Erica or Amadi
Manhattan: Roger
Email Info@MillionsForReparations.com
Website HTTP://WWW.MillionsForReparations.com
*********
GIVE AND BUY BLACK
August 19, 2002
Imagine
how rewarding it would be if on every gift giving occasion, we gave a gift that
was purchased from a Black business.
The
products on my website, http://www.MyMatah.net/WayneHicks have two things
in common...they are *all* made by Black people and they are all distribution by
Black people through their
involvement in the MATAH Network.
The
MATAH Network is in business to facilitate the practice of giving and buying
Black.
When we give and buy Black we support ourselves by using our consumption spending to benefit
ourselves. We spend $600 billion each year!!! We create a brighter day for ourselves
and our children when we make a CONSCIOUS effort to direct our spending to Black
businesses.
The benefits include:
* more jobs
* increase our wealth
* raise our level of
hope
* reduce crime
* a brighter tomorrow
Start
right now...GIVE AND BUY BLACK! Whether it is for upcoming birthdays, holidays,
graduations, promotions, weddings, anniversaries, house warmings, Rites of
Passage ceremonies or any other occassion. *SHOW* a friend or loved one how easy
it is to GIVE AND BUY BLACK!
Click on
my website --> http://www.MyMatah.net/WayneHicks
There are a wide variety of gift packs that you can choose from including 'Personal Care Gift Pak', 'Conscious-Raising Gift Pak', 'Welcome Gift Pak' or 'Powder Room Gift Pak'. Also, you can check out MATAH Fragrances and the gift of knowledge.
Do you
truly want to Give and Buy Black more? If so, this is your chance to do so.
Please 'make it so'!
Wayne
Hicks * (513) 573-9289
wayne@ elecvillage.com or waynehicks@ matah.com
http://www.matah.com/index.ihtml?mtcnbc=21235100
Submitted by whicks@prodigy.net
*********
*****MARK YOUR CALENDAR OF
EVENTS*****
HERITAGE
POWER SUNDAYS
Reclaiming Our Sacred
Heritage Every (Sun)Day Preparation for Reparations
Place:
176-03 Jamaica Ave.
Directions: Take the F. to 179 or E. train to Parson
Salvation Service Begins: 1:00 P.M. -3:00 P.M.
Directions: Take the F. to 179 or E. train to Parson
CONTACT: John W. Branch, Director / Call: (718) 523-3312/ Jwatusi@aol.com
Submitted by heritagesunday@hotmail.com (mene harris)
Muhammad Mosque of Islam in Boston, Massachusetts invites you to attend weekly meetings each Sunday at the Dillaway located at:
183 Roxbury
Street
Roxbury, Massachusetts
(Next to the Timilty School, in Roxbury)
Meetings start at 2:00 P.M., but on the last Sunday of the month we start at 1:00 PM.
For
more information and to schedule free
lectures on Reparations at your church, school, business or organization,
feel welcome to telephone Minister Malik Al-Arkam at (617) 770-2017.
*********
August 26,
2002
Monday
REPARATIONS MOBILIZATION
COALITION MEETING IN NYC
The next Reparations Mobilization
Coalition meeting will be Monday August 26th, 2002.
PLACE: CUNY Grad Center
Room 5-409
Fifth Avenue and 34th Street
Manhattan, New York
TIME: 6:30
P.M. The meeting will start PROMPTLY!
Please be on time. We
have a heavy agenda.
AGENDA:
-August 17 Reparations Rally
assessment
-Discussion of the Call for a National Grassroots Reparations
Congress
-Discussion of the Proposed Web Conference
-Update on the October
PostDurban Barbados Confab
-Building Local Mobilization and Education
Reparations efforts
-The need to produce 10,000 Reparations Lapel
Pins
-The next newsletter production
CONTACT: ebontek@earthlink.net
*********
October 1 - 6, 2002
POST-DURBAN WORKING
CONFERENCE
Info & Registration
on the PanAfrican Conference
For those interested in REGISTERING,
obtaining information, and attending the upcoming historic Post-Durban Working
Conference of Africans and African Descendants, please click on...
http://academic.udayton.edu/race/AAD-WCAR/Announcement.htm
The
conference is from 2 to 6 October 2002 in Barbados and there should be special
rates and package deals available thru this website or given fone number. The
purpose is to WORK towards building a grassroots PanAfrican organization of
struggle, resistance and institution building.
Purpose:
To develop strategies to implement the
UN Program of Action to eradicate racism
To exchange information about effective
programs and projects
To form a global Nongovernmental
Pan-African Organization by which we can work together.
For further
information, please CONTACT: ebontek@earthlink.net
*********
REPARATIONS YES - MOVEMENT
Announces Historical Nation-Wide Petition Campaign
The
Reparations - Yes International Petition
Drive Web
Site is Up and Running!
Please
visit www.unity4theworld.com and sign the petition Today!
Remember
we are trying to secure 50 Thousand signatures from each state and foreign
country, every signature counts, including yours!
CONTACT:
Ms. Clara Peoples
503-287-7532
Ms. Lisa Clay
503-284-6152
www.unity4theworld.com
www.nabvets.com
JoeWynn.Nabvets@verizon.net
Dr. Saharra Bledsoe
202 783-3705
MzWayMaker@AOL.COM
*********
FREE THE MIND... FREE THE
PEOPLE... FREE THE LAND
THE NATIONAL COALITION OF
BLACKS
FOR
REPARATIONS IN AMERICA (N’COBRA)
*********
BOOK LISTINGS
The book listing on Reparations and Black History can be found in REPNOW Newsletters 1 - 5.
Check this
out:
BLACK REPARATIONS: American Slavery & Its
Vestiges
Published by DC Metro Chapter of N'COBRA
THE NEW REPARATION BOOK IS AVAIABLE FOR YOU AND YOURS!!!
This is an N'COBRA Fundraising
Project.
We have received many requests for this book over the Internet and by phone. We are thankful for the great interest it has created. Most importantly, we are thankful for all the praise we have received from those who have read it! Independent Africans School children and university students have purchased copies to write papers! Several professors have asked to use the "Black Reparations: American Slavery & Its Vestiges" in their classes!
…this publication is, "Black voices of reparations from the community" or "street reparations 101." Scholars, politicians and news commentators have their voice and venues to state their perspective, and we need ours. This text is written by Black People for Black People primarily.
You have heard about it, now you can get it! Print the order form and mail in your order today!
Read this complete email to see the many subjects this work address. You will find the complete table of content and preface!
***
Help us build the Reparations Movement by
ordering copies of this book for family and friends.
_____Yes, I want one copy of Black Reparations for $15.00, plus $3.00 shipping and handling - total $18.00
_____Yes, I want three copies of Black Reparations for $39.00
($13.00 per copy), plus $4.25 shipping and handling - total $43.25
Payments must accompany orders. Allow 3-4 weeks for delivery.
My check or money order for $_______ is enclosed.
Name____________________________________________
Organization______________________________________
Address__________________________________________
City/State/Zip_____________________________________
Phone___________________ E-mail __________________
Call (202) 466-1622 or e-mail DcNcobra@ aol.com
Make your check payable and return
to:
DC N'COBRA
P.O. Box 716
Washington, DC 20044-0716
Discount and Wholesale prices are available upon request.
[I haven’t read BLACK REPARATIONS: American Slavery & Its Vestiges, YET, but I shall. However, I urge “Newcomers” in the fight for Reparations to go out and purchase THE BLACK HOLOCAUST FOR BEGINNERS by S.E. Anderson, as well. If you have never read a book about the TransAtlantic Slave Trade, then this is the book for you. It’s very informative and very well written. And I highly recommend it for everyone desirous of knowing the facts about the Blacks who were stolen out of Africa. T.Y., Editor]
***
ANCESTOR
MAY BE LISTED & A MASTER SOLD BY A SLAVE
June 25, 2002
Although it is
loosely used by many, including myself, the following should actually be
credited to Jomo Kenyatta, according
to Chifu, it can be found in his book, Facing Mt. Kenya:
"When the missionaries came to Africa
they had the Bible and we had the land.
They said ‘Let us pray.’ We
closed our eyes.
When we opened them we had the Bible
AND
they had the land.”
Bishop Desmond
Tutu
Forward Ever (by any means necessary); Backward Never!
Karen-Yaa (YGA)
kcamm23063@aol.com
Search TheBlackList
Archive:-
http://www.topica.com/lists/TheBlackList/read
or
http://www.escribe.com/culture/TheBlackList/index.html
***
KHALIFAH'S BOOKSELLERS & ASSOCIATES
Producers & Disseminators of the Literature that is Finally Freeing Afrikan People:
"Those at Home and those abroad!"
www.KBAbooks.com
*********
WE SHALL WIN THIS
WAR!
Imari A. Obadele
*********
“Without Sanctuary”
The web address for Without Sanctuary” is listed in the REPNOW Newsletter #13.
Please pass this information on to others for it is out of…
AMERICA'S SHAME: CONTEMPT & THE LYNCHINGS
James Allen’s photos on the
lynchings of Blacks in America
http://www.journale.com/withoutsanctuary
*********
FOTO
DOCUMENTATION OF US LYNCHINGS –
“WITHOUT SANCTUARY”
Sistas & Brothas,
This
newly reconstructed site (more
interactive...more info than last year) was passed on thru Sista Deadria Farmer-Paellmann
<paellmann@rcn.com>, one of our top Reparations lawyers investigating the
corporate crimes against African humanity within the enslavement process (and
its post-emancipation economic terrorism).
Pass it on to teachers, relatives, friends in denial, young folks....
In Struggle,
Sam Anderson
***
Greetings,
I thought the following might interest you.
Be well,
Deadria
Searching through America's past for the last 25 years, collector James Allen uncovered an extraordinary visual legacy: photographs and postcards taken as souvenirs at lynchings throughout America. With essays by Hilton Als, Leon Litwack, Congressman John Lewis and James Allen, these photographs have been published as a book, "Without Sanctuary" by Twin Palms Publishers. Please be aware before entering the site that much of the material is very disturbing.
We welcome your comments and input through the forum section.
http://www.journale.com/withoutsanctuary
Submitted by
brc-reparations@yahoogroups.com
*********
See a wide range of E-mail Addresses & WebSites on REPARATIONS in the REPNOW Issue #13.
*********
BROAD
RANGE OF TACTICS
Minister Malik Al-Arkam
Boston Representative of the
Honorable Silis Muhammad
www.afre-ngo.org
*********
JOIN THE
BLACK REPARATIONS MOVEMENT TODAY !
IT IS A
WIN, WIN CASE FOR US!
Oscar L.
Beard
*********
Dejoser
**********
Hotep,
I am Gregory Carey, Founder and President of Reparations Central, an online reparations searchable database. We would like for you to view our website that is up and running at http://www.reparationscentral.com
We are also attempting to
unify and centralize the reparations movement. We are looking for other
organizations that are doing reparations work to put on our website. Also, we
are asking every organization to consider putting an audio/video presentation on
our website. This website is the hub of the reparations movement worldwide. We need your support and help to make this
reparations clearinghouse a successful venture.
In Struggle,
Aluta Continua Asante Sana
*********
HOW CAN I SUPPORT THE REPARATIONS MASS MOVEMENT?
1.) I suggest that you approach the city in which you reside for reparations, support for reparations, or information as to how to obtain reparations. Your strategy may be a model we all may benefit from at the local level.
2.) Next, demonstrate your willingness to join others in the struggle for reparations.
3.) I would hope that you join or start an N’COBRA chapter in your locale area (if there is none) and become an active and energetic member/reparations information resource, for your Afrikan brothers and sisters.
Submitted by R. Hazard, N’COBRA
*********
"Together
We shall Win REPARATIONS NOW!!!"
Free Your Mind - Join N’COBRA.... Free The People.... Free The Land...
Robert Hazard
S.E. Regional Rep.
N’COBRA
*********
NEW NIC
RELATED ADDRESS:
N’COBRA_INT_COMM@HOTMAIL.COM
January 27,
2002
ALL
ELECTRONIC N’COBRA INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION RELATED BUSINESS WILL BE CONDUCTED
THROUGH THIS NEW EMAIL ADDRESS AS OF
JANUARY 27, 2002.
ncobra_int_comm@hotmail.com
ALL PERSONAL
MATTERS FOR ONAJE MUID WILL REMAIN ON
onajemuid@hotmail.com
PLEASE
ADJUST ALL YOUR EMAIL RECORDS
ACCORDINGLY.
THANK
YOU,
ONAJE MU'ID,
N’COBRA
*********
JOIN
N’COBRA AND THE
MILLIONS
FOR REPARATIONS
THEY
OWE US!
By Dr.
Conrad W. Worrill
Dr. Worrill
is the National Chairman of the National Black United Front National Chairman of
the National Black United Front
12817 S.
Ashland Ave., Fl. 1
Calumet
Park, Ill. 60827
708-389-9929, Fax 708-389-9819, E-Mail: nbufchi@allways.net
Submitted by [BRC-REP]
*********
"If you are thinking one year ahead, sow a seed.
if you thinking ten years ahead, plant a tree.
If you thinking one hundred years ahead ...
educate the people."
Compliments of Shakira A. Ali
*********
Up You
Mighty Race; We Can Accomplish What We Will!!!!
I Remain to Serve,
Senghor Baye
*********
THE ESSENCE OF REPARATIONS
Dated 11/3/01
Received August 19, 2002
THE ESSENCE OF REPARATIONS
AMIRI BARAKA 11/01
(A Paper given at
Conference on Reparations, City College of NY 11/3/01,
sponsored by Black Radical Congress-Metro)
THE ESSENCE OF REPARATIONS IS one aspect of the revolutionary struggle of the Afro American People for DEMOCRACY, i.e. equal citizenship rights and Self- Determination. Because reparations is a democratic demand and both he confirmation and projection of Afro American Self Determination. In the context of retrograde US dominated by the far right, a counterfeit president for a fake democracy, the struggle for reparations constitutes one of the cutting edges of the of Revolutionary Democracy, a motion towards of a U.S. Peoples Democracy and the eventuality of Majority Rule. That is a US controlled politically and economically, by law and by force, by a United Front government made of the multinational U.S. working class , as leadership, in strategic alliance with farmers, democratic petty bourgeois and national bourgeoisie and oppressed nationalities.
Reparations is a truly democratic demand but it is a reform, that is when Reparations are won, by a victorious mass movement of the US people, led by the Afro American people, it will not eliminate US monopoly, capitalism, and its imperialist ruling class. But like all reforms it must be fought for in a revolutionary manner, if they are to produce substantive advance for the people.
What makes this democratic demand and the social reform it represents so important, is that it would allow critical transformation of the Afro American people, at the deepest root of our presence in the US, and as such, would work such profound changes on the whole of US society, both socially, at its economic base, and to its over-girding superstructure.
Reparations is a form of justice, in the philosophical sphere, it is in essence a revolutionary democratic thrust that must force the yet unfinished US democratic revolution, viz. the civil war, and the sharp social and political upsurges of the decades of the 20th century, including the most recent civil rights - Black Liberation and anti-imperialist anti war movements closer to completion.
The fundamental demand for Democracy,
as Equal Citizenship rights, which must be coupled with and is a confirmation of
Afro American Self determination, demands Indemnification for the Slave Trade,
The Middle Passage, Chattel Slavery, Capitalist Slavery, National Oppression and
Racism, as well as the multiform abuses that have gone with these. We know them
well, Kidnapping, Criminal Imprisonment, Torture, Unlimited Violence, Endless
Abuse (physical, psychological, social, &c), Child Abuse, Rape and Assault
Robbery, Denial of Rights, Fraud, Character Assassination, Slander, Violation of
the constitution of the U.S. and of it's own laws, Exploitation socially,
economically, politically, culturally, Cultural Aggression, Theft of
Intellectual Materials, it is endless, and will take much time to detail these
and prescribe indemnification, damages, general, collateral, as a result of
these various crimes, and punitive as
some "cost" which must be factored as a continuum of our relationship to the US,
not a simple number.
That is Reparations must take the form of Social reconstruction, which is Economic and Political and Cultural at base. For instance, any initial demand must include the demand for free education for the Afro American people, not as affirmative action, but as a constitutional amendment which by law Black Americans obtain education to the highest sectors of the US and other educational institution without charge. But to do that, there must be certainly coordinating structures and social organization created so that this is practicable. We could not just send people to school, there must be preparation and maintenance with new social-economic-educational support systems, but a focused planned method of absorption and priority use, for the enlarged output of educated Black people. That is, where are the most important areas of Afro American and American life in general where this increased educational potential can be utilized for the benefit of the whole people.
So that the demand for Reparations must contain understanding of what resources, networks, production and distribution systems must be part of the demand, not just cash. (no checks!) The basic advance for Black people would be a raising of the level of the productive forces of the national Afro American community, of Black Americans generally. Productive Forces are the level of educational and social development of the people and the instruments of labor, where they work and what they produce, and what value it provides them, not the general human and self alienation created bu capitalist production of profit for others.
One controversial aspect of the question of Black Self Determination, a consideration that must be grasped as the fundamental philosophical and political motif stabilizing the demand for reparations is the concept of the Black Belt South as the land base of and oppressed Afro American Nation. We could give the parameters of the concept of nation, historical presence of a stable community of people, common language, common economic development and common psychological development producing a common culture.
And while I
personally uphold the historical positing of the oppressed Afro American Nation
in the black belt south, this should not be confused with the basic political
demand for Self Determination for
the Afro American People. The demand for
Self Determination is simply the declaration that Black Americans have the right
and the responsibility to struggle for Democracy and social transformation by
any means they find necessary and that no power on earth can determine for us
what direction that struggle must take or define it for us.
We must
create our own weapons of struggle, our own organizations and institutions, not
because we think we are separate from America, but because we know we are in
America, and historically and contemporarily understand that the forces that
brought us here in chains at the bottom of slave ships, that made us chattel
slaves, and even now, victims of national oppression and its concomitant abuse,
racism, by US imperialism will never
willingly solve our problems, and in the absence of our own efforts will
create new more vicious ones. There are
two teachings of the great WEB DuBois, that speak to this question. In Black
Reconstruction, Du Bois said, "..many people suffered as much as we did..but
none of them was Real Estate!"
The other is the well known but insufficiently understood positing of a black "Double Consciousness". That is we are people torn between being Black and being American. What is key is that we understand we are both. Black by birth, American historically and legally. Our Blackness is natural, though even this psychological and social self- recognition needs continuous reinforcing by cultural means by reemerging cultural revolution.
It is our "Americaness" our possession of
full citizenship rights and the recognition and enforcement of those rights by
law and by force that has always been in question. But we must see those as
two aspects of our history, our lives and our struggle. So that we fight for and
with Self Determination and at the same time fight for equal citizenship rights,
a revolutionary democratic struggle for a US Peoples Democracy. From this
premise we must not only assault the historic and contemporary institutions and
organization of the US for these but at the same time set up our own independent
structures even to gain equality in the US. It was not the US govt., for
instance that registered black people throughout the south, but SCLC led by Martin Luther King, it was SNCC
led by Forman, Carmichael, Rap that did these things. Likewise it was not
agencies of the US government that fought against the oppression and
exploitation of our communities but Black American organizations and leaders.
The Rob Williams, Malcolm X's, Huey Newtons, Black Panthers, The Nation of
Islam, CAP, RNA, ALSC, &C.
So that our projection of Reparations demands must come from a broad United Front of Afro America, that creates a central unified Afro American Political Organization, much like what the National Black Assembly was projected as. It must be ultimately a representative assembly, a national congress, made up of elected representatives from the whole American Nation, but specifically constructed to be the accurate reflection of Black People in the US.
Such an assembly would begin to identify and project the most important issues which the Afro American people are affected by, and begin to develop methods and instruments to educate, mobilize and organize Black people so that these problems can be understood and mass efforts created to deal with them.
Among these would be the movement to create a national newspaper, a coordinated system of political effectiveness, such as national overview and communication about what election and candidates are crucial to be supported or what candidates need to be defeated, what issues are critical.
What products or programs or companies must be boycotted, what strikes and workers campaigns to be highlighted, supported , what abuses to be attacked or resisted. What marches, demonstrations, campaigns to support or be mobilized by. Who are our Friends, Who are our enemies? And what must be done about them!
We must create mass campaigns and mobilizations. Enter into alliances and coalitions, give strength to the most progressive forces among us and oppose those who would sell us out or needlessly compromise with our enemies.
The defeat of Dinkins the election of Giuliani could have been avoided with such organization. The defeat of Ferrer as well. Bush's illegal and criminal seizure of power could have been stopped had we a unified political structure rather than the confusion and work at cross purposes that only serves our enemies, whatever their nationality.
Yes, we must work for coalitions and alliances with working people and democratic forces and their organizations of all nationalities. Otherwise, Reparations is another pipe dream. How can we join with backward whites in Los Angeles and defeat a progressive Mexican candidate and despite an even split between Latinos and Whites in New York, provide the numbers which defeated Ferrer, despite the claim of a Black -Latino Coalition, when 43% of our people voted for Greene! And now to top it off some would put another billionaire republican in office, apparently some of our behinds have not been kicked hard enough by Rudy the Vile.
The work of creating a formal reparations demand, understood and legitimatized by the broadest spectrum of Black America must be a cutting edge of the work of constructing an Afro American National Political Assembly, which is the institutional entity confirming the existence of an Afro American Peoples Democratic United Front. The representative assembly, the national black political assembly cannot exist with any stability without the actuality of a alliance of organizations and institutions and persons, who serve to give substance and strength, power and influence to it.
The work of creating a general Reparations Document, can be the fundamental dynamic by which such an organization can be created and institutionalized. Plus, our demands for Reparations which should be followed , necessarily at a later date by a statement of the Afro-American People's Right of Self Determination and a definition thereof .
The demands and statement of Self Determination must be widely disseminated, nationally and internationally. Delivered to the US Congress and other relevant bodies, as well as to the UN, OAU, OAS, World Court, Arab League, to the nations of the world, and especially to the progressive peoples of the world , the various international and hemispheric political and economic and cultural alliances throughout the world, (e.g., OPEC, COSATU, SEATO, NATO), political parties internationally, national and international trade unions , social economic and cultural institutions and organizations in the US and internationally.
Whatever our ideological or political profiles, we should remember that both Garvey and Du Bois were attacked and exiled. Both Drs. King and Malcolm assassinated. And that the Black American struggle for democracy and self determination cannot be twisted and deformed by dividing us into integrationists and separatists. Only our enemies benefit from this.
Haven't we learned yet that Garvey and DuBois should have been two leaders of a Black United Front. Are we still distant from the revelation that Dr. King and Malcolm would have served Black People much better as two key forces in a Black United Front. (Which, I should mention, is what both of them told me the last time I talked to them. Malcolm a month before he was murdered , King , ten days before he was killed.)
The Afro American People are an oppressed nationality in the US with over 450 billion dollars GNP per year, 16th in the world, according to the world bank (larger than India, Switzerland but less than General Motors) with a population of at least 40,000,000, larger than most of the nations in the UN Part of the structure of a national afro American representative political assembly must be the creation of a Central afro American bank, controlled by officials elected by a referendum of Black America, in which any monies, or other resources would be deposited and registered.
The US National Debt as I sd, significant percentages of US tax dollars, and The large percent of Afro American tax dollars, plus whatever is directed by our planning from the Afro American Commonwealth, must be directed to this institution and its outlays the result of national planning, and referendum applied to the specific problems and issues Afro America, and a self determining people decide.
Compilation of Papers (Present sponsors & additions) Issuance of Papers to those in attendance, and others named as outreach Public distribution of papers and others agreed upon Continuations Committee (initiated by this meeting with agreed upon suggestions for additions) to meet at date agreed on Completing of Draft of Initial Reparations Demand Discussion of Procedure and Expanded Participants for Convening of Larger Meeting.
AMIRI BARAKA
Amirib@aol.com
Submitted by TheBlackList Information Service:
http://www.theMarcusGarveyBBS.com
* Pan African News, Views and Reveiws
[These suggestions appear to be exactly what the White “Jews” have done to gain control of the U.S. government. T.Y., Editor]
*********
URGENT LETTER: STOP REPARATIONS NOW
August 19, 2002
I forwarded the following message yesterday--Urgent Letter: Stop Reparations Now (http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/8/17/224018.shtml).
I sent the message, after reviewing the Sunday papers about the Rally of which I was a participant and organizer. Now I am the subject of hate mail. Didn't you read the link to the website NewsMax.com?
nyumbacc@aol.com
***
Please...don't sidetrack me and throw me off the mission by this infighting and name calling. I didn't sponsor the Horrowitz letter, nor do I own or have an interest in the newsmax.com website.
On another note: I've read some of your
comments on the number of people who attended the rally. My estimate is there
were 10,000+ people who attended the Rally. One NYC newspaper put the figure at
2,000. To refute that estimate,
when we arrived at the RFK Stadium bus parking lot, we counted 35 buses in the
first row ONLY. Buses were in the second row and buses were entering as we were
exiting the lot.
MLKing didn't get all the bodies to D.C, neither did Farrakhan in 1995, 2000 nor did any other group that held a Million -- March. So why you complaining?
I believe that the expectations of this March were accomplished considering the standard by which many people judge Marches (tabulating bodies).
It was such a special gathering on such a special day in the history of Black America that to criticize the number of people who attended is wrong, it is up to each and everyone of us to go back into our communities and educate the masses on what reparations really means. I'm sure it took some persuading to the Jews and Japanese and any other groups we paid reparations too.
Finally, as
for money collection, the organizers didn't ask for money to finance and arrange
for health plans, banks, and other companies when they sought money to help
cover the cost of this event. No promise was made to you on this scale. Go over your tapes from the MMM and
criticize Farrakhan for stating what he would do with your money. I have yet to see any of his plans
implemented.
Noting the lack of positive comments about the event means that the Black community is badly split about its significance. Why?
Goto All Messages in this Thread:
http://www.topica.com/lists/TheBlackList/read
or
http://www.escribe.com/culture/TheBlackList/index.html
***
URGENT
LETTER: STOP REPARATIONS
NOW
August 19, 2002 (?)
David Horowitz, Author, Fox News Channel commentator, and Founder of the Center for the Study of Popular Culture (CSPC).
David
Horowitz has been campaigning to stop the reparations movement. For almost two
years he has been able to expose and educate the American people about this
issue; and now he needs your support.
Please read David's urgent request.
--NewsMax.com
***
STOP THE REPARATIONS MOVEMENT NOW
I'm preparing to launch Phase II of our Stop the Reparations Movement Now campaign. As you may know, on August 17 thousands of pro-reparations radicals descended on Washington, D.C.
Their goal is to send ONE MILLION marchers into the streets of the Capital demanding slave reparations! The title of the march says it all: "They Owe Us."
The objectives are to scare Washington
politicians into backing their effort and further coerce the national media
deeper into their scam.
When I took action against this movement many people thought I didn't know what I was talking about. But the reparations movement is real and it's growing ... two lawsuits filed and more planned ... this August 17 rally ... plans in Congress for pro-reparations legislation!
Stop the Reparations Movement Now has always had two very important objectives:
* Expose the true motivation behind the movement for reparations for descendants of American slaves - money and power.
* Educate millions of Americans to the damage this divisive movement will do to our nation if it is allowed to proceed and succeed.
Over the last half year, I've spoken on more than 50 campuses ... appeared on dozens of television and radio talk shows ... and distributed more than 300,000 books and booklets detailing who is behind the reparations movement, why they're behind it, and how they plan to use legal and legislative avenues to achieve their goal!
You'll recognize many of their names immediately. It's a who's who in the racial shakedown racket: Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Johnnie Cochran, Randall Robinson, Cornel West. These men, and others from the far left, are preparing for the biggest legal shakedown in history ... unless they're stopped.
"Reparations are a really good way for white people to admit they're wrong." --Zack Webb, co-director, University of Kentucky NAACP
Now I'm preparing for Phase II of this important campaign, and I'm hoping that you'll sponsor me with a contribution of $25, $35, $50, $100, or $1,000 if possible.
Please sponsor the campaign, Stop the Reparations Movement Now!
I must raise $100,000 for a series of new advertisements in college and area papers, another round of personal appearances to debate reparations hucksters, and distribution of my booklet, "Reparations & Racial Double Standards." This booklet digs deep inside the reparations scam and exposes its greedy underbelly.
I think it's vital that you read it and learn how reparations leaders are extorting the press to get favorable coverage. I also want to get 300,000 of these booklets in the hands of students, political leaders and political commentators in Washington, D.C. and around the nation in time for the fall semester and the Congressional elections.
Our campaign has reached millions of Americans, but when you read words like those of young Zack Webb's above, you quickly realize how much work we have cut out for us.
Today the reparations movement is in high gear. Two lawsuits have been filed against American corporations who are alleged to have had, either directly or indirectly, something to do with black slaves some 200 years ago.
The lawsuits, of course, are profoundly anti-American and the ultimate example of "victimization" politics. American justice has never been about punishing the son for the father's crimes. Yet that is just what the two reparations lawsuits propose.
These legal suits are just the tip of the iceberg! The ultimate prize for the reparations shakedown team isn't a verdict against an insurance company for the left-wing militants like Robinson, Jackson, West, Cochran and the other big players of the movement; the real pot o' gold is your wallet - via your tax dollars!
Some movement radicals are demanding up to $10 trillion in repayments to all Black Americans - or $277,780 per person. For non-black Americans, it amounts to a tax tab of $37,878 - EACH. That's $151,512 for a family of four!
This movement isn't about justice. It's about money! It has to be, because America has done far more than simply saying it's sorry about slavery.
Over the last 150 years no nation has tried harder to make amends for the morally bankrupt slavery system. No nation has invested more or enacted more legislation with the goal of ending injustice - for all of its citizens. The facts speak for themselves. Since 1850 our nation has:
* Fought a Civil War to end slavery. More
than 350,000 Union soldiers lost their lives in the war! Should the descendants
of these dead men pay reparations?
* Suffered the assassination of Abraham
Lincoln as a result of his Emancipation Proclamation. John Wilkes Booth said he
killed the President because he had freed the slaves!
* Passed the most sweeping Civil Rights
legislation in history. Initiated affirmative action policies specifically
designed to assist all minorities to succeed.
* Waged a "War on Poverty" since 1965 that has pumped trillions of dollars into America's poorest communities, many of them inner city Black communities.
No matter how many good men died at places like Gettysburg, Antietam or Manassas ... no matter how many good-faith laws have been passed trying to right the wrongs of the past ... no matter how much money American taxpayers have spent trying to give all those who need it a hand up for men like Jackson, Robinson, Cochran, Sharpton and other race hucksters, it's not enough. Their greed is almost palpable, as they continue to beat the drums of victimization and claim that the legacy of slavery is at the root of all of all Black Americans' problems.
Let me assure you, though, not every African-American believes this. The cards, e-mails, contributions and letters of support that I receive from men and women of all races are powerful evidence that the reparations movement's attempt to paint Blacks as perpetual victims isn't luring in everyone.
But I must continue to expose the movement for what it is and educate more people about what is truly at risk if we fail to squelch this movement now ... and that's what Phase II of our campaign, Stop the Reparations Movement Now, will do.
So please help me raise the $100,000 needed to fund new advertisements and distribute my booklet, "Reparations & Racial Double Standards," to 300,000 students, political leaders and journalists nationwide!
Stop the Reparations Movement Now!
And, of course, help keep me on the frontlines of this debate!
Thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
David Horowitz
[Horowitz really sounds desperate, and what puzzles me is that he seems to have forgotten that “Jews” (AIPAC) control the U.S. government. And Israelis are the biggest welfare recipients of the United States. He also seems to think that the Reparations Movement is all about exposing something and money and power! What could possibly be exposed?! Everyone knows that the “Jews” are the Mother Slavers out of Portugal, first. Gosh-a-gee, the man has “money” on his brain for goodness sakes. The only thing I want to expose is the Living GOD TRUTH! He nor those usurpers of GOD’s Land are descended from the Biblical Israelites. And the only money and power I want for Black Folks is Reparations, our Self Determination, and FREEDOM from this modern-day, Egyptian BONDAGE!
This man, Horowitz, has a serious problem. But like we have said for centuries, White Folks do not want to treat us with respect, and they certainly do not want us involved in any equal distribution of wealth. That’s no doubt the “money” and “power” Horowitz made reference to.
I truly hope that you Brothers and Sisters are asking yourselves why this man is dead set on going to all these extremes to keep us from receiving Reparations - raising all this money just to keep us from getting Reparations! Just realize that it’s not just about hatred of Blacks. It’s about issues that are much more profound. He has obviously seen “the handwriting on the wall.” T.Y., Editor]
*********
A MARCH
WON’T CONVINCE AMERICANS
REPARATIONS ISN’T A TERRIBLE IDEA
August 18, 2002
On a recent radio talk show a caller told anti-reparations crusader David Horowitz that reparations advocates didn't give a hang what Horowitz thought about reparations. He assured listeners that reparations advocates would force America to own up to its nightmarish slave past and compensate blacks for their suffering. Horowitz shrugged off the criticism, insisted that most Americans still think that reparations for slavery is a terrible idea, and defiantly announced that he would take his anti-reparations road show back to colleges in the Fall to prove it.
Horowitz and
the caller are right and wrong on reparations. Once a fringe issue touted by a
motley mix of black separatists, zealots, and crackpots, and that respected
mainstream civil rights leaders shunned like the plague, reparations has now been rammed onto the
nation's public policy plate. The NAACP, Urban League, and Congressional Black
Caucus leaders all agree that reparations have some merit. Outside of President Bush's National Security Advisor
Condoleezza Rice, no other prominent black dares to publicly denounce
reparations. Even some top white
politicians such as Chicago Mayor Richard Daley have given passing nod to
reparations as valid for consideration.
The Washington D.C. reparations march aimed to put pressure on Congress and the Bush administration to soften their Formica-like resistance to reparations. But a march, no matter how great the noise and numbers, won't make Bush any more willing to embrace reparations. The reason is simple. Bush reads the opinion polls and they show that the overwhelming majority of whites, non-blacks, and even many blacks, think that reparations is a bad idea. And the numbers aren't close.
A CNN/USA Today poll taken after blacks filed two well-publicized reparations lawsuit last February found that seventy-five percent of Americans said that corporations should not pay reparations for slavery, and a whopping ninety percent said the government should not pay reparations.
Reparations advocates have grabbed at every argument in the book to dent the wall of public resistance to reparations. They assure that black billionaires, corporate presidents, superstar athletes and entertainers won't get a dime of reparations money, that it will go to programs to aid the black poor, that it won't guilt trip all whites, and that Japanese-Americans and Holocaust survivors have gotten reparations for the atrocities against them.
These arguments still fall on deaf ears. The reparations movement can't shake the deep public tag that it is a movement exclusively of, by, and for blacks. Despite countless speeches pleading for racial brotherhood and interracial cooperation by Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders, that same tag was imprinted on the civil rights movement in the early 1960s.
It took national shock and revulsion over Southern mobs beating, maiming, and killing white civil rights workers, and the massive presence of thousands of white students in Southern backwater towns to shake the "for blacks only" tag from the civil rights movement. Only then did it gain widespread public and political acceptance as an authentic movement to change laws, and public policy that would benefit labor, women, minorities, and even whites.
The reparations movement does not possess the inherent racial egalitarianism of the civil rights movement. It is ensnared by its racial isolationism. The focus is solely to compensate the descendants of black slaves for the wrong of slavery, and whipsaw whites for present-day racism. Most whites almost certainly applaud the fight to improve failing inner city public schools, health care, provide better housing and health care, and to battle drugs, and the near pandemic scourge HIV/AID affliction among blacks. But they also believe that these are social ills that slam other minorities, the poor, and marginally employed working class whites nearly as hard. Reparations advocates make no mention of this.
As a consequence, reparations comes off as a hustle and scam that would flush their hard earned tax dollars down a black hole with nothing in return for them. In a time of soaring budget deficits, corporate meltdowns, the stock downslide, and the looming peril of massive layoffs that batter middle-class workers, reparations seems like a frivolous issue that is politically divisive and racially polarizing.
Despite the
colossal resistance to reparations, a compelling argument can still be made that
it's in the interest of government and business to pump more funds into specific
projects such as AIDS/HIV education and prevention, remedial education, job
skills and training, drug and alcohol counseling and rehabilitation, computer
access and literacy training programs. They would boost the black poor, not gut
public revenues, and most importantly, not finger all whites as culpable for
slavery.
The fact that thousands were willing to march for reparations guarantees that the issue won't go away. But as long as most Americans are convinced that reparations is a terrible idea, a march won't do much to change their thinking on that.
http://athena.tbwt.com/content/article.asp?articleid=1400
By Earl
Ofari Hutchinson
Submitted by Minister Malik Al-Arkam
[“We” might not be able to change the “thinking” of our Captors, but the All-Mighty GOD can! Let’s not forget that the same GOD that delivered the Children of Israel out of Egypt will again deliver HIS People, and this time it will be from the four corners of this Earth! Hey, check the Scriptures! (Isaiah 11:11,12; Jeremiah 23:9 and Zephaniah 3:19) T.Y., Editor]
***
However well-meaning the author is, his
overall tone seems pessimistic, like someone who is resigned to the fact that
the cause of Reparations, however just, is doomed by the fact that the vast
majority of white Americans strongly oppose it. According to the Scriptures,
however, Pharoah's government did not release the enslaved Seed of Abraham
because it wanted to, but because it was forced to do so. In physical terms,
Pharoah's army far surpassed Moses' forces, but Moses and his people were the
winners in the end. Moses did not request justice from Pharoah--he demanded it.
When Pharoah repeatedly refused, Moses' God struck Egypt with so many plagues
that Pharoah eventually bowed to Moses' demand--"Let my people go!" Right now
the boldest advocates of Reparations are fighting a battle inside the United
Nations to facilitate Reparations. They are demanding that Pharoah, George W.
Bush, let the long-suffering Afro-Descendants go. Simultaneously, God is
striking America with terrible droughts, firestorms, floods and other plagues.
Prophecy is being fulfilled.
Minister Malik Al-Arkam
Boston Representative of the
Honorable Silis Muhammad
www.afre-ngo.org
[THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING
‘BOUT! MAN! I love this job!
T.Y., Editor]
*********
INTERESTING INFORMATION OF
SIGNIFICANCE AND FYI:
BLUEPRINT
FOR A NATIONAL REPARATIONS ASSEMBLY
August 20, 2002
The
following are three E-mails which I sent out to TheBlackList yesterday. The last two being postscripts to the
first. Only the third postscript was posted. I guess I am sending far too many
E-mails to the BlackList, so I'll cease and desist. But in the meantime, I think that these E-mails -- which I have
already written--should be seriously considered by all nation-builders concerned
with the direction of the reparations movement. I am enthusiastic about the
possibilities that lie before us. .
I welcome all feedback and constructive criticism.
Brother
Yusuf
***
To:
Brother Omawale Za,
Peace and Blessings
Thank you for your response. I stand firmly
behind your suggestion that Minister Silas Muhammad be an prominent architect of
any National Forum or Assembly.
I am not seeking to re-invent the wheel,
nor did I necessarily see myself as one of the major architects of this proposed
Assembly. I am merely calling for REASON in an atmosphere which has become very
clouded with emotion. Rallies and marches appeal to our need for emotional
expression. They make us feel good; we engage in a lot of racial cheerleading, a
lot of pro-black and anti-white sloganeering; we re-affirm that we are an
African people and that we are going to win the struggle -- and then we get on
the bus and go home. I am not condemning rallies and marches as was one of the
participants in the August 17th event. But once we come down off the emotional
high, once we return home on the buses, then what?
We need a sustained series of meetings
which have continuity; i.e., each meeting building upon the work of the previous
meeting, rather than merely repeating the work of the previous meeting. We need
to identify at least 3 or 4 -- or maybe even 6 regional areas of the country
--say for example Baltimore/Washington, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York,
Chicago, Houston where the National Assembly can hold weekend meetings over the
next two to three years. It will take at least 4 to 6 weekend meetings to
iron out a Reparations Agenda. (I suggest that we meet on three-day weekends where the Monday is
a holiday and we arrive Friday afternoon and leave Monday afternoon. As an
aside, we need to prepare for these meetings by renting out armories or other large inexpensive sleeping
accommodations for the delegates, instead of forking over our money to the
white hotel industry). When we meet in Houston, for example, we will expect that
most of the delegates will come from the southwest, but each of the other
regions will be responsible for sending, say at least 5 delegates to the Houston
meeting. That way we maintain continuity, and we meet in several geographical
locations, to lower travel expenses,
so that as many dedicated Africans can attend at least one meeting without
serious damage to their personal finances.
We need a dedicated website, where the
non-sensitive documents can be posted for review and constructive criticism.
Delegates need to be responsible for reading all material thoroughly before thay
attend any sessions. Sensitive material can be manually distributed to the
official delegates at the assembly meetings.
We need to enlist students in this
struggle. I keep hearing formulations of reparations where we want to ensure
that all black people can get a free college education --or where we want spend
all of our reparations resources on building schools. While I don't
necessarily agree that all of our eggs should go into one basket, since our
community problems are multi-faceted, I understand the sentiment. Those
formulations show how much we respect education, and how vital conscious and
committed educated brothers and sisters are to our struggle.
Well, what I am saying is that now we need to rely very heavily on our educated brothers and sisters. Because hammering out and fine-tuning these documents is going to take a lot of brainwork. A lot of study, a lot of homework. We will to need to rely upon the best and brightest talent that we have. We need to recruit or enlist many graduate students and many professors, especially from Black Studies Departments -- as well as from Economics Departments, Public Policy programs and Law Schools, as delegates to this assembly. In addition, of course, to the longtime grassroots activists and intellectuals who would be the natural backbone of the proposed Assembly.
Not only has Silas Muhammad called for a Forum, but so has Amiri Baraka. He called for such an Assembly in his Plenary Session Address at the First Reparations Mobilization and Education Conference which was held in New York City at City College last November. (The address is published in the still current issue of the journal Socialism and Democracy # 31 Winter/Spring 2002). I would suggest that Baraka take an honored place as a Co-Convener of such an assembly. He of course was one of the conveners of the Black Power Conferences of the 1960s and the main convener of the Congress of African Peoples in the seventies.
I have heard from an activist at the D.C.
rally, however, that Ron Daniels of the Center for Constitutional Rights is
actually now planning to convene such an Assembly. Ron Daniels ran for president in the
early nineties (though in a high profile confrontation Sista Souljah refused to
back him) , and prior to that he became known as a very ambitious and very
skilled political manueverer who rose to the top of either NBIPP (National Black
Independent Political Party) or NBPA (National Black Political Assembly).
While I am not crazy about an organization that would be top-heavy with
the usual black political super-stars (i.e., Jesse), we do need to bring in some
of our heavy hitters.: Haki Madhubuti, Maulana Karenga, Cornel West, Nathan and
Julia Hare, etc., --- (Karenga and West
are scheduled to have a dialogue on Reparations moderated by Marvin X in New
York in October), to give a National Assembly some legitimacy and clout.
there are a couple of Black Think Tanks out there, in Atlanta and in Chicago, I
believe. And we need to enlist their full participation.
These are just some thoughts off the top of
my head, and I welcome all comments and constructive criticism.
The
Struggle Continues,
Bro.
Yusuf
***
Post
Script
To the list of heavy-hitters, I neglected to add the name of Angela Davis. I think that she certainly needs to be enlisted in this struggle.
I missed
the last State of the Race Conference although I attended a previous one in
Baltimore about a decade ago. The
conveners of the State of Race Conference should be asked to bring their
expertise to a National Reparations Assembly as should organizers of the Black
Radical Congress, National Black United Front, N'COBRA, etc. The only caveat
is that we have to build in a DEMOCRATIC mechanism so that organizations do not
wield so much power that the Assembly becomes captive to their organizational
agendas. That's a tricky issue and it needs much thought.
Whatever we do, we need to make sure that
we stay focused ideologically on the broad picture: reparations should be seen
as bringing resources to black folks for the purpose of community empowerment
and nation-building, not for the purposes of integration-assimilation. But
community empowerment or community control is a concept that we can sell to the
majority of our people anyway, as America is not really an
integrated-assimilated melting pot but a conglomeration of separate
nationalistic ethnic enclaves: Chinatowns, Little Italies, Polish neighborhoods,
Hasidic communities, Indo-Pakistani enclaves, etc. The problem with the African
enclaves is that outsiders control all of the institutions and businesses. The
first phase of our struggle for nationhood, independence and autonomy as people
is that we must have control of the institutions and business in our own
enclaves or communities just as every other ethnic group in America does.
For
those of you who are under thirty or even under forty, and who were not around
for the sixties and the seventies, you might want to read NEW
DAY IN BABYLON: The Black Power Movement and American Culture, 1965
-1975 by William L. Van DeBurg,
university of Chicago Press, 1992. (He's a white scholar, so if you don't want
to read it on that ground, if you want to boycott books about black struggle
written by white authors, believe me, I can understand.) Nevertheless, his
Chapter 4 "The Ideologies of Black Power," pp. 112- 190, provides an overview and
lays out a lot of useful information as to the various visions of community
control, nationhood, etc. And the reading is fast-paced. However, Brother Peniel
Joseph's brilliant introductory essay in The
Black Scholar issue dedicated to "Black Power Studies: A New
Scholarship," (Volume 31, no.3-4 Fall/Winter 2001) assesses all of the
recent books and studies written about the Black Power Era. So there is a
listing of several other books by black authors in Peniel Joseph's essay. We
need to read at least some of them. I saw a tee shirt that a sister was wearing
at the Reparations rally in D.C. on Saturday. It read something like, "We Must
Complete the unfinished Black Revolution of the Sixties" This is on point. And
those who were not alive during the sixties need to understand the whole history
of the era which was more than just Malcolm or the Panthers. So Peniel Joseph's
essay is a good starting point. The Black Scholar dated Spring 2002
(Volume 32, no. 1) "Black Power Studies II," continues the work laid out in the
previous issue.
Reparations is a continuation of
the black revolution of the sixties, as the sista's tee-shirt eloquently stated.
So we must get ideologically grounded in the vision of the sixties in order to
move forward. It's not just our ancient black history that we have to know and
understand, not just Nubia and Khemit, but the recent history of our struggle as well.
Understanding the vision of the 60s is key to moving
forward.
Straight Ahead,
Bro.
Yusuf
***
Post Post Script
We definitely need professors, graduate
students and working professionals from the following disciplines: City
Planning, Architecture, Public Health, Mental Health, Public Policy and Public
Administration, Economics, Finance, Educational Administration, Law and
Agriculture to be the shapers of a National Plan for Black Reconstruction and
Development. I am sure that I am missing obvious disciplines, but at a bare
minimum we need these folks in order to create 5, 10, 25, and 50 year plans for
the allocation and disbursement of Reparations resources for local, regional and
national black renaissance. Several comprehensive documents need to be generated
over the next five years which address every imaginable aspect of re-developing
the black community. (Not high-flown theory in the sky, but very practical,
do-able, realizable goals and objectives). This is the work that we've gotta do if we
are serious about nation-building.
We as a people collectively need the
resources of reparations in order to own and operate our own tv stations, radio
stations, publishing houses, schools and universities, hospitals, farms,
factories, day care centers, counseling and mental health facilities,
recreational facilities. . . the list goes on and on. . . but what we don't
need is an individual check in the mail to buy a Mercedes, a Lexus, gold-plated
jewelry, designer clothes, big screen tv sets, vcrs, dvds, stero-component sets,
picnics and parties.
Blueprint for Black Power, Amos
Wilson's monumental work which was published posthumously should certainly have
a prominent place in our strategic planning. Brother Preston Wilcox at Afram Associates
in Harlem has available for sale reprinted copies of the Black Power Conference Reports from the
1960s. These Black Power Conferences addressed the same needs of community
development that are still unresolved today. We need to revisit these documents.
Another volume of great interest, but out of print, is African Congress by Amiri Baraka, which is a documentary
of the Congress of African People's meeting in Atlanta in 1970. There were eleven workshops at that
Congress: Black Technology, Economics, Education, Communications, Creativity,
History, Law & Justice, Community Organization, Political Liberation, Social
Organization and Religious Systems. Some of the papers in this volume
representing these workshops, need to be re-visited I am sure. Some should be
scanned onto a reparations website.
In mentioning heavy-hitters, I neglected
New York City Councilman and former Black Panther, Charles Barron. . . There
are a lot of other names of course, some would say Rev. Daughtry, Rev, Sharpton,
Alton Maddox, Manning Marble, Julianne Malveaux. . . We could go on and on
naming our celebrity scholars and activists. The point is that we need to
recruit at least some heavy hitters to give this some clout and respectability.
And on the other hand, we not alienate anybody by not inviting them, but in the
final analysis, we have to maintain the democratic nature of this assembly. the
power has to be in the hands of the grassroots people not the celebities. In
mentioning Black Think Tanks I was thinking of The Institute of the Black World
in Atlanta and The Institute for Positive Education in Chicago.
Obviously, I am just
throwing out ideas here. But we have to move from ideas and vision to reality,
from theory to practice. We have to "close the gap between the view to the do"
as my friend Jalauddin of The Last Poets always says. So the question is "How to get the ball rolling."
I'll
nominate Sam to get the ball rolling, if he is willing to do it. Sam Anderson
(ebontek@earthlink.com), a longtime activist who contributed articles to the
early issues of The Black Scholar on science, math and technology under
the name S.E. Anderson and who
currently is working under the banner of the Reparations Mobilization Coalition, and
who is a comrade of mine from many other organizations, is probably one of the
nationally recognized intellectuals/activists who successfully could make a
formal call for a National Assembly
to both grassroots activists and celebrity scholars and activists. He along with
his associates definitely have the network to make these contacts.
The Struggle Continues,
Bro. Yusuf
Submitted by Yusufnuruddin2
[So strange. While reading your article, I had intended to add S.E. Anderson’s name to the end of your article, but you beat me to the punch! :) T.Y., Editor]
*********
GLOBAL
WARMTH FOR U.S.AFTER 9/11
TURNS TO
FROST
MILITARY
PLANS REPULSE EVEN EUROPEAN ALLIES
Page 1A
August 18, 2002 (?)
OXFORD, England -- On a packed train out of London recently to this historic college town, a young American woman struck up a conversation with her seatmate, a nattily dressed older British man. They chatted amiably about Oxford until she worked up the courage to ask what was weighing on her mind:
''Why,'' she blurted out, ''does everybody hate us?''
The man paused -- but didn't disagree -- before proceeding to enumerate the reasons, from U.S. foreign policies to the seeping influence of American popular culture.
In the shock wave that followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, many Americans found themselves asking why so many people in Muslim countries hate the United States. But the anti-American sentiment has turned into a contagion that is spreading across the globe and infecting even the United States' most important allies.
In virulent prose, newspapers criticize the United States. Politicians ferociously attack its foreign policies, especially the Bush administration's plans to attack Iraq. And regular citizens launch into tirades with American friends and visitors.
Here in Britain, the United States' staunchest friend, snide remarks and downright animosity greet many Americans these days. It's not just religious radicals and terrorists who resent the United States anymore.
''Now, it's
everyone,'' says Allyson Stewart-Allen, a consultant from California who has
lived in London 15 years and heads International Marketing Partners, which
advises European companies on how to do business with Americans. The sea change in attitude toward the
United States, she says, has ''profoundly'' altered her advice to clients:
She now must counsel them to resist ''taking digs'' at her countrymen.
What happened, many Americans are wondering, to that wave of sympathy and stockpile of global goodwill they encountered after Sept. 11?
''It was squandered,'' says Meghnad Desai, director of the Institute for Global Governance at the London School of Economics and Political Science and a member of the House of Lords.
''America dissipated the goodwill out of its arrogance and incompetence. A lot of people who would never ever have considered themselves anti-American are now very distressed with the United States,'' he says.
Desai and others blame what seems to be a wave of new U.S. policies that they regard as selfish and unilateral, stretching back to President Bush's refusal last year to support the international treaty on global warming.
Many are enraged by Bush's support for
steel tariffs and farm subsidies, his refusal to involve the United States in
the new international criminal court and what is widely regarded abroad as
one-sided support for Israel and its prime minister, Ariel Sharon. The rash of corporate malfeasance and
blanket arrest of terrorism suspects after Sept. 11 further fuels critics, who
say the United States preaches
democracy, human rights and free enterprise -- but doesn't practice them.
Growing gap with Europe
In a recent
article in Policy Review magazine, Robert
Kagan, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in
Washington, says the divide between the
United States and Europe is getting wider than ever as the continents go their
different ways -- one operating on a foreign policy based on unilateralism and
coercion, the other on diplomacy and persuasion.
Europeans, he says, have ''come to view the United States simply as a rogue colossus, in many respects a bigger threat to (their) pacific ideals than Iraq or Iran.'' The differences, he says, are deep and likely to endure.
''Why do people attack
Americans?'' asks Tiny Waslandek, a social worker in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
''Because they have a big, big mouth and they mind everybody's
business.''
Bush's plan to topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is stoking anti-American hostility to bonfire levels. In Germany earlier this month, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder launched his re-election campaign by denouncing what he derisively called Bush's proposed military ''adventures'' in Iraq. In England, the new head of the Anglican Church and other leading bishops circulated a petition proclaiming that any attack would be illegal and immoral.
Linked to Iraq and Israel
''My sense is that much of the rampant anti-Americanism we see now is very much linked to a war with Iraq and the Israel-Palestine issue,'' says Mary Kaldor, a London-based scholar on international relations.
In the popular Straw Poll BBC radio show July 26, Kaldor debated with Washington Post reporter T. R. Reid whether ''American power is the power of the good.'' She argued that the U.S. role as the sole superpower was a danger to the rest of the world. At the end of the program, 70% of the studio audience said it agreed with her.
Anti-Americanism is nothing new. Surveys a decade ago in Britain showed that one in four people here are what pollster Robert Worcester, a transplanted Kansan who runs the Market Opinion Research Institute, calls ''culturally anti-American.''
(According to a survey taken in 1989, one in five said they found American accents irritating.)
To some degree, the resentment against the United States is inevitable now that it's the only remaining superpower. Even so, Desai, who says that he is ''very, very pro-America'' and that people forget the United States saved Europe from itself twice in the past century, notes that America has been on top for a long time. ''So what is happening now is not the inevitable result of being No. 1.''
(Desai and many other Europeans give Washington credit for dismantling the hard-line Taliban regime in Afghanistan, which harbored Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorist network).
In recent months, polls have shown a less-than subtle change in attitudes toward Americans, U.S. foreign policy and, in particular, the president from Texas. British newspapers reported Thursday that secret polls commissioned by Prime Minister Tony Blair revealed ''spectacular unpopularity'' for Bush among voters here. In April, the German news magazine Der Spiegel reported that less than half (48%) of Germans consider the United States a guarantor of peace in the world, compared with 62% who did in 1993. Nearly half -- 47% -- rated Americans as aggressive rather than peaceful (34%). And 44% called them superficial.
Meanwhile, in an April poll for the Council on Foreign Relations, based in Washington, Europeans proved highly critical of Bush and what they label his unilateral approach to foreign policy: 85% of Germans, 80% of French, 73% of Britons and 68% of Italians said they believed that the United States is acting in its own interest in the war on terrorism.
Philadelphia
transplant Susan Steele, head of Forum management company in London, has noticed
that many Europeans have started using the phrase ''that's American,'' which is shorthand,
Steele says, for ''not taking anyone else into consideration.''
''People
here were truly shocked and horrified by Sept. 11,'' says Marjorie Thompson, an
American who runs the consulting group C3I in London. ''But since then, they've come to believe
that the United States is using that as an excuse for a unilateral foreign
policy, and they're starting to make sweeping anti-American comments.''
'Oppressed opinion'
Even British
pop star George Michael and tennis pro Martina Navratilova have taken swings at
the United States. Last month, Michael
declared he was ''definitely not anti-American'' after receiving criticisms for
his new single, Shoot the Dog, which
lampooned the relationship between Bush and Blair.
In June,
Navratilova, a Czech native who became a U.S. citizen 20 years ago, had to
defend herself after writing an article for a German newspaper in which she said
that the United States now ''oppressed
opinion'' and that decisions there were based ''solely on how much money will
come out of it.''
That the
United States is suffering an image problem abroad has become obvious at home.
Two weeks ago, the White House announced it would create a permanent Office of
Global Communications to enhance America's image around the world. At the same time, the House of
Representatives approved spending $225 million on cultural and information
programs abroad, mostly targeting Muslim countries, to correct what Rep. Henry
Hyde, R-Ill., called a ''cacophony of hate and misinformation'' about the United
States.
Meanwhile,
the Council on Foreign Relations simultaneously issued a biting report warning the Bush administration that it
urgently needs to upgrade its efforts at public diplomacy to counteract the
country's ''shaky'' image abroad.
It called for a range of actions, from increased spending on polling of foreign public opinion and more training of foreign service officers to giving journalists from other countries access to top U.S. government officials.
'Ominous' consequences
The
consequences of neglecting such public diplomacy are ''ominous,'' warns Peter
Peterson, chairman of the council and of The Blackstone Group, a New York
private investment bank. He says bin
Laden has ''gleefully exploited'' the United States' poor public image.
''Around the world, from Western Europe to the Far East, many see the United States as arrogant, hypocritical, self-absorbed, self-indulgent and contemptuous of others,'' Peterson says. ''This is not a Muslim country issue. It has metastasized to the rest of the world and includes some of our closest European allies.''
New Yorker
Julia Magnet, a journalist who just moved to London, found that out when she
decided to throw a Fourth of July party for British friends. Between grilled
sausages and chocolate cake, her friends
launched an attack on Bush and the United States. They called Bush a ''homicidal
maniac'' and ''stupid'' and the United States the ''world's biggest terrorist.''
Magnet, 22, was forgiving, and she labeled their assault ''uninformed'' and ''ignorant.''
Nevertheless, she was surprised by the venom in their words.
''What I hear from people all the time now is that we're going to go to war with just about everyone and we don't need a coalition to do it,'' Magnet says.
''It's obvious they are very, very disturbed by the power America now has.''
By Ellen Hale
USA TODAY
Submitted by
Tziona Yisrael, Editor
*********
…let's work together to heighten this righteous call for justice.
Peace and Power,
Ukali
*********
QUOTATION:
"If a
white man hates me, that's his problem.
If he has
the power to implement his hateful thinking,
that's my problem"
AHREF="http://members.aol.com/GhanaUnion/afrohero.html"Ancestor KwameToure (1941 - 1998)
*********
WHY
THE-POWERS-THAT-BE
OWE DESCENDANTS OF SLAVES…BIG TIME!
August 20, 2002
We did not ask to be brought to these shores. And because of FORCED MIGRATION in chains sailing for months in the holds of ships to these shores and to other White societies, we lost our cultures, religions, land, language, identity, names, and human rights. Enroute to the castles in Africa while awaiting the Slave Ships and on the Middle Passage to the many countries that took part in the benefits of the free labor of our forebears, at least 100,000,000 Blacks lost their lives due to murder, sickness, drowning, suicide, beatings, suffocation, hunger, inhumane suffering, and abuse. And afterwards millions more died from continued murder, lynchings, and breeding for the institution of Slavery. Those who did not die from murder and hard labor were maimed and indoctrinated under the most barbaric and cruel treatment ever committed against human beings. And it is only by the Grace of the All-Mighty GOD that we did not become an extinct Peoples.
As Slaves, we were brainwashed and forced to accept the Slave Masters’ religion, education, and his culture and policies that have only served the White privileged and their descendants. The Slave Masters and their descendants believe in “Survival of the Fittest.” And they made absolutely sure that Descendants of Slaves would not be fit and would not survive economically, politically, or socially.
The Presidents of the United States, including the “Black President Clinton” have admittedly stated that Blacks and other people of color have been discriminated against, but absolutely nothing is done about the race hatred and institutional racism that permeates this society. Blacks have been treated like chattel and second-class citizens and have walked in darkness, despair, and unhappiness for over 500 years.
And to this day, we do not
have our FREEDOM!
This is why a DEBT is
owed! This is why law suits are
mounting against the very government that sustains this cruel and unusual
institution of hatred against Descendants of Slaves. This is why we want REPARATIONS NOW IN
OUR LIFETIME!
Tziona Yisrael, Editor
The REPNOW Newsletter
*********
SCOTLAND PAPER REPORTS ON REPARATIONS RALLY
August 20, 2002
YOU OWE US FOR SLAVERY, SAY BLACK AMERICANS
THOUSANDS of black Americans marched in Washington DC yesterday to demand reparations for the years of slavery suffered by their ancestors, vestiges of which, they claim, continue to blight their lives.
Their message was blunt and simple: "You owe us!"
They came from 60 cities across the country, lending weight to the growing movement in black America for financial compensation to be paid today for yesterday's sins.
"We're talking about a crime against our
person, a crime against humanity that has gone unpaid," said Lewis Andrews, a
minister with the Temple of the Black Messiah in Baltimore.
The march ended in front of the historic Capitol building, home of the US Congress, a jewel of a building that was built using slave labour. "We built this, but what do we get?" Andrews demanded.
For black Americans of the 21st century,
neither the emancipation of slaves at the end of the American Civil War in 1865
nor the civil rights legislation of the 1960s was enough to give them true
freedom. In particular, they say, continued discrimination and racism mean
blacks are pegged back as second-class citizens suffering from worse
unemployment and health care than whites.
"The plight of our ancestors in this country is enough to make me realise that justice has not been done," said Hannibal Afrik from Mississippi. "After civil rights, we have to deal with human rights."
America's blacks have been waiting for payback since the end of the Civil War in 1865, when each freed slave was promised "40 acres and a mule" by the victorious Union army to reward former slaves for fighting against the slave-owning southern states. The pledge was swiftly abandoned by Congress.
The argument for compensation has been made for years. "The only reason that the present generation of white Americans are in a position of economic strength is because their fathers worked our fathers for over 400 years with no pay," said the late Malcolm X. " Your father isn't here to pay. My father isn't here to collect. But I'm here to collect, and you're here to pay."
"We had a rough life because of our colour," says Ruby Duke, an 83-year-old from New York. "It's always been easier to pretend that we created our own problems and that slavery was just a thing of the time that eventually ended. It would be nice to have white people admit the truth of our existence here.
"Severe damage was done to us and has never been taken seriously. This rally means a lot to us as a people."
Despite the emotional strength of the appeal, yesterday's demonstration is unlikely to produce results. The vast majority of white Americans argue that slavery was a sin of the past, and blacks should focus on getting on with their lives, not look for a handout.
Prominent black lawyers - among them Johnnie Cochran, who came to fame during the OJ Simpson trial - are taking their case to court.
"The more you see efforts to document the
role of slave labour in generating vast amounts of wealth for American industry,
the stronger the case for reparations becomes," said Randall Robinson, president
of the TransAfrica Forum in Washington, and a prime mover in the argument for
reparations.
"The Nazi Holocaust lasted 12 years. The American holocaust lasted 364 years," he said.
Reparations paid by the German government to the Jewish victims of the Nazis and by the American government to the Japanese-Americans who were interned during the Second World War irk black Americans.
"It is insulting that they think that after the damage done to us by the government and by private families, that we should just forget about it when they are in the front lines in pushing for the victims of the Nazi Holocaust, and policing the world for human rights, and one of the greatest violations of human rights in the history of the world they participated in," said Adjoa Aiyetoro of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America.
Support for reparations is not universal among blacks. For some, it represents a perpetuation of the mindset that has kept black Americans from making real progress in society.
"What ails the black community today is the very illusion that holds the reparations gang in thrall - that serious black achievement is impossible except under ideal conditions, that white neglect must be at the root of any black-white disparity, and that only the actions of whites can significantly improve the conditions of blacks," argues Professor John McWhorter from the University of California at Berkeley.
"There is a cult of victimology that claims we remain victims on some cosmic level until there is no racism in any white person's heart or any instances of discrimination of any kind. That leads to a sense that being black is a thing apart from being a human being in the United States."
Free at last
By Nick Peters in Washington
Submitted by TheBlackList
*********
Free The
Mind... Free The People... Free The Land...
Robert Hazard
Board Member
S. E. Regional Representative
*********
FROM THE AFRIKAN
INTER’NATIONAL MOVEMENT CORNER:
WHY AN
AFRIKAN STATE FOR
THE DESCENDANTS OF THE ENSLAVED AFRICANS
I
have just arrived home from D. C. from attending and observing the Reparation
advocates Rally and I must tell you I am Highly disappointed at what I saw and
heard from those who are supposed to be wise and intelligent brothers and
sister. And I will give my critical
analysis latter but first let me address
this topic once more, to clarify to those who might still be confused about what
I say in the name of Sankofa Repatriation, about why it is we in the Diaspora
are entitled to establish a New State in Afrika.
First
let me say that some time when speaking a sentence the word YOU, can be omitted
because in certain circumstances even though it is not present in the sentence
it is understood to be there, based on the order of the sentence.
Now I
have said that to say this, I very well
know my beloved brothers and sisters, that in order for the descendants of our
Enslaved Ancestors to be able to
return home and make a difference in Afrika
condition we must first become reacquainted with our brothers and sisters at
home, for we have been away for
approximately five hundred
years.
I am talking about the Heads Of State as
well as the brothers and sisters on the
ground in the trenches of
despair. It would be highly inappropriate of me to suggest to the brothers
and sisters in the Diaspora to consider going home without first using the
appropriate protocol of seeking an invitation with full acceptance from the
Afrikan Nation and the Heads of State, which we will be approaching for land to
establish our State and full acceptance into the Union of Black Afrikan
States.
Now my
brothers and sisters when reading my messages you must also study them as well,
in order to get the full affect and meaning of them.
Now let me say this, Afrika without the
return of the brothers and sisters in the
Diaspora, is doomed and destined to
remain in her present condition which I am sure any worthwhile Afrikan will
agree with me when I say she (Afrika) is in grave condition as I speak.
The gods
of our Ancient Afrikan Ancestors is not please with those Black Afrikans who
attempt to use a double standard toward the prodigals Daughters And Sons Of
Afrika. It is the Same genetic pattern
that I carry that you also carry and based on that fact alone give us right to
some of the Land of our Enslaved Ancestors, who withstood all of the harsh abuse
the white man could and did imposed upon them, even unto death, so that we could
reach this day and Time to confront and inform the brothers and sisters at home
that we are now of age whereby we are ready to come home and assist in freeing
the Land, Yes that land call Afrika.
There
are those who are there who have no legitimate natural and
nationalistic
right nor connection to be there in Afrika and they are there
squatting on our mothers and fathers Land, whom they had to rape, mutilate,
castrate and murder
in order to get there. And yet the brothers and sisters there
in Afrika have without
condemnation or opposition allowed them to squat on
stolen and conquered Land
and the moment we the descendants of our Enslaved
Black Afrikan Ancestors begin to make it known that we are now ready and more
than qualified to come
home to assist in the Emancipating the Afrikan Nation
we are scrutinized by members
of our family as if we hold no right or
entitlement to the Holy Land Of our
Enslaved Mommy and Poppa.
Hear me
oh Afrikan Brothers And Sisters, Afrika Salvation is depended upon the
return
of her lost daughters and sons. Such dependency is ordained by the gods of our
Enslaved Black Afrikan Ancestors and the devil is very well aware of this
prophecy.
You May take It Or Leave It
Alone
Complete Love To The Black Afrikan
Nation
Hoteph And Black Power
Osiris
Chief Elder
The Sankofa Reparation
Movement
The Pan - Afrikan Inter'National
Movement
The New Black Panther Nation - Minister Malik Shabazz
Submitted by o_akkebala@msn.com
*********
THE AUGUST 17TH CRUCIFIXION OF REPARATIONS!!!
Auguat 20, 2002
To
those of you who might be interested in getting an objective report on the event
that went on in D. C. under the caption of Reparation Now, this past Saturday at
the Reparation Gathering Rally, well here it is.
Now I know that what I am about to say is
going to rub some of you the way that is not going to make you smile but the
truth must be told even to you and whom ever is interested in the truth, absent
of blind sight and unreasonable thought, dressed in meaningless emotions.
First let me say this, there are Negroes
which fit my definition and it is not Black and pride and reasonable and
white folks whom I care less about what they think about our call under the
banner Demanding Reparation, without selfish motive.
These two forces, one motivated by
ignorance, the Negro and the other one is motivated by lies and deceit, white
folks opposed to Reparation for the descendants of Afrikan who were
Enslaved.
Now
white folks, the majority of them, is expected to try and confuse the issue
about the crime they have committed against humanity and in this particular
incident (slavery ) it was the Black Afrikan Nation, exposed to the most barbaric kind of
behavior, which is required in order to create and implement such an evil
institution as Chattel Slavery and our Black Afrikans Ancestors being the victim
of such evil and animalistic behavior
which was expressed from one human
being toward another and then label them as being less than a human being, in
order to justify their arrogance of White Supremacy.
You also
have the Negro, who operate absent of the consciousness of the true
meaning
and drive of internal Blackness, which block the energy that generate true love
and devotion for the Black Soul of self.
They (Negroes) are the forces opposed to
Reparation / Repatriation who have been transformed, by acquiring the white
devils soul and spirit of behavior and thoughts about the call and justification
to demand Reparation in honor and out of respect to our
Enslaved Ancestors,
which is in the mind of true Black Folks, just the plain old Right thing to
do.
Now you
have often heard me say that I will not debate that which is true, not with
Negroes and most certainly not with white folk, when it come to the issue of
Reparation / Repatriation.
You have also heard me say often time, when
we approach Reparation without Repatriation and our right to establish an
independent State in Afrika,
we leave ourselves to be tagged as money
hustlers and being insincere about
changing the condition of Black people,
here in the Diaspora as well as at home in Afrika.
Here is
what disturbs me about Negroes who think they know it all when it come to the
action of Chattel Slavery and the call for Reparation / Repatriation, but
consciously ignore the one that give true strength and nobility to the other and
that is Repatriation.
Chattel
Slavery is a creation of the Devil, call the white man and the moment
such an
evil act went into motion of implementation, it make the creator of the
evil
exclusively responsible for whatever take place under the action of that created
institution call Chattel Slavery.
So do
not approach me in an attempt to show good regard to this evil act, there is no
equality between the devil and its converts who assisted in the slave round -up,
who might happen to look like the victims, which I do not fully buy as being
what happen during the Slave round - up and even so, it does not exonerate the master planner of
evil, for if there was no plan there would have been no action and with no
action no crime.
So
please do not come to me in your effort to lend a hand to the devil in
your
effort to justify their action for Enslaving our Black Ancestors, by
claiming we also helped and I say so
what?
If I was not a part of the plan of evil and
was later taken advantage of and forced
to participate, either by hook or
trick or with a gun to my head, it does not lessen the severity of the crime and
the guilt of its creator.
On
August the 17th because we went half dressed in our efforts to make our case
for
Reparation we ended up looking just as the devil had proclaimed, just a
small band
of Black Capitalist looking for a way to suck the america
corporate tiddy in search
of some capital gain, as we did so by asking for
any and everything that we think might
increase our Capitalist status in
america.
How foolish and misguided can we be.
Reparation is not a Civil Rights Issue it is a Spiritual, Nationalist
Revolutionary Issue and without Repatriation as its side kick we leave ourselves
to look as if we are just pan handling.
August the 17th in D. C. under the banner
of Reparation we came off as being divided and confused. There was not unity in
thought about Reparation, some were saying money was not what is desired from
Reparation, some was saying entitlements are what we want and some just got
their kicks by stating it was time to just get paid and then there were those
who took delight in just brow beating the white man and sending empty covert
threats if we do not get paid.
Now tell
me is this the way we think our Ancestors would have been proud of
us
displaying such selfish and confused image of ourselves around
Reparation?
When was
there a Plebiscite Vote taken by the Diaspora descendants in order
to
determine how Reparation will be approached and in what form it will and
must come and who appointed this little motley crew to decide who it is our
people will hear on this Black Enslaved Ancestor issue?
Again I
say if this is an organization cult thing, then Reparation is dead before
it
can become alive. Hell yes when Reparation is paid the Civil Rights
Hustlers become jobless because we will have no more excuse to approach the
white man for anything in the way of demanding respect and justice in america
and that is why Reparation /
Repatriation and our Right to become self govern
in Afrika as the next new State to the
Union of Black Afrikan People, become
a just and noble cause. It straight out show a rejection of this evil devil of a
white man, whom some of us have grown to love more that self.
The question is asked who should pay and I
ask who is it that snatched my mother and father out of the arms of their
parents, I ask who it is that Raped my mother and castrated my father, I ask who
declared us being worth only 3/5 of the whole of the Hue-man Being and I say
whose idea it is that created into reality the most horrible inhumane murderous
institution to be socially constructed by a beastly man and referred to us as
Chattel, being held in Slavery at their command.
When you find out who it is that did such
an evil thing to our Black Afrikan Ancestors then you will know who it is that
should pay for such crimes and since the primary victims are not here in the
flesh, I stand angry as hell, to demand and accept payment and justly so,
because such will be used to restore us back Home, not as beggars, not as
settlers, not as immigrants, not with arrogance or the thought to force our way
on our brothers and sisters at home, but we come bearing gifts, more valuable
than all of the funny money america can print, we bring you the gift of
knowledge about self and the talents, both Spiritual and physical, in order to
transform and Emancipate the Black Afrikan Nation.
That is why the devil and empty head Negro
do not want the brothers and sisters in the Diaspora, here by way of the
Middle Passage to unite with the brothers and sisters at home, because such a
union produce that shining Black Dot of a Star, which
shone so bright in
yestertime, from the East, which showed the way to the gods of our Primeval
Black Afrikan Ancestors.
Another question is asked of us regarding
Reparation and it is, should Immigrants tax dollars go toward paying Reparation?
I say that is not a question for us, it is a question for the devil who created
this situation of Chattel Slavery, which produced what the immigrants are now
enjoying and paying allegiance to. The Enslaved Ancestors bill for the pain and
suffering, free labor and death goes to that institution which sanctified that
evil institution called Chattel Slavery.
The Call for Reparation/Repatriation must
be taken to the descendants of our
Enslaved Ancestors and in doing so, the
devil will have to capitulate to the offsprings of our Enslaved
Ancestors.
Nothing More Nothing
Less.
You May Take It Or Leave It
Along
It Is The Black Fool Who Say I Have
Lost Nothing In Afrika !!!
A Fool Is Verified By The Action Taken
After Which It Become A Statement Of Fact !
Peace And Honor To That Divine Prophet
The Most Honorable Marcus Garvey.
Complete Love To The Black Afrikan
Nation
Hoteph
And Black Power
Osiris
Chief Elder
The Sankofa Repatriation
Movement
The Pan - Afrikan Inter'National
Movement
The New Black Panther Nation - Minister
Malik Shabazz
*********
LAST BUT NOT
LEAST:
BY ALL
MEANS NECESSARY,
WE MUST
UNITE IN OUR FIGHT
TO
ACQUIRE REPARATIONS
NOW
IN OUR
LIFETIME
FOR
THE
BENEFIT
OF
OUR
HAPPINESS AND POSTERITY
AND
ALL OF
BLACK HUMANITY!
WE HAVE
SUFFERED
AND BEEN
THE TAIL AND BYWORD
FOR
LONG ENOUGH!!!
*********
If you
knew Who walked beside you,
you would
have no fear!!
Girlhome
*********
It Is The
Black Fool Who Say
I Have
Lost Nothing In Afrika!!
osiris
A fool is
verified by the action taken,
after
which it become a statement of fact.
osiris
*********
Hear the
Drum Beat of the
Diaspora
Afrikan
Diaspora Nation State
"Up You
Mighty Race"
*********
If you would like to make a
contribution to The LawKeepers,
Please E-mail The President of The LawKeepers at: MilzAhead@AOL.COM
Many thanks to everyone who
has submitted support and information for publication to help make OUR
Reparations Newsletter the success it is.
IF YOUR ORGANIZATION IS PLANNING A REPARATIONS RALLY, CONFERENCE, OR MARCH, PLEASE:
E-MAIL Afraqueen@AOL.COM TO POST YOUR SCHEDULED EVENT.
For
previous postings on REPARATIONS NOW IN OUR LIFE TIME and Newsletters, please go
to the following link and click on
“Repnow”:
www.thelawkeepers.org
This REPNOW Newsletter is The LawKeepers’ contribution to our cause. For information about our determination and direction, please feel free to visit our WebSite and Delphi Forum:
www.thelawkeepers.org
Yehudah
ben Yacob, President (MilzAhead@AOL.COM)
Nathaniel
Yisrael, Vice President
Tziona Yisrael, Executive Secretary
(Afraqueen@AOL.COM)
We Exalt and Sanctify the Most High GOD of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and
profess HIS Book of the Law,
as it is written, that HE gave to HIS Prophet
Moses.
Wisdom is the principal thing;
therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting, get understanding, Proverb 4:7 /
Deuteronomy 28th Chapter: The
African Slave Trade
Yehudah@wrightwebdesigns.com