I was assisted in writing this post by a bottle of Ornellaia – Le Serre Nuove 2020 Red Blend (Bolgheri, Italy). A fine Mediterranean “Super Tuscan” – a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah with Sangiovese. This wine is suitable for further aging. A good vintage that can only improve to great with time. Ripe. Warm. Concentrated. Full-bodied structure. High acidity. Moderate tannins. Opening with oak, vanilla, and chocolate. A sustain of blackberries, leather, and plums. Ending with toasted cinnamon, chocolate, and cherries. Smooth finish.
“To outline the problem is to chart the course of the Negro freedom movement. We have come to the day when a piece of freedom is not enough for us as human beings nor for the nation of which we are part. We have been given [and have accepted] pieces, but unlike bread, a slice of which does not diminish hunger, a piece of liberty no longer suffices. Freedom is like life. You cannot be given life in installments. You cannot be given breath but no body, nor a heart but no blood vessels. Freedom is one thing – you have it all, or you are not free.”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
I will be periodically posting random – contained thoughts and observations centered generally on reparations in batches of seven. Second Page.
I
What is going on in Evanston lately with the loud demand for cash payments instead of housing vouchers starkly reveals the gross incompetence of The NAARC – N’COBRA Axis when it comes to all Reparations matters. I personally have monitored this program since its inception. I explicitly asked Robin Rue Simmons not to do this under a Reparations banner. Now that folks have found their nuts and are now demanding for cash rather than being forced to accept toilets and Tootsie Rolls as Reparations – the mess is exposing itself further. The residents of Evanston in the beginning were demanding cash. And of course – the paternalistic trio of Robin Rue Simmons, Kamm Howard, and Dr. Ron Daniels said NO!!! “You are going to do this the way WE tell you to do this!” The heavy hand of the Axis.
Problem: Tax liability. Combined Illinois and Federal tax burden? 40%.
Eligible Evanston residents should get THE WHOLE $25,000 in cash.
And remember folks – this bullshit is supposed to be “a model” for other cities to emulate. If the Axis really knew what they were doing, there would have been the responsible pre-reparations legislative work done and put in place BEFORE the activation of any kind of “local reparations” programs even started. You know – “reparations experts” type stuff. LIKE? Approaching the Illinois State Assembly and the Governor to wholly exempt any “local reparations” disbursements from state income tax. Legislatively establishing a special categorization in perpetuity with state protections of the purposes, limits, and parameters of such programs.
After that is secured – THEN moving on to the federal level, to encourage legislation to make those same state and local-level disbursements exempt from taxation at the federal level with special categorization and protections. That’s what a “local reparations” program looks like when you know what you’re doing.
The other things that should be taken care of would be prohibitions on federal monies being used in “local reparations” programs. Along with certain warning clauses in these programs that should be done and embedded. Those clauses would establish that any “local reparations” disbursements and any contributions to a “local reparations fund” by cities, counties, states, educational entities, businesses, non-profits, certain individuals, and any other private, institutional, or public entities – should not be a matter of federal consideration in any future reparations calculus. Because slick people are using “local reparations” to get “in front” of anticipated potential federal-level liabilities being assessed and extracted.
This we must stop.
Those previous disbursements and contributions should not in any way modify, mitigate, or eliminate any future determinations of federal-level reparations liability owed (and to then be federally extracted) once any deprivations, injuries, and de facto policies previously done by such entities are proven, or any liabilities previously created are determined as such through forensic investigation by a federally established Freedmen’s Bureau. Does that make sense?
II
As many oughts that I have with Professor Black Truth – I must say that he was hitting on all cylinders with this one.
III
Rumors!? Folks keep telling me that Kamm Howard is Jamaican. Can’t find any substantiating information. How many American Freedmen do you know that are named “Kamm” though? If he is – that would explain a lot. Nothing about his family or kinships on the internet. Rumors!? Folks keep telling me that Robin Rue Simmons is Haitian. Can’t find any substantiating information. None. But folks in Evanston have told me that the Haitian community there is particularly protective of Ms. Simmons. OK. How many American Freedmen do you know that have the French middle or surname of “Rue” though? Just asking. They speak French in Haiti. There is a “Caribbean Hijack” of Reparations in Evanston and nationally.
Notice this: In Kamm Howard’s poorly written and illogically laid-out book – “Laying the Foundation For Local Reparations” – ISBN 9798657538717. The first printing of which has “Reparations” misspelled on the front cover.
On pages 14 to 17 of that book there is a spreadsheet of sorts laying out the components of NAARC, Evanston, and Chicago reparations plans. Page 15 has NAARC demanding a “reparations and African knowledge program.” Page 16 has a box for Evanston that says “Write a Check(!?)” I kid you not. Along with boxes for some “Matching Funds(?), a Sovereign Fund(?), an Art Gallery(?), support for Caribbean Activities(?), a connection to Africa(?).” OK. Page 16 also has a box in the Chicago column for a “Private Reparations Fund.” Sounds Caribbean to me.
What “Caribbean Activities” should funds that should be going exclusively into the bank accounts of descendants of persons enslaved in America be supporting? And finally – page 17 has in the Evanston column a box for “Trauma Services Theater Therapy” (not a misprint). What psychotherapist does that? What the hell is it?
Oh – by the way. The Pan Africans in our Reparations issue have put their Caribbeans in control of key aspects of our Reparations struggle. From Sheila Jackson Lee at the top – to people like Yvette Modestin and Lionel Jean Baptiste in the middle and bottom. We gotta TAKE our issue back and clean house. Now…
IV
Pan Africanism is an elegantly strange construction. In that as a moniker leading to its dictionary definition, is not corrupt in itself. We have thirteen letters benignly encapsulating an aspirational political philosophy of potential unity and exchange. Something that could be good if it worked. Not corrupt Family. But the filthy Pan Africanism as practiced by The NAARC – N’COBRA Axis – demands corruption. To be wholly operative and to fulfill its assigned mission – it has to. It must.
Just to be clear folks. All corrupt and deprivative acts and practices are not necessarily synonymous with illegal or “criminal acts” in an American de jure sense. Some acts and practices can be quite legal. Everything that the Axis does as far as I can see, and as of this writing is legal. Like redlining was simultaneously deprivative and legal. Slavery was simultaneously heinous and legal. Get It?
When white men openly RAPED our grandmothers – that was legal. GET IT?
Understand: A simultaneity of White Supremacy and Pan Africanism has been duplicitously rendered to us by being filtered through Red, Black, and Green lenses. It’s hard to see the White Supremacy behind the kufis and daishikis.
The power structure figured out that Pan Africanism is the best vehicle to effect a stealth mission to undermine a Pure Reparations advocation movement and potential Reparations program. To use a non-existent – illusive Diasporan unity to off-track our attention and energy from a reparative federal conclusion. White Supremacy found The NAARC – N’COBRA Axis to be the most capable of duping the Black American public. Those kufis and raggedy dreadlocks sealed the deal.
Some of the highest incomes can be made by American Freedmen in this country if you participate in the political-distraction complex. Professional ballers plying their trade in highly distractive spectator sports like basketball and football. Rappers injecting the normalization of degeneracy, profligacy, and fratricide into the minds of our male children. Prostitution and stripper culture promoted to Black women and girls as the ideal feminine. And you can get well paid cosplaying Africans and selling fake reparations programs to states and municipalities. Big money there.
Only a few seem to notice that those “local reparations” programs use every possible means to keep CASH PAYMENTS away from Freedmen (fortunately some of us are now noticing). The NAARC – N’COBRA Axis – is just following the instructions of the Democratic Party and empowered White liberals as they have been assigned to do. “Caribbeans? Any Nigger will do!” (white supremacy). “As long as the mission to kill Reparations is accomplished. That has to be done.”
Remember: “As they are assigned to do” Family. The assignment is to take and/or redirect Reparations resources. To absorb, miseducate, and use all Freedmen legislative incumbents. Through those Freedmen incumbents – they can keep a chokehold around the (our) Reparations issue. We can see right now how they’ve poisoned the movement with the nefarious introduction of “local reparations.” Propagating that “this is a first step” nonsense. Anyone going along with any “first step” bullshit is either an idiot, an operative, or a collaborator with the enemy.
Suspects!
I have a book: “The Handbook of Reparations” – ISBN 978-0-19-929192-2 – by Pablo De Greiff. This book goes into detail about every major accomplished reparations program throughout the world. I read the whole 1020 pages. Even though each program is profoundly different and designed with different ends, there were three commonalities that were consistent across all programs. They are: 1. Narrow and clear specificity regarding the group that should be reparated. 2. Coherency as far as what the components of a particular reparations program should be. And 3. All of those programs were enacted, administered, and expended only from the federal level. The Axis offers none of this certainty and sophistication. We deserve better.
Make no mistake Family – if White Supremacy deems it necessary, the Axis will load us into the ovens. Shove us off a cliff with no reserve. That’s who they are.
V
Pharoah of Chicago agrees with Dr. Darity that Reparations payments should not be overseen, guided, exceptionalized, nor paternalized.
VI
I have several oughts with “The Black Authority” as well. BUT!!! This is INTERESTING – Watch This:
VII
In a capitalist country – Politics, Economics, and Business are the only things that matter. Everything operational in this world – including your patronization of spectator sports, whom you choose to have sex with (or not), where you buried your parents, and what brand of sneakers you prefer to buy, comes under one or more sub-categories within the main categories of Politics, Economics, and Business. NOW – we should remember Jim Crow and Black Codes. A stack of laws – that politically decided where you could eat, where you could use the rest room, how you could walk on a sidewalk. Insane White versus Black tribalism. See?
Politics – Economics – Business
Transcontinental tribalism is the primary reason why Africa as a whole is a failure. That same tribalism enabled tribes in opposition and collaboration to gather our ancestors and sell them to the Europeans. Africa’s misfortune. Wasteful. (!) But wastefulness is where we are going within the Reparations movement. In Africa, the tribalism there is more understandable. Between tribes – folks are culturally, phenotypically, religiously, and linguistically different. Easy to see and do.
But “tribalism” between us? Here? The descendants of American slaves? We may differ phenotypically, even within immediate families. But within the forty plus millions of us – we are the most related genetically, most connected culturally, and most linguistically joined than any other people on the planet. Whether you go to Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Kansas City, Atlanta, or the Sea Islands – You are Them and They are You. The intra-beefs are destroying the powerful utility of our relatedness. I call it “Blood-and-Crip-ism.” An internal ground game that we play only between ourselves – with the self-imposed finality of death concluding the end game. The enemy chills at the end of the end game. Holding a prison cell for the winner – and a casket for the loser. That is the clear and ultimate reality.
Understand? It’s wake-up and reset time.
END OF POST
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976: Allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair Use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.
I was assisted in writing this post by a bottle of Chateau Leoville Poyferre – Saint-Julien (Grand Cru Classe) Bordeaux Red Blend 2008. I know. I know. This shit is $125.00 – but ain’t a brother allowed to treat himself SOMETIMES? A 4.2 Point killer Bordeaux. I think it’s at least a 4.7 Pointer. Bold. Dry. Tight structure. Leading with oak, cassis, and plums. A sustain of tobacco, black cherries, and jam. Ending with ripe blackberries, plums, and smoke. Medium savory finish.
“… The slave experience and White racism has been extremely costly to Blacks.
It will continue to be costly in a myriad of ways for Blacks and the nation until White America reparates and repents its exploitative racist past and present. A decision by White America to immediately cease and desist its racist practices against Black America and engage in a range of affirmative action initiatives will not suffice to repay Blacks the damages which have been done to them.
Only Reparations can economically redeem the injustices of slavery and White supremacy.”
Dr. Amos N. Wilson (1998)
This is a reposting and expansion of a Twitter “direct message” conversation between myself and a sincere brother whom is definitely a lineage-based Reparationist. This conversation was done from 02/10/2023 till 02/12/2023. The things that he is raising here I feel are ideas to make sure that those that are eligible are getting what they are due. I do have pushback here – but not from the standpoint of what the brother is attempting to accomplish, but just from a political strategy standpoint. Let me make clear that I do not doubt the sincerity of this brother to get Reparations accomplished. This is a sincere exchange between two folks trying to get the job done. Don’t put anything else in it.
This dialogue began with the good brother (named “QUERY” here) posting a link to a U.S. Department of the Interior website (linked below). Paged “Tribes” – and subpaged “Tribal Enrollment Process.” This subpage explains the tribal enrollment process, its purposes, tribal membership requirements, how to enroll, and locating what particular tribe you may belong to. I read the subpage. There were several eligibility processes and required proofs described that mirror and/or overlap the eligibility proofs and processes that we require to establish eligibility for lineage-based Reparations. I did find the website and what he was proposing interesting.
But the part that we centered our exchange on primarily was what the website describes as: “Tribal Blood Quantum.” QUERY describes a Freedmen version as “Native Blood Quantum.” This being accomplished via “Genetic DNA Sampling.” So – myself (named “RESPONSE” here), being a devoted “Darityism” disciple naturally pushed back and calmly spelled out my objections. I did some expansion (and grammatical corrections) on our original dialogue for the sake of this post.
QUERY: To your recent post… I’ve sent this information to five people who have some connection to the Reparations movement with no response. You’re the last person I’m sending this to privately before I start broadcasting it.
To the question of: “How can a race-based qualifier stand up to constitutional scrutiny?” In reference to the “must have lived as a Black American for the last ten or so years” in many Reparations legislations and discussions. I believe there is a solution which would remove this race-based qualifier.
The short version is this: There is a problem with the constitutionality of the current proposed identification of whom is eligible for Reparations. I believe this solution covers two critical areas that are not race-based but would be firmly lineage-based and can be proven [both] legally and scientifically:
Genetic DNA sampling.
I propose the process starts with lineage documentation through genealogical records which everyone agrees with. Usage of the “Freedmen Descendant” status as a matter of law. Removing the race-based requirement of “ten years of living as Black” – to this:
Allowing for random genetic sampling – not 100% – but maybe 10% or whatever is legally acceptable and also using the same genetic sampling to mount legal challenges to anyone who is not phenotypically Black American. Meaning they look white, but still have Descendant lineage, or they are clearly of Diasporan lineage. Because genetics do not confirm race and have no basis in racial classification – but are an accepted legal basis for paternity which is lineage. And DNA is used to connect people groups to specific geographic locations – it would provide a legally acceptable means to protect Reparations from outsider fraud.
Because Black populations all around the planet have different admixtures, it is highly likely Black Americans are unique. And this can be proven to be a legal standard in the event a sufficient paper trail cannot be established. And again – done as a preventative measure against fraudulent claims. My suspicion is this barrier would reduce fraud, and [this should] only be used in [clarifying] a small percentage of claims.
Ty Burrell [1] and Joe Manganiello [2] having Lineage are two compelling examples of why this is necessary. The constitutionality of this is the legal hurdle that must be overcome. I believe using Native Blood Quantum legal doctrine gives us this constitutional window. Nearly every [Native American Tribe] still uses Blood Quantum to determine eligibility for membership. The Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs also recognizes this system.
DNA genetic testing is an updated version of Blood Quantum eligibility, as far as I can determine. It removes the race qualifier and is based on current and historic legal precedent. I have a list of ten or so links and a few pictures to share also, if you are interested in looking deeper into this.
Query’sReferences 1 and 2:
[1] Ty Burrell (Tyler Gerald Burrell) is an American actor and comedian. He is mostly of English and German descent. He discovered through “Finding Your Roots” that he is also of African descent through his four times great-grandmother, a formerly enslaved girl from Tennessee who became a homesteader in Oregon. But his going-far-back chain of government paperwork says “Caucasian.” A “declared” white man. Ineligible according to the Darity standard. Permanently.
[2] Joe Manganiello (Joseph Michael Manganiello) is an American actor. He is mostly of German and Armenian descent. He discovered through “Finding Your Roots” that his mixed-race paternal grandfather was African American. His paternal lineage was traced back to Manganiello’s fifth great-grandfather. His great-grandfather’s name was Plato Turner – an African slave who was freed before slavery was abolished in Massachusetts, who then went on to fight for the Continental Army during the American Revolution. His government paperwork says “Caucasian.” Ineligible according to the Darity standard. Permanently.
RESPONSE: Several constitutional lawyers/scholars (notably Erwin Chemerinski) have found no problems constitutionally with the Darity eligibility standard.
One part establishes natural lineage from American slavery and/or free American residency during a particular time period. The other part establishes self and parentally intentional legal identification (such as: continuous in-born American citizenship; chain of relatedness to originally enslaved people; chain of relatedness to what can be called North American domiciled “indigenous” or pre-slavery Black people; chain of relatedness to 1865 manumitted and free Black people that were originally counted in the 1870 Census; how you and/or your parents/grandparents identify/identified you/yourself and lineaged relations intentionally).
Race does bleed into this. But race is not the BASIS. Intentional, continuous, and specific injury is the BASIS. And it just so happens that those who were primarily and historically injured in this case were originally enslaved and imported Africans (along with free and indigenous Blacks). We have millions of records and books and living testimonies proving this. A great and undeniable history. But because of genetic admixtures that are all over the place in our case (I have folks in my family that look white – but are adamant about their Blackness) – Blood Quantum testing would be a nightmare to be sure (an unneeded added complexity).
AND – I do wish that folks would stop bringing DNA into our equation. In our case – the Darity standard is the best solution. In any program [where direct cash payments are involved] – you are gonna have a few frauds that slip through. For us, maybe plus or minus 3%. Add in some harsh federal penalties for Reparations fraud – maybe we could get that potential down to 1%. Some motherfuckers are always gonna try it. At the same time, I understand your point. But in our case – race happens to be a secondary consequence and proximation to the BASIS. Which is slavery and post-slavery injuries. The United States Supreme Court understands this. And this is why if this is challenged – it will still pass constitutional muster. Even if that court is entirely composed of conservative justices.
Blood Quantum testing makes sense for American Indians because tribal bloodlines have remained relatively stable over centuries, and you are targeting a more or less “contained” population. Whereas our enslaved “tribe” has been “open-ended” over centuries as far as diverse genetic inputs – even up till freedom, being continuously infused into our already complicated racial mosaic. In our case, let’s say an African DNA percentage standard was established that you had to meet or surpass.
Consider This:
In your own family you would see a bunch of folks (lineaged from American slaves) being disqualified. And I mean real folks in your family that would be qualified without a hitch under the Darity standard. In my family A WHOLE BUNCH OF US would be disqualified. Out! I have twin cousins that surely are darker than me – but they amazingly, have a higher percentage of Caucasoid genetics than I do. So slippery phenotypical qualifiers can definitely go out the door as well. I’d rather not introduce more and unnecessary complexity to the eligibility process. I would rather keep it straight and simple.
QUERY: Interesting… I’d love to see any case law that establishes race as an acceptable secondary consequence. I was under the impression based on Erwin Chemerinski’s testimony that the race-based qualifier would be an issue? This is relieving information. I appreciate you taking time to discuss this.
RESPONSE: Recent case law has been careful to not establish race as an acceptable secondary consequence. Lately courts have been using a judicial evaluative tool called “strict scrutiny” before they allow litigants to move forward substantially with any “race-based” litigation. And all adjudications regarding race recently have been guided and concluded by and in varying degrees by this. For our purposes – in regards to Reparations – race has been reduced to a “happenstantial” position. It is just that the injured majority in our case “happens to be Black.” Understand?
An extreme example: Let’s say a white person is walking through a Black neighborhood and a horrific gas explosion occurs. Many casualties happen. The majority of folks killed in this incident – 99% were Black (mind you – this is still “happenstantial”). The white guy is also killed. But does the fact that he is not Black exclude his family from compensation? No! “Injury” always has to be the centerpiece. The part regarding eligibility as far as self-identification is not so much about “race” – but about an individual presenting the most accurate identification and [that person] legally establishing [with legally certified and state authorized documents] the highest likelihood of belonging to the injured group. That is and as it should be – just the uncomplicated and straightforward requirements.
Let’s see what Erwin Chemerinski has to say on the subject of “Strict Scrutiny:”
I. [It is] clearly established that racial classifications will be allowed only if the government can meet the heavy burden of demonstrating that the discrimination is necessary to achieve a compelling government purpose. In other words, the government must show an extremely important reason for its action and it must demonstrate that the goal cannot be achieved through any less discriminatory alternative. The Court has expressly declared that all racial classifications – whether disadvantaging or helping minorities – must meet strict scrutiny.
II. Ironically, the Supreme Court first articulated the requirement for strict scrutiny for discrimination based on race and national origin in Korematsu v. United States, which upheld the constitutionality of the relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II. The Court declared: “[A]ll legal restrictions which curtail the civil rights of a single racial group are immediately suspect. That is not to say that all such restrictions are unconstitutional. It is to say that courts must subject them to the most rigid scrutiny. Pressing public necessity may sometimes justify the existence of such restrictions; racial antagonism never can.
III. …it is firmly established that race and national origin classifications must meet the most exacting standard of judicial review. Such discrimination will be tolerated only if the government can prove that it is necessary to achieve a compelling government purpose.
Pages 752 and 753: Constitutional Law 6th Edition (2019) – by Erwin Chemerinski
QUERY: OK. So based on this explanation – it sounds like you are open to the idea of what many would consider as “white passing” being accepted as eligible for Reparations; which I believe strengthens the legal idea of it being race-neutral since it would include some non-Black people.
As my family has the admixture of European, Native American, and African.
RESPONSE: Just about every Freedman / ADOS / Foundational Black American has the same genetic mixtures in different proportions with the African portion being the most highlighted for our purposes. I have a few members of my family that can “white pass” on the street. But their paperwork to a man says Negro / Black / African American, etc. In our instance and our purposes – regardless of phenotype – if their PAPERWORK (birth certificate, etc.) labels them as anything other than – Black / Negro / African American – that automatically takes them out of eligibility. We are too good at records today. Especially in the past fifty years.
QUERY: Got you.
RESPONSE: Would it be okay to make this conversation part of a blogpost (without identifying you – of course)?
QUERY: Definitely. I will continue to believe [that] using genetic lineage is a legally indisputable and constitutional method for anyone who may not have adequate paperwork beyond 1900. [There are] small pockets of our population, especially those who migrated north and West and lost connection to the South – including orphans, adopted, and others who can simply connect to their roots with a simple scientific test. I’d love to read the article.
END OF DIALOGUE
POST-DIALOGUE COMMENTARY
I
What is “Blood Quantum?” This is a highly controversial measurement of the amount of “Indian blood” that may be part of your genetics. If you believe you are Native American – this can affect your identity, your relationships, and whether or not you – or your children can become a citizen of the tribe that you belong to.
This was initially a system that the federal government imposed onto tribes in an effort to limit their citizenship (thereby limiting reparations expenditures as much as possible). Several Native nations, including the Navajos, and some specific Chippewa sub-tribes, still use this method as part of their citizenship requirements. And how tribes use a quantum varies from tribe to tribe. The Navajos require a minimum of 25 percent “Navajo blood.” The Turtle Mountain Chippewas require a minimum of 25 percent of any Indian blood, as long as it’s in combination with some “Turtle Mountain blood.” Understand Family – this is quite problematic.
Why is this problematic? Because tribes are highly racialized.
A good way to understand the problematics is to know that there is a history of Freedmen whom are Black individuals who were living as fully incorporated members of Indian tribes. And when the original tribal enrollments were taken (starting at the turn of the 20th Century), oftentimes those Freedmen were not included – even though those individuals were of mixed heritage: Black and Native American. And because of their Black appearance (phenotype malfunction!), they were listed on a separate roll. So at present, the ramification is that they do not have that original enrollee ancestor documented as a full tribal member. They do not have enough blood quantum, and therefore cannot be extended tribal membership.
Primary Native American identity is actually a political thing. And “Blood Quantum” is disturbingly related to something that American Freedmen are more familiar with. How about the “one-drop-rule?” As we should know – that “one-drop-rule” measured the amount of “Black blood” (How?) that Black folks had in society. This is phenotypic racism. An ensurance that every person that had that one drop would be circumscribed under Jim Crow – and earlier, fully enslaved.
“Blood Quantum” emerged out of the white mind as a way to measure “Indian-ness” through a construct of race. Their white-assed thinking was that over time, Indians would breed themselves out and eventually relieve the federal government of their legal duties to uphold treaty obligations and to slowly mitigate reparations payments to as close to nothing as possible. Is there a lesson for us here?
“Redbone?” – “High Yella?” Where’d that come from? OK?
As an extension of this conversation – read this article that was recently sent to me by Query. I think you will find this to be quite interesting. The lady in the middle of the first picture reminds me a little of Queen Mother Moore. From this – you can figure why the uncomplicated Darity standard is probably the best way to go.
As far as those that are adopted or orphaned: Adopted? The adopted person legally takes on the legal lineage of the adopting individual(s). So – if the adopting parent is a Freedman – upon the entry of the final adoption decree, the now adopted child is treated by law (in all possible and natural respects) as if he or she had been born to the adopting parents. That adopted child, therefore, gains the right to inherit from the adoptive parents and adoptive parents relatives. As long as that child stays within that legally relationed loop – there should be no problem. So, any kind of genetic testing would not be needed here. Even within a reparations context.
The only aspect of this situation that would have to be worked out through a commission – is the scenario where a Freedman child is adopted by white or other non-Freedman parents. And that is because that child’s biological parents’ parental rights were terminated – so that child would have no automatic legal rights to their inheritance or assets. That legal connection would be instead transferred to that child’s adoptive parents. There could be a special standard established for this.
Orphaned? In this case – we are talking about a living person that was orphaned and does not know who their parents are. In a first world country. This is a special case that does not require paperwork going back to 1900 and beyond. Even if an individual was abandoned in let’s say 1930 (as of this writing that would make him/her 93 years of age) any good genealogist can “construct” a lineage. It would have been nearly impossible to have been born in this country after 1900 and NOT leave some kind of potentially researchable and reconstructable trail. Impossible.
And since we now have the accurate government-generated data that Diasporans did not start coming into this country in substantial numbers until after 1965? And if this person was born within the second and third quarters of the 20th Century? OK? What are the chances that this individual is probably a Freedman? And that establishment can be done in certainty without any blood or DNA testing.
III
Complexity can introduce non-productive opposing arguments and the “what ifs” and “whataboutisms” that can open the door to more unneeded “ideas” – both valid and invalid. These late “additions to the issue” can be used by Reparations opponents to bog down a movement they don’t want to exist in the first place. Bifurcations, trifurcations, unnecessary details, and the hot divisions and special categories some of us come up with – these things only empower the enemy.
We are ethnically at a point of convergence now. We can no longer hang on to past disaggregations being fanned as a point of argument. Whether your lineage here began as indigenous, enslaved, free Negroes, part Native American, or whatever?
Understand:
Unless your lineage impossibly stayed genetically pure – socially isolated – and tribally separated from the rest of us every day from 500 years ago till now – you would be in the wrong space. Because if you were able to accomplish that – you arein the wrong place. You’d need to be about the business of pushing your own claim. And writing a book as well – because that would be one hell of an accomplishment.
This is American Freedmen space over here, doing something particular for us. (!) I think we as a practical legal and legislative strategy need to focus on our 21st Century relatedness rather than on 500-years-past disaggregated starting points. Blood Quantum? This is just my opinion Family. Please share and comment.
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976: Allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair Use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.
I was assisted in this republishing by a bottle Folie a Deux – Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel 2017 (Sonoma California). A deep red Zinfandel. Cheap! Only $21.00. Concrete structure. Bold. Smooth – moderate tannins. Soft acidity. Moderately dry. Leading with oak, scotch, and blackberries. A sustain of vanilla, raspberries, and cream. Ending in cherries, mocha, and spice. Long – fluid finish.
“New York City and southern cotton were a matched pair, sewn together by financial rewards and economic expansion. By the eve of the war, hundreds of businesses in New York, and countless more throughout the north, were connected to, and dependent on, cotton. As New York became the fulcrum of the U.S. cotton trade, merchants, shippers, auctioneers, bankers, brokers, insurers, and thousands of others were drawn to the burgeoning urban center. They packed lower Manhattan, turning it into the nation’s emporium, in which products from all over the world were traded. Before the Civil War, the city’s fortunes and its economic development were considered by many to be inseparable from those of the cotton producing states.”
Dr. William A. Darity and A. Kirsten Mullen – Page 53: From Here to Equality
I ran across this while I was looking for something else online.
I stopped and read this. I think this is one of the most important short pieces written by Dr. Darity and his wife A. Kirsten Mullen. It was originally published on the Roosevelt Institute Blog. With his permission, I reposted it here. Even though this was written in 2020 – I think it deserves a serious second look in 2023. We all need to read, think on, and digest what is being expressed here. It’s worth it.
True Reparations Are a National Debt:
Localities and Individuals Should Not Foot the Bill and Cannot Build Systemic Remedies Alone
February 25, 2020
The reparations debate is longstanding and deep-rooted. In our book, “From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the 21st Century – First Edition” (University of North Carolina Press, 2020 – there is now a 2022 Second Edition – linked above), we advance the following general definition of reparations: “a program of acknowledgement, redress, and closure for a grievous injustice.”
Acknowledgement is the admission of wrong and the declaration of responsibility for restitution by the culpable party. Redress is the act of restitution – compensation for the wrong – carried out by the culpable party. Closure is the settling of accounts between the victimized community and the culpable party – the arrival at conciliation. [1] Closure means that the debt has been paid and that the victimized community will make no further claims for restitution, barring the occurrence of new atrocities or the recurrence of old atrocities.
I. An Appropriate Level of Restitution
The specific case for reparations for Black American descendants of United States slavery is predicated on 10 the cumulative damages of slavery; 2) nearly a century-long epoch of legal segregation (known as the Jim Crow era) and white terrorism; and 3) the ongoing harms of racialized mass incarceration, police executions of unarmed blacks, credit, housing, and employment discrimination, as well as the enormous racial wealth gap. We do not assign blame for this litany of harms to specific individuals or institutions. We must emphasize: black reparations are not a matter of personal or singular institutional guilt; black reparations are a matter of national responsibility.
In our estimation, black-white wealth inequality is the most powerful indicator of the full effects of racial injustice in the United States. Black Americans constitute about 13 percent of the nation’s population but own less than 3 percent of the nation’s wealth. Although there are many ways to calculate reparations, including an estimation of the present value of the time stolen from the enslaved or the present value of the 40-acre land grants promised – but denied – to the freedmen, we believe that a true reparations policy must make the black wealth share at least consistent with the black share of the American population. This will necessitate building the eligible black American level of asset holdings by $10 to $12 trillion, or approximately $250,000 for each black individual.
So, who should pay the bill? In From Here to Equality, we argue that the culpable party is the United States government. Authority is constructed and contextual, and all three phases of atrocities catalogued here were products of the legal and authority framework established by the federal government. In many instances, the federal government further sanctioned racial atrocities by silence and inaction.
This means, in turn, that local or piecemeal – little by little – attempts at racial atonement do not constitute reparations proper. In many instances. local initiatives that parade under the label of “reparations” are not that at all. Local government actions called “reparations” – whether at the state or municipal level – frequently constitute an admission that atrocities have been committed followed by allocations for research, or the construction of centers, rather than compensatory payments to black Americans. However, these scattered steps to stop an ongoing harm do not heal the wound produced by the harm; usually, they do not involve any compensatory payment.
Even if they do afford compensatory payment, a series of local initiatives is highly unlikely to match the minimum bill for black reparations. As we noted above, it will require at least $10 trillion to eliminate the black-white wealth disparity. Taken separately or collectively, there is no evidence that local “reparations” will come close to addressing the full scope of the measured harm or achieving an appropriate level of restitution.
II. A Look at Piecemeal “Reparations”
Efforts are underway in Maryland to establish a fund that would provide support for in-state college tuition and low interest loans for mortgages to persons who can provide proof that they are descendants of an ancestor enslaved in the state of Maryland. Indeed, the present version of the proposed legislation has a provision for “applicants [who] can provide concrete proof of how many years of forced labor their ancestor endured [to] be eligible to receive back pay for that person’s lost wages.” However, the current plan would permit persons who are living as white and have an ancestor enslaved in Maryland to qualify for access to the fund.[2]
This strategy potentially creates huge inequities in the outlays across descendants of the enslaved, so, here are several questions that demand answers. Would multiple descendants be eligible to receive lost wages from the same ancestor? Would a general application of the Maryland principle across all states exclude black descendants of United States slavery now living in states other than the ones where their enslaved ancestors were captives? What is the logic of giving the unpaid wages of a single enslaved ancestor to individuals who may have had multiple enslaved ancestors? Would larger payouts go to individuals whose ancestors survived to live the longest number of years of forced labor under the slavery system?
And this question is fundamental: Why should a living descendant’s compensation be tied to the exploitation of a single enslaved ancestor of theirs, instead of being determined by the long-term impact of the slavery regime on their life today?
Moreover, given the global objective of eliminating the black-white wealth disparity, there is no assurance that the unspecified amounts of “back pay for [an ancestor’s] lost wages” will close the gap. Total expenditures for state governments in fiscal year 2020, for all purposes, will be approximately $2 trillion, which is nowhere near the at least $10 trillion required to close the wealth gap. Notably, unlike the federal government, state governments are not the purveyors of a sovereign currency that would enable them to be unconstrained by an advance collection of tax revenues.
Not only is Maryland’s proposal piecemeal, but the plan also demonstrates the paternalistic tendency to limit the burden of restitution to the heirs of “our own slaves,” rather than recognizing the structural and all-encompassing nature of the system of American slavery and the need to confront its legacy at the national level.
The state of Maryland is one of several entities moving to admit their institutional or personal complicity with American slavery while, also, establishing “reparations” funds to compensate those persons identified as descendants of the direct victims of their individual states’, institutions’, or families’ immoral practices.
Another example is Georgetown University, where students are attempting to provide recompense to the descendants of the 272 enslaved persons who were sold to deep south planters by the Jesuits in order to ensure the survival of the school. The sale itself was an act embedded in the structural conditions of a racialized, slavery-based society and had adverse ramifications – much like all such exchanges – on more black people than the 272, themselves. Each transaction that involved the sale of human beings reinforced the slave order.
Today, there are an estimated 12 to 15,000 descendants of the 272 persons sold by the Jesuits in 1838; there are an estimated 20,000 descendants of all persons enslaved by the Jesuits in Maryland. Georgetown’s leadership now says it will allocate $400,000 per annum as a compensatory measure for the descendants. Even using the lowest estimate of the descendant population, $400,000 only amounts to $33 per person each year.
Today, Georgetown University’s endowment is approximately $1.62 billion, generating “earnings” of about $83 million; $400,000 is less than 0.1 percent of that number. In 1838, the 272 enslaved persons were sold for $115,000. The value of that sum compounded to the present at 5 percent interest amounts to $787 million; $400,000 is less than .01 percent of that number. To achieve the $10 trillion minimum necessary to eradicate the black-white wealth disparity – whether contributions come from individuals, families, or institutions – would require the massive task of assembling 25 million donors with each giving $400,000, the same amount as Georgetown’s annual pledge.
III. Making the Case for Systemic Reparations
While piecemeal initiatives of the type pursued by the state of Maryland or Georgetown University are admirable in their acknowledgement of the existence of a debt – and though they may salve guilty consciences – these incremental initiatives will not lead to fundamental change in the conditions of structural racial economic inequality. This essential transformative change demands action from the core institution that established and maintained the system of racial injustice, the federal government. The nation must be held accountable, and the federal government must meet the debt. As stated above, state governments, specifically, have neither the obligation nor the capacity to execute an appropriate comprehensive plan for black reparations.
Additionally, the focus on piecemeal “reparations” is customarily limited to the horrors of slavery, and far less attention is devoted to the damages of the Jim Crow regime or the consequences associated with ongoing harms. An exception that proves the rule is the peculiar fixation on using taxes from the sale of legalized marijuana to compensate over-incarcerated black people on minor drug charges. Federal laws concerning drug possession created the window for this form of over-incarceration. This strategy entirely bypasses the compensation merited by over-incarcerated black people for other reasons or not incarcerated at all but subjected to police abuse, and, again, it will do little to eradicate the black-white wealth gap.
So, what should states, municipalities, churches, universities, families, and individuals do who admit their historical complicity with slavery? We contend that they should coalesce to form a consortium that aggressively petitions Congress to enact a comprehensive national program of reparations for all black American descendants of persons enslaved in the United States. This collective effort will be of much greater value to black American descendants of persons enslaved in the US than a string of individual steps to undertake reparations piece by piece.
[1] We prefer to refer to “conciliation” rather than “reconciliation” because in all cases of grievous injustice there has not been a prior historical moment of relative harmony and goodwill between the perpetrator and the victim.
[2] Indeed, to avoid this weakness, in FROM HERE TO EQUALITY, we recommend TWO criteria for eligibility for payment from a national plan for black reparations. First, an individual must demonstrate that they have at least one ancestor who was enslaved in the US; and, second, an individual must demonstrate that they self-identified as Black, African American, or Negro at least 12 years before the enactment of a black reparations policy or enactment of a study commission for black reparations, whichever comes first.
END OF POST
Be sure to read the report: “Resurrecting the Promise of 40 Acres: The Imperative of Reparations for Black Americans” via thislink.
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976: Allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair Use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.
I was assisted in writing this post by a bottle of Piccini Sasso al Poggio Toscana 2018 Red Blend (Central Italy). A high-scoring drinkable for under $20.00. A deft blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Sangiovese. Bold. Strong structure. Balanced dryness. Moderate tannins and acidity. Leading with oak, vanilla, and dark chocolate notes. A sustain of black cherries, ripe plums, and smoke. Ending in leather, elderberries, and dry vanilla. Long – plush – luscious finish.
“Salvation for a race, nation or class must come from within. Freedom is never granted; it is won. Justice is never given; it is exacted.”
A. Philip Randolph
Family – we have to get to the point real quick that we can afford each other.
The Reparations train is rolling powerfully and quickly in the wrong direction. We are at the switch, but we are too busy bickering over indigenousness, indian-ness, and other nonsense to notice that switch needs to be pulled. Right now, the Pan Africans, the Government, the expatriated African Diaspora, the white liberals, the domestic and international white media, and Black conservatives have checked out our internal disunity. Our lack of political astuteness. Our Freedman to Freedman pettiness. Our lack of understanding the need for non-Freedman allies in certain places. If we don’t wake up we will lose this fight.
I
Understand Family. The game that The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis is playing on us is not “Divide and Conquer” – nope not that. The effective game is “Divide and Dissipate” – a different game altogether. During the time that the old-timers in the movement were still operating under the ADOS hashtag, and in the early months of the “Freedman Divestiture” from ADOS – there was too much focus, energy, and activism directed towards the federal Government and the inadequacy of HR40.
Something needed to be done to break that focus up. So if you are playing political chess, especially against a group that is not especially studied-up on political strategy – you come up with something shiny and positive-looking like “Local Reparations.” Run around the country with this. Encourage white legislators and communities with a way out to assuage their guilt. Present Black legislators with a life preserver to assist them in covering up their underperformance in serving their constituents. Provide governors and mayors with a great public relations tool to keep their present positions and/or move on to higher office. At our expense.
Every state, county, and municipal Reparations commission or task force (except California) that formulates across this country is a polite form of political arson. The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis has been duly assigned by the Democratic Party to do the long-term project management of slowly destroying Reparations. The Axis is being substantially funded by certain wealthy white individuals and white-liberal run foundations to disrupt the developing demand for Reparations. To confuse the issue. To finesse the definition. Having us running here. Then running there.
Then running off a cliff. Just Evil.
But we cannot allow open evil to evoke open emotionality from us. Family! This is a game. Family! And we have to PLAY to win. Family! We are in the FINALS of a series that started in 1619. Family! As we head into these FINALS – I want all of us to be clear on what we are up against. Because we have to shut down the fires in order to get to reparational clarity. Understand. There are three base reasons why a “local or institutional reparations” program is created. And they are these:
These Number One: Any “local reparations” program that is created by The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis is directly for the purposes of advocacy dissipation and the disruption of focus towards a properly rendered federal reparations bill. This was mandated by the Democratic Party and financed by outside but associated institutions and individuals that are set against Reparations being accomplished.
Wake up your discerning mind and really look at how HR40 is worded. If that dirty rag ever became law, it would be begging for the Supreme Court to kill it. And that is precisely what The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis wants to happen Family. To destroy Reparations. Full Stop. I cannot say this any louder. The real money is made on the continuance of the issue. Not on the accomplishment of Reparations. And with those Reparations – if accomplished – potentially being received, managed, and distributed from within the safe federal confines of a “Freedmen’s Bureau?”
OH NO! Can’t have that.
These Number Two: Cities and certain slavery-built institutions that understand their historic and very expensive culpability in the slavery enterprise and/or their participation in post-slavery deprivative practices see the Reparations train coming. And they know they are on or will be put on the to-do-list. What these lawyered-up motherfuckers are doing is getting ahead of the full potential liability through some fractional “acknowledgements” – “handshakes” – “scholarships” – “set-asides” – “plaques” – “and other bullshit.” (!!!) Thereby containing the possibility of any potentially large payouts. Because if these settlements were done properly, with the correct force behind the demand, and IN ORDER, many of those entities would be paying out billions rather than a few million bucks and a “friendship breakfast.”
More Coffee?
They want to be able to show the government on paper: “Hey look, we’ve already settled with those Niggers.” And because of us in our blinding hunger and political silly-mindedness, the enemy will be able to show on signed papers that we are accepting this nonsense. Lawyers from those entities will happily show and explain the signed paperwork when the forensic accountants from the Freedmen’s Bureau come knocking. (!) And here we are – Accepting “getting off cheap” type Millions instead of Demanding “pay me what you owe me motherfucker” type Billions.
Family! Any offers made. Any apologies proffered before Federal Reparations is accomplished; and before a Freedmen’s Bureau is established, are nothing but pennies on the dollar attempts to circumvent the trillions on the table that really need to be put on the table. Those trillions would count as “satisfaction.” What is being offered – proposed – or “task-forced” (except California) is not satisfaction.
A Pure Reparations is not something that can ever be done provisionally. A Pure Reparations can only be done going directly to actuality. And “to actuality” means Reparations expended “in its entirety” when done. Ahh… When Done?
“When Done” means at the Federal level. 400 years of Slavery was not done on a piecemeal basis. Enslavement in most cases shackled an entire human being for a whole life. When a whole slave was whipped, he or she absorbed the infliction of the entire whip. Entirely. After all that: A scholarship, A breakfast, and cab fare?
Really Family?
These Number Three: Sincere legislators, institutions, and organizations that feel that they “should do something,” but don’t realize that their good intentions are motivating them to do the devil’s work. Because no matter how good the intent – the same destructive result is the same. You see a hungry kid on the block. You fix him a lunch consisting of a glass of milk and a peanut butter sandwich. At the same time not knowing that the child has an intense allergy (that is potentially lethal) to peanuts. That child is too young to understand or articulate his allergy. He is just “getting what he can get” because he’s hungry. See? We are so blinded by our own hunger for capital, resources, and policies, that we are putting ourselves in this bad expedient mode of “getting what we can get.” And not even getting that Family.
The end result is Death.
Family! It is Supremely important for everybody in this Reparations building to understand the hardball game being played here. It is possible to persuade somebody to shoot themselves in the foot and make them believe it is the right thing to do. That’s what is happening with the good folks that are setting up those “local reparations” structures. They don’t understand what the game is. And their energies are being horribly self-misdirected. We must not only be unified on the overall goal – but we must also be unified on how this issue should ultimately resolve. Thus – unifying on the proper and precise path to get to that resolution.
Otherwise – We Will Fail.
II
Family! The messiness. The bickering. The unstudied new ideas. The overriding intrigues – both real and manufactured. The et cetera. We are undermining our own movement. If there are several things positive that I can say about our enemy – The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis: They are focused. They are organized. They have a hierarchy. They hold to their mission. They (mostly) don’t allow inner dissentions to be aired publicly. They don’t argue with outsiders. And they solidly concentrate on marketing their retrograde Pan African propaganda. They are simultaneously tightening up and expanding their organizational structures and systems.
Pay Attention Family:
They are setting up political sub-structures and mission agreements with other organizations so that we cannot in certainty track what they are doing. They are picking up more non-Black allies. While we in strategic ignorance, flame the non-Black allies that want to help us. That’s why (in a sense) they’re winning. Even though their aims are nefarious and ultimately destructive to Pure Reparations.
There is a lot of stuff that the serious lineage-based Reparationists will have to ignore. There are several simple things that we must focus on and execute. We need actual unity, organization, and focus even more than money Family. It is time…
III
Below is an excerpt from a book called “The Gosho” (Japanese: “honorable writings”). The book is a compilation of letters, commentaries, and treatises written by Nichiren (b. February 16, 1222 – d. October 13, 1282). He was a Japanese Buddhist priest and philosopher of the Kamakura Period in 13th Century Japan. Nichiren was a prolific writer and his biography, temperament, and the evolution of his beliefs has been gleaned primarily from his own wisdom-filled writings.
What is excerpted is from the letter titled “On Itai Doshin” (Japanese: “many in body, one in mind”). This to me is one of the best writings on the necessity of unity to accomplish our goals. Please read, absorb, and think about what this philosopher had to say. The message is timeless and appropriate to our movement:
“If Itai Doshin (many in body, one in mind) prevails among the people, they will achieve all their goals, whereas in Dotai Ishin (one in body, different in mind), they can achieve nothing remarkable. The more than three thousand volumes of Confucianism and Taoist literature are filled with examples. King Chou of Yin led 700,000 soldiers into battle against King Wu of Chou and his 800 men.
Yet King Chou’s army lost because of disunity while King Wu’s men defeated him because of perfect unity. Even an individual at cross purposes with himself is certain to end in failure. Yet a hundred or even a thousand people can definitely attain their goal if they are of one mind. Though numerous, the Japanese will find it difficult to accomplish anything, because they are divided in spirit. On the contrary, I believe that although Nichiren and his followers are few in number, because they act in Itai Doshin, they will accomplish their great mission… Many raging fires are quenched by a single shower of rain, and many evil forces are vanquished by a single great truth…”
Nichiren succinctly spells out and examples a beautiful formula for victory. It takes strong organization, focus, and perfect unity to get what we need to take Family.
Family! Our individual power is very small. However, when people who have different talents or characters move together with one mind toward achieving a single goal, they are able to produce tremendous power, and any goal can be accomplished. We cannot fail this project Family. That’s non-negotiable.
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976: Allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair Use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.
I was assisted in writing this post by a bottle of Juggernaut Pinot Noir 2020 – Russian River Valley California. Another under $20.00 sweetheart! Only $18.00. Serious. Off Dry. Beautiful Pinot Noir Structure. Savory. Moderate tannins and acidity. Woody nose. Bold opening with oak, sweet black cherries, and leather. Quiet sustain of cigar, red pepper, and ripe plums. Ending in dry black cherries, cocoa, and elderberries. Smooth, slightly sweet – diminishing finish.
“There comes a time in your life when you can no longer put off choosing. You have to choose one path or the other. You can live safe and be protected by people just like you, or you can stand up a be a leader for what is right. Always, remember this: People never remember the crowd; they remember the one person that had the courage to say and do what no one [else] would do.”
Shannon L. Alder
Oh My Goodness:On the afternoon of January 8, 2023, there was a Candidates Forum held in Hyde Park, Chicago. This gathering was convened and hosted by the Chicago chapter of the League Of Women Voters. Important. (!) A field of twelve candidates were in attendance to make their pitch to voters of The Fifth Ward. We were literally standing room only. The voter interest was that high.
I was there, so was Marlon Watson and Cynthia McDonald – along with journalists, politicians, and activists invited by us and others.
The proceedings were live but polite. At the same time, there was a certain amount of controlled consternation that brewed among the panelists whenever Gabriel started speaking on reparative justice for African Americans. It was fucking weird. Everybody noticed it. All the other candidates were obviously Black. But no one else spoke on the subject because they empty-handedly didn’t have anything.
OK – they didn’t have anything. But they Black?!?!?!
The next Candidates Forum was held on January 15, 2023 at the Hyde Park Union Church. Oh how the pushback and the knives came out (link to article below). But our candidate deftly pushed back. He riled them. He was even accused of “out-Blacking everybody Black.” Really? I mean – these folks went on the attack Man. But Gabriel held it down and remained steady and on-lock with his message.
The “Letter To The Editor” reproduced below was written by Gabriel Piemonte. It was published in “The Hyde Park Herald” on January 17, 2023. This letter gives a candidate’s-eye-view of what happened on the 15th. But the letter also reveals the true heart of a fundamentally allied Reparations candidate. Read and think.
Here It Is:
Reparations Shouldn’t Rile Candidates
January 17, 2023
To the Editor:
The calm of the crowded field for Fifth Ward alderperson was broken this last Sunday afternoon, which was no surprise to me – it was simply a matter of time before we started jabbing elbows in a race with a dozen candidates. What did surprise me was that my discussion of Reparations was the cause of it.
Kris Levy called it “misleading” and “insulting.” Tina Hone said I was “out-Blacking everybody Black.”
Why such strong words? I have not and will not judge another candidate for their worldview, even when it has been in dramatic variance to my own. Clearly, I touched a nerve.
I have explained my position in the two forums that have taken place at the time of this letter’s publication, in interviews, in online videos and on social media: The federal claim of descendants of enslaved Black American citizens is to me the model upon which our local reparative policy should be based. In Chicago, this clearly translates to housing, to begin with. We need to prioritize the rights and protections of Black Americans who have been discriminated against by this city and private interests in the area of housing. The data is available and the harm is quantifiable. In the near term, that should justify an eviction moratorium at the very least in areas that have predominantly Black American residents.
Similarly, we need to take immediate action to address the foreclosure crisis impacting communities like South Shore, Woodlawn, and The Pocket. There is a race-based harm taking place today in this city, and redress must be a top priority.
As someone who has been active in the national Reparations movement for years, I do not feel I have to apologize for recognizing that Chicago housing policies follow a pattern of targeted discrimination and that a debt is owed to those who have been harmed. The Reparations movement matters because it is the appropriate frame to determine redress for prejudicial policy. The framework goes beyond just recompense and also includes acknowledgement of harm done and real measures taken to assure the practices that have caused the harm will cease.
What’s wrong with that?
Robert Palmer, another candidate for Fifth Ward alderperson, told me last week that he was in favor of Reparations but hadn’t thought to bring it up. Many candidates said no one mentioned it to them so they didn’t think it was important in our communities. I suggest to you that candidates who don’t set priorities based on their own moral compass may fall short of what we need in the Fifth Ward in this turbulent time.
Every candidate has a right to their own worldview, of course. For me, Reparations is the Civil Rights issue of the 21st Century in this country. If we do not face our past, we cannot build our future. And our past is inextricably tied to the unfinished business of chattel slavery’s legacy. As the man once said, it is not even past.
The late, great Leon Despres – the gold standard for independent, progressive alderpersons – worked assiduously with the South Side’s beloved historian Timuel Black to organize thousands of people in the Ward to attend the March On Washington in the 1960’s. He also attended and described the historic event in letters to the Herald. I wonder if that would have offended Kris Levy if he was around back then or if Tina Hone would have said Leon was trying to – well, you get the picture.
National Civil Rights organizing has always been part of the best traditions of Fifth Ward politics. We understand that all politics is local and that global action must begin with work on one’s own block. The question we should ask ourselves is whether we want an alderperson who is offended when the world is brought into Fifth Ward politics, or if instead we should be demanding that very quality from the people who would seek to represent us.
Gabriel Piemonte
Candidate
Fifth Ward Alderperson
END OF LETTER
Read – Comment – Share. We want to know what you think. Especially when we have Black candidates like Tina Hone protesting against doing right. Unbelievable.
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976: Allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair Use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.
I was assisted in putting up this audio post by a bottle of Paraduxx Proprietary Red 2019 Red Blend NV. Serious. Bold. Dry. Bordeaux type blend. 67% Zinfandel and 33% Cabernet Sauvignon. Moderate tannins and acidity. Opening with oak, vanilla, and chocolate. A sustain of wet blackberries, plums, and blueberries. Closing with cherries, raspberries, background vanillas. Moderate – Dry finish.
“Without Reparations our people can never be on equal terms with the white sons of our former slavemasters who continue to reap the abundant benefits of the wealth created by our foreparents through their centuries of unrequited labor. The unpaid labor of African slaves [chattelized in America] laid the foundation for the accumulation of the wealth that ultimately made the U.S.A. the richest country in the world. During the period of slavery millions of our people died while being transported under conditions of indescribable horror while crossing the ‘middle passage.’ Our roots and culture were ruthlessly destroyed.
We were deprived of human status, with families broken and fragmented and family ties eliminated, our women were raped and abused, our men were placed in chains. Bred like animals our children were taken from us and given over to owners and slavemasters to be sold on the auction block. Today our [Black] youth are taught false history, theories and principles to prevent race pride…”
Queen Mother Audley Moore
I found this interview while looking for something else. This is an extremely interesting interview with the Queen of Freedmen Reparations – Audley Moore. This was done at Fordham University. But the interviewer does not identify himself within the portions that we have here. Year unknown. The recording quality is quite poor. So listen closely. The Queen drops a lot of jewels in this exchange. This recording is living Freedman history captured on tape. Listen:
Part One
Part Two
Well – there it is. Straight from the Queen’s Mouth.
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976: Allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair Use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.
I was assisted in this posting by a bottle of Louis M. Martini – Monte Rosso Vineyard Mountain Red Blend 2013 (Sonoma Valley). A powerful blend of Petit Verdot, Syrah, Zinfandel, Malbec, and Cabernet Franc. Bold. Quietly dark. Dry. Emotional. Elegant structure. Moderate tannins and acidity. Opening with loud cherries, oak, and cloves. A sustain of blackberries, tobacco, and vanilla. Ending in strawberry, dry plums, and honeydew cream. Long – crisp finish.
“There is another class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs – partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.”
Booker T. Washington
This is an important video produced by Meleika Gardner. A concerned person that lives in the belly of the “Evanston Local Reparations” beast. Please watch this in its entirety. Family – there is a part in here where Robin Rue Simmons is requesting FEDERAL DOLLARS and I have already warned everybody over and over again about the long-game finesse of using Federal funds in any “local reparations” program. Eventually nullifying it. She is asking good questions that need to be answered. A person we need to know that needs further study on and focus is billionaire Chuck Lewis – who is the main sponsor behind FirstRepair.
A quote from him:
“That’s why we’re so interested in local reparations, not slavery reparations, because it’s proximate, it’s close by in terms of geography and time.”
WOW. Chuck Lewis has decided what is good enough for “You Niggers.” OK. There are many white people in Evanston that know this is bullshit. But they are afraid to speak out because they don’t want to be flamed (yep) by certain politically inastute individuals in our movement. I’ve directly experienced their unresearched, unwarranted, and inarticulate vitriol in a recent Twitter space. Exasperating.
Any white person that openly supports lineage-based reparations (like on our side) becomes an immediate target to be hated on, to be over-scrutinized, and to become the victim of unjustified verbal violence. But the thousands of strategically-minded white liberals like Chuck Lewis and other white individuals and organizations that propagandistically and financially support the destruction of our Pure Reparations done through The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis, get no smoke whatsoever. Amazing.
Meleika Gardner is the truth. And the truth needs to be told. She tells it here.
Please watch the video and read her YouTube statement reproduced here:
Meleika Gardner’s YouTube Statement:
January 14, 2023 – EVANSTON ILLINOIS
Do not blindly support HR40 and Evanston Reparations without hearing the other side that the [mainstream] media won’t cover. [Thereby] setting the record straight as to why many around the country DO NOT support neither HR40 as is – nor Evanston Reparations. And also why some support both with much allegiance. How is sixteen people receiving home improvements considered a “successful” Reparations program? [By] citing sources and using visuals and audio clips, I am breaking down the questions surrounding both HR40 and Evanston Reparations.
[I am speaking] from whether or not the first Evanston Reparations’ sixteen recipients were pre-selected prior to the official Bingo lottery drawing – to the recipients’ $25,000 cash being sent to a white-led organization – but NEVER to the recipients; to trying to figure out where the money is; to how Reparations turned into a housing program over direct cash payments; to how Evanston Reparations is watering down Reparations across the country; to whether or not Black people born in America whom are descendants of Slaves brought against their will in shackles and chains will qualify for the Federal Reparations program based on the principles of FirstRepair, NAARC, and N’COBRA’s multi-tier qualification plan (?) if they are appointed to the HR40 commission; and to why they [NAARC and N’COBRA] plan to send a percentage of the Federal Reparations funds to Africa.
I Repeat This – So You Can Hear This: NAARC and N’COBRA plan to send a percentage of our Federal Reparations funds to Africa!!! A multi-tier qualification plan? Who would be on these tiers? Just American Freedmen? For What?
Chuck Lewis, [billionaire] sponsor behind FirstRepair, says: “We’re so interested in local reparations, not slavery reparations, because it’s proximate, it’s close by in terms of geography and time.” Dr. Martin Luther King said: “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”
This video may never really reach the light of day to inform the masses, but I just wanted it documented somewhere that NOT ALL Black people in Evanston and around the country have the same mentality that strongly supports Evanston Reparations and [the Federal bill] HR40 as is. While I strongly disagree with Robin Rue Simmons for watering down Reparations across the country – I do believe that she is a phenomenal Black woman in that she has the world sitting down at the table to have real conversations about Reparations. And she made me believe that its wonderful accomplishment could be possible one day.
But – as of right now, the way Evanston Reparations rolled out and then listening to Kamm Howard discuss HR40 for the Federal program – I [now] believe Reparations is just a unicorn in the sky that will only serve a selected few. I do not agree that a housing program should be Black people’s Reparations. I stand strong and solid on this! Direct cash payments, wiping out debt so Black Americans [can] have a clean slate, and/or free healthcare are just some [of the discussed] ideas.
Regardless – a social program should not be forced upon Black people to accept as their Reparations the way Evanston [has] dictated. Watch this video [posted above] to hear the truth of what happened in Evanston.
END OF STATEMENT
To listen for yourself to Kamm Howard of Reparations United, NAARC, and FirstRepair discuss HR40 and the qualifications for the Federal program, please listen to this mp3 link recorded from Lafeare Ward’s Twitter space:
Twitter Recording Credit: @Feardis11 and @BlaccseedAmericanFreedmen
Sources for this Evanston Live TV YouTube video: City of Evanston Government YouTube Channel – Evanston Reparations Committee – The Washington Post – CPAH (Community Partners for Affordable Housing) – FirstRepair Of Evanston – ABC 7 News Chicago.
OOPS!!! I found one more on Evanston Reparations:
This is Legacy Evanston native Craig Wimberly. Sounding Off! He is the Illinois Circuit Court Deputy Chief Information Officer, and long-time member of the C.O.A.L Organization (coalchicago.com). Questioning: “If a recipient does not use all of the $25,000 on home improvements – who pockets the remaining funds?”
Family – it is time to wake up and shut this hustle down.
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976: Allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair Use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.
I was assisted in the posting of my remarks by a bottle of Whitehall Lane – Cabernet Sauvignon Leonardini Estate NV 2015. This a “Complete Cabernet” if you will. This bad boy is usually $80.00 – caught it on sale for $50.00. This is a blend of 94% Cabernet Sauvignon and 6% Petit Verdot. Strong – concentrated structure. Moderate acidity and tannins. Brooding. Dry. Opening with black currants, thyme, and walnuts. A sustain of blueberries, red currants, and vanilla. Ending with raisins, dried plums, and cocoa. Strong – moderately sweet finish.
“After 244 years of free slave labor and the most inhuman, sinister, and barbaric atrocities which pass in magnitude any savagery perpetrated against human beings in the history of the planet earth, and an additional one hundred years of so-called freedom accompanied by terror, the Committee seeking Reparations for the descendants of America’s Slaves, concludes that the payment of Reparations is an absolute necessity if the Government of the United States is ever to wipe the slate clean, redeem herself, and pay for the damages she has inflicted upon more than 25 million American citizens, who are members of the Black Race. The payment of Reparations is the only position America can take in the interest of justice and make an effort to restore the dignity to 13.1 percent of her citizenry.”
Queen Mother Audley Moore
This is a posting of a talk I did on January 7, 2023 at the “Boston Reparations Educational Series Luncheon.” Hosted by Sister Antonia Edwards in person at Hibernian Hall in Boston and simultaneously on a Zoom link (I spoke via Zoom). The luncheon was exiting – refreshing – and educational for those that attended, including myself. Reparationist Nyhiem Lord Abba provided clear information and history on the Government designation “American Freedmen.”
I provided guidance on the dangers of “local reparations” – along with explaining the dirty goals and strategies of The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis.
I did speak – but the fast-moving dynamics of the event did not permit me to finish my remarks in full. So I decided to post my remarks in their entirety here.
NOTE: This talk is a reworked version of an earlier post done on July 21, 2020 titled: “Statement Regarding Local Versus National Reparations.”
I
To The City Of Boston
Thank You For Having Me – Arthur Ward. I am Vice President of the Freedmen Descendants Of Chicago. I am here at the invitation of my Sister in Reparations – Antonia Edwards. To speak to you on something I regard as important – and to you as listeners to my remarks – I hope you find what I have to say important –
As Well.
This talk is my opinion regarding recent developments in the quest for Reparations. And why the descendants of American Freedmen, as the directly affected group, should be opposed to these new developments.
FAMILY —
I want to start this in clarity: Bringing local equity and economic inclusion for taxpaying Black American communities in terms of a fair share of contracts, school funding, city jobs and other necessities is admirable and legislatively correct. But those actions are not Reparations and should not be labelled as such. Ever. Those actions are supposed to be designated as equity services that should be performed in the normal course of executing local and state government for all citizens.
Reparations are a separate and different issue. Reparations is named as such to address a unique injury done to a specific segment of citizens. Reparations for slavery, Jim Crow, redlining, and other subsequent injuries are crimes that should necessarily and effectively be Federally addressed, and not mixed in with equity issues. Any indemnity for those injustices should be sought Federally, not locally.
II
The Federal government should be the only intermediary between the people and any reparational compensation. Properly done, Reparations should not and cannot be a state or municipal prerogative. We should be careful in not conflating local equity rights that are for everyone domiciled within a state, county, or municipality with Reparations claims that should specifically be reserved for the American Black descendants of American chattel slavery – properly rendered legislatively as American Freedmen. And specifically demanded at the Federal level – no matter where those descendants are presently domiciled.
Both are important but are different. One is pulling the knife of intermediate local neglect out of the back of any community so situated. The other is to heal nationally, a long-suffering chronic wound carried by the lineage of a specific Black American group. Reparations are the latter.
This is not to say that states and municipalities should not have an assistive role in Reparations conversations and actions. They should. But when it comes to local and state participation, that participation, that participation should only be from the standpoint of accumulating and providing data regarding locally-based companies and other entities, negatively impactive ordinances, and discriminating laws that are now and/or were previously on the books – racially-focused laws that were sustained and enforced.
Also – states, counties, and municipalities should be accumulating and providing substantial information regarding religious organizations, educational entities, unions, associations, and other still existing long-established institutions that directly participated in, and/or indirectly profited from slavery and post-slavery deprivative actions. Data that eventually can be converted into resources.
And that data should be provided to the Federal entity(s) and organization(s) that are directly involved with researching, evaluating, and negotiating towards enacting and implementing a national Reparations Act or Law. Why? Because only this Federally-based American government has the singular legal power of equal policy establishment, uniform eligibility assurance, non-resistible extraction, and ubiquity of distribution on a National basis. Do you understand?
III
The Federal government is, and should only be, the one intersection responsible for extracting, organizing, and distributing any and all reparational resources from corporate, institutional, city, county, and state entities. That responsibility being done through a resurrected, finely updated, and better organized “Freedmen’s Bureau” as an embedded Federal Agency that mirrors and expands the functions of – let’s say a Federal Agency like the “Bureau Of Indian Affairs.” And not through Pan African created independent non-profits like the proposed “National Reparations Trust Authority” or local “Stakeholder Authorities.” Which would secretly and criminally operate outside of Federal and Freedman oversight.
I call those constructions “Theft Authorities.”
There should not be a patchwork of different municipalities doing different things, in different places, with different eligibilities, and different outcomes. With some people otherwise eligible for Federal Reparations being excluded, and some people otherwise ineligible for Federal Reparations being included. This is explicitly improper. And all of this confuses and will possibly mitigate the Federal demand.
This practice is reparationally dangerous. One “local reparations” attempt is the resolution: “Supporting Community Reparations for Black Ashville” done on July 14, 2020. Specifically in Asheville, North Carolina.
This attempt is classic NAARC (or the “National African American Reparations Commission”), N’COBRA (or the “National Coalition Of Blacks for Reparations in America”), and FirstRepair of Evanston Illinois “local reparations” nonsense.
Family, “local reparations” is “Junk Reparations.” Understand. All “local reparations” schemes are “false flag” operations. Causing some people to believe that “local reparations” are a “first step to” Federal Reparations. When in actuality, all “local reparations” schemes are part of a long-game strategy to mitigate, then nullify the Federal demand. Using our long-time deprivation and hunger to lead us into a “let’s just get what we can get” trap. The term doesn’t even sound right.
Wake Up Family!
When you read the actual resolution, it starts off with accurately describing the historic injuries done to Native Black American people. Then it goes into an apology. Then it calls on folks to create policy and recommendations. Then a “study.” Then it calls on the creation of a commission. More “study.” Then it calls on a report to be created. Fine. Then the nominally specific term “Black” devolves into the even less specific – gray area term “minority.” Then an instruction is in there for a bi-annual update to the city council. Then it goes into the blackness of space with no conclusion or deadlines. This is a game Family.
Reparations should be a clean, uniform, fair, and straightforward Federal-level process. The word “Reparations” in this instance should only apply to Federal-level redress. Nothing else. Any collected data should never be used as a basis to enact mislabeled legislation that would result in local and state equity resources being expended under the label of “Reparations.” Reparations is a FEDERAL issue, responsibility, action, and remedy. If we are sincere about Pure Reparations, let us do this one-shot issue properly. We cannot play with this.
IV
The other thing that municipal, county, and state legislatures could have done to help the Federal process along was to pass resolutions and legislation to support and adhere to the Dr. William A. Darity Jr. edits to House Bill HR40. Those edits should have included his [six] reparations principles and [three] goals, outlined in his testimony to the first HR40 hearing held on June 19, 2019. Those edits were not added, and at this point I would suggest a complete trashing of HR40 and do a de-Pan Africanized restart from scratch with Dr. Darity at the head of the restart. An HR40 2.0? Or a properly worded Executive Order. Let’s do that.
Because it must be done.
Another aspect of Reparations that is necessarily disconnected from “equity” issues is that without exception, applicable eligibility for Pure Reparations travels with the eligible parties generationally. That eligibility is possessed perpetually, and not limited geographically. Eligibility has no distinction between constituent or non-constituent, local citizen or localized non-citizen. Are there provisions in these local initiatives – including Boston’s – that will repair or compensate those that lived in those areas previously but now live in other areas? Including foreign countries? This is not addressed (and won’t be). Would those individuals be perpetually eligible to apply for “local reparations?” Would They? Ya’ll need to ask.
If it can be proven that a resident was governmentally injured that once lived in a certain local area, like Boston – in let’s say the year 1877, would that deceased individual’s descendants that now live in other locations be eligible to apply for compensation? Or, are the “local reparations” scope of Reparations “coverage” limited only to living individuals that are domiciled “right there, right now?” If that is so, then “local reparations” cannot be called “Reparations” at all.
Understand. If any business, government entity, or private individual owed you money while you were living in Boston – and had not paid you while you were living there – would that entity or individual suddenly be absolved of all debtor liability just because you moved to Cleveland? Make this make sense.
V
Actual justice claims have nothing to do with the current address of a directly injured or descended plaintiff. In a “Pure Reparations” situation, it would not matter if a descended plaintiff is “standing in the shoes” of a relative that was governmentally injured in the late 1800’s, and that descended plaintiff is now living, let’s say, in France as a naturalized citizen. That expatriated person would still be eligible for American Reparations if they can prove LINEAGE from American slavery – and their identity paperwork is straight. That’s It.
A “Pure Reparations” program should not be circumscribed by the present location of descendants, nor limited to living individuals. No “local reparations” initiatives that I know of have appropriate portability provisions nor reasonable geographical extensions. So what are they doing in Evanston? What is being done in Boston? Really? What is anybody doing? “Pure Junk” – that’s what “anybody” is doing.
VI
NOW – Can States, Counties, and Municipalities Have A Role? Certainly. States, counties, and municipalities can and should have a role in compensative justice. But in a different and more appropriate way. Those localities would have to do real and operational history with a practical and fully compensative end.
In addition to incidental and systemic data gathered that would be provided to the Federal government, local governments could establish serious data-oriented commissions to proactively research and investigate specific locally-based historical incidents that were committed, witnessed, verified, and documented within their respective borders. Research and investigation. Settlements – not Reparations!
Research Incidents – such as this very short list of examples:
The Tulsa Race Riot – Oklahoma (1921)
The Rosewood Massacre – Florida (1923)
The Ocoee Massacre – Florida (1920)
The Wilmington Insurrection – North Carolina (1898)
The Detroit Race Riot – Michigan (1863)
The Atlanta Race Riot – Georgia (1906)
The Springfield Race Riot – Illinois (1908)
The Birmingham Riot – Alabama (1963)
The Colfax Massacre – Louisiana (1873)
Red Summer – 19 States (1919)
And those commissions should (this time) produce monetary compensation, set asides, and other special considerations to those directly injured victims or to their “standing in the shoes” descendants. Those compensations should be regarded as locally-based “settlements.” With fair compensation directed to specific individuals and/or their Freedmen descendants. If disaggregated specificity is too complex or if detailed historic information is unavailable – an arbitrated group case approach, or something similar may be necessary. Settlements – not Reparations!
And federal funds should never be used.
An example of proper state-level commissioning and compensation in this realm is North Carolina, which, in 2013, became the first state to pay Reparations to specific descendants of American Freedmen victims of forced sterilization, soft genocide, and eugenics programs through a ten-million-dollar agreement. States, counties, and municipalities should do this. And more. But they should not have called these state-adjudicated and expended settlements “Reparations.”
A strict discipline of language is necessary. Those local and state-level settlements that are sometimes mislabeled “Reparations” are not intended to close any “racial wealth gaps” no matter how substantial or extensive those settlements may be. Any American Freedman recipients of such settlements would and should be fully eligible for Federal Reparations, with no contentions, modifications, or mitigations.
VII
Now Let me speak on what I call – Special Equity Initiatives And The “Separate File.” If states, counties, and municipalities are sincere about materially atoning for historical local injustices towards American Freedmen, they may start by not labeling any special initiatives or proffered policies for them as “Reparations.”
If I may suggest the term: “Special Equity Initiative(s)” or “SEI(s).” I believe that would be an improved labeling of such actions. These SEI’s – if structured properly, would be immovably specific in practice, precisely worded in particulars, documentation, and law, and their provisions and benefits should never be expanded, modified, or overlapped to include other groups in perpetuity.
If you’re sincere.
SEI’s would be, and would remain in a “Separate File” so to speak. Terms that should never be used in crafting these initiatives would include: Black, African-Americans, Minorities, and People Of Color. And the newest inclusivity to nothingness term that should not be used is: “BIPOC” or “Black, Indigenous, and People Of Color.” Don’t use those terms. Those are descriptionally lazy terms.
BUT – terms like: Black American Descendants Of Slavery, American Freedmen, Descendants Of American Chattel Slavery, Descendants Of American Freedmen, and even the controversial Foundational Black Americans, could and should be used. All those terms would be descriptionally satisfactory.
That kind of specificity would be needed and acceptable in those actions. That kind of “separate file” specificity would also make it clear what kind of Black person (native or immigrant) would be eligible for SEI benefits. Real important. Those are potential benefits that should only go to Black people that have a lineage rooted in American slavery and were injured by all the deprivative historic injustices as practiced in the United States. Not as practiced in Africa. Not as practiced in the Caribbean. Not as practiced in Central America. Family – do you understand?
VIII
Certain legislators will use “local reparations” labeling to hide their legislative and advocacy shortfalls in accomplishing “equity” (which is what they were elected to do) for their constituents. Thus smokescreening their incompetence. For us Family – this is politically unfortunate, for both short and long-term reasons.
“Local reparations” can also be used as a self-serving “grant grab” for certain long-standing reparations theft organizations (like NAARC and N’COBRA and FirstRepair Of Evanston) to provide an “advisory role” to those same legislators crafting these counterfeit and ultimately counter-productive initiatives. I want you to notice that all members of The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis want to be paid to sit on commissions, when that is not the normal practice. Normally, commissioners are reimbursed for travel and food expenses. Along with possibly a small stipend for their time on the commission. Not the full-blown – top-level annual salaries that members of The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis demand.
Those same Axis organizations only provide dead-end guidance based on self-serving research to those legislators that are both mercifully sincere in helping others – and to those that are politically calculating in helping themselves or covering their incompetence. They will do both – as long as they get paid.
They have been doing this “advisory role” stuff for years and have not accomplished one dime of reparations. Not One Dime! The reason why they have not accomplished anything is partly a result of advocational and cultural conflation in the minds of the public. With that same public being taken in by “Pan-African” visuals and performance. You know – pseudo-African clothing, quasi-religious rituals, communications sprinkled with choice words from various African languages, pouring libations, flying-in African scholars to talk dumb-stuff at their events, drum beating, and other nonsense. I call it “kufi-stagecraft.”
They present a veneer of “knowing,” with many officials in those organizations holding and flaunting Master’s Degrees, Juris Doctors, and Ph.D’s. This is nothing but Black intellectual window-dressing. So that the Black public does not feel inclined or confident enough to question, challenge, or investigate these folks. Because “they know” what they are doing. They don’t. Notice that they use the word “international” a lot in what should be exclusively domestic conversations. What they present is all deceptive political and cultural marketing.
This being done with the historic Reparations figures of Queen Mother Audley Moore and Callie House cynically being used as props in their mis-informational presentations. This being done in total disrespect of, and divergence from, what those figures actually advocated. The very Pan African Queen Mother Moore for example – advocated for Reparations specifically directed to the Black descendants of American Slavery – and Nobody Else. Callie House advocated for cash pensions to be placed in the hands of American Freedmen – and Nobody Else.
People – understand that long-term advocacy for Reparations cannot rightly be equivalenced to an expert ability to formulate a proper Reparations program.
Never. Don’t fall for it.
IX
Those organizations have had a major influence in shaping HR40 into the dead version that we have now. Understand People. It is because of the lack of legal, econometric, and legislative expertise within those organizations that further edits, and further edits, and further edits, are needed to make HR40 reasonably operational (“Operational” meaning HR40 if it had passed, being beneficial in substance, policies, and tangibles for the descendants of American Freedmen). Unfortunately, despite recent modifications, positive operationality of HR40 as written has not occurred as of yet.
Their lack of expertise also shows in the fact that the Evanston “reparations” eligibility standard is partly attached to one’s credit rating or ability to acquire a loan. Thus – making the true beneficiaries of that program the very banks that originally redlined our folks in the first place. Actual Reparations should enable you to transactionally and monetarily separate yourself from your original abuser. In this case – the originally redlining white banks. This program substantially and mercilessly puts you and yours right back into the hands of the enemy.
True Reparations have nothing to do with credit, mortgages, or home purchases as a component – or pre-existing property ownership requirements, or any intent to improve property, nor any relationship with a bank. Anything that is associated with anything you have to pay back is not Reparations. Period.
X
Those Axis organizations are dangerous to an actual American Freedmen Reparations claim. Because right now, they have the long-standing proximity, familiarity, and influence in the United States Congress and local governments that the grassroots descendants of American Freedmen do not have at this time. And the politicians they do deal with – like Congresspeople Sheila Jackson-Lee, Jerrold Nadler, and Steve Cohen are there to make sure that Reparations does not happen. To keep it contained and controlled and as minimal as possible. Especially Nadler and Cohen (their function is to do NAACP style “nigger management”).
Or if it does happen, Jackson-Lee is there to make sure that any positive outcome is finessed into a “Flat Black” benefit – with Caribbean and African immigrants getting the lion’s share. This would be provisioned through the NAARC conceived but as of yet – not constructed – non-profit called the “National Reparations Trust Authority.” This would be the depositorial and managerial entity to administer all reparations resources. Outside of government and Freedman oversight. Family, this is something that a pimp with an MBA would come up with. Now – in Evanston we have a “Reparations Stakeholders Authority.” Creative!!!
But even with that. Understand that those same Axis organizations have no real understanding of how a Reparations program should be legislatively or legally structured, articulated, or accomplished. That is obvious. Or, if they do understand (which is a strong criminal possibility), then we can only look at HR40 as a bold grifter set-up. With NAARC and N’COBRA using the Reparations issue overall and HR40 specifically as a means to cynically accomplish a substantial bag for themselves, at our deep and historic descendant of American slavery expense. Leaving the grossly injustified forty millions plus of us behind and wondering what happened. Throw in some ancestor worship, some libation pouring, and they will prove to be an embarrassment by political association in the long run.
Do you want that?
XI
The People Shall Not Be Hustled. Well, only If you don’t want to be hustled. That’s on us American Freedmen. Understand, property tax reductions are not Reparations; filling potholes in low-income areas is not reparations; shifting certain tax revenues to melinated Black but undifferentiated people that live in certain impoverished areas is not reparations. Those are things that should be done as matters of equity, the normal course of doing city and state business. But they are not Reparations. Many legislators are legally and/or politically trained. They should know and do better. Our presently seated (as of this writing) Black Caucus representatives at local, state, and federal levels everywhere are quite busy with DACA, Asian, Latinx, and undocumented border-jumper resource delivery issues.
They may not have the time.
XII
Now to the Caribbeans, and N’COBRA, and Evanston. If one dime of local resources under the label of “Reparations” goes into the pockets of anyone that is not descended from American chattel slavery – understand, that is not Reparations. Reparations for what? Just being black? Can we explain theft? Because that’s what it is. That’s What It Is. Evanston Illinois is potentially putting “local reparations” resources into the undifferentiated pockets of Caribbean and African immigrants that are domiciled in that city. That’s reparations theft Family. Understand?
The former Evanston City Counsellor that sponsored this counterfeit initiative, Robin Rue Simmons confirmed this at an interview done at a Chicago based radio show (WVON 1690) on January 5, 2020. While sitting on the same show with Kamm Howard, a leader (at that time) of the Pan African reparations theft organization known as N’COBRA that assisted her in crafting this very, very bad initiative. Afterwards, this was published in the January 11, 2020 online edition of the “Evanston RoundTable” newspaper:
“Alderman Rue Simmons said she had heard from some people that Caribbeans should not get reparations. ‘That’s not where we’re at here, in my opinion. In my opinion, we have to agree on this as a Council. This is a local reparations that is based on damages that were specifically done in Evanston. We have a rich and extensive Caribbean community here in Evanston, and I have no intention of trying to exclude that community.
‘We have to define that as a community. This is not a slavery reparations. There is much overlap because our discrimination is rooted in slavery because of the color of our skin. It dictates some of the discriminationthat we have received, and it dictates the redlining and those damages for reparations in Evanston…”
And in the June 16, 2020 edition of the same publication. This was published:
“She [Alderman Rue Simmons] added she has heard talk about excluding Black people who have a Caribbean heritage from reparations in Evanston. She said, ‘Those families have had the same negative impact that African Americans have had. There’s no intention of excluding any Black person from our programming based specifically on where their ancestry has come from. We all have come from the continent of Africa. We all have ancestors that were kidnapped and enslaved… We’re not going to be differentiating between Black people in Evanston.’
Alderman Braithwaite (who happens to be of Jamaican lineage) agreed that Black people will not be differentiated based on heritage. ‘We are all one.”
So There It Is Folks. Robin Rue Simmons and her dismissive statements.
In true Caribbean style: “It don’t matter what you people think – I’m TAKING this!” And without a machete! That’s a Bad Sister. Could any Black American go to any Caribbean country and hustle Reparations resources from THEM in this manner? I don’t think so. I wonder if she asked Sir Hilary Beckles whom is the vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies and chairman of the CARICOM Reparations Committee for the Caribbean when he visited Evanston: “Would there be any kind of reciprocity coming from CARICOM for American Freedmen since we are covering Caribbean expatriates with American Reparations resources here?”
And Family – I don’t know about Boston. But in the Chicago area, Caribbeans and Africans don’t get redlined. They NEVER had a problem in getting mortgages to purchase homes in predominantly white or Black areas. They never have. Never. So I don’t know what Robin Rue Simmons is talking about.
XIII
Black Diasporans – like Yvette Modestin from Panama and Professor Jemadari Kamara from somewhere other than here, have no respect for American Freedmen or their separate and distinct history. Intentionally. Should I rethink my position on Black immigration? I think I should. No more Black immigration. I’m not liking the way our Black Diasporan “Brothers and Sisters” are trying to mess over us.
It is also baffling and disappointing to observe the kind of cold disregard and cynical contempt that The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis practice towards American Freedmen people as well. Those organizations don’t seem to understand that there is a connection between correct responsibility and proper outcomes.
The Caribbeans in Evanston are dishonestly basing their eligibility for reparations on their ability to blend into a rich and unique American Freedmen history that they were not here to make, receive, suffer through, or change. Period. They are able to commit reparational theft under the undifferentially deceptive racial cover of “Black” and “African American” identity ahead of us. An egeregious conversion of history. No Nigerian went to jail with Rosa Parks. No Haitian helped the Montgomery Bus Boycott. No Cape Verdian was touched by the Ku Klux Klan.
Never.
This false marketing is being done in the same way that American descendants of slavery are always placed last in line to receive rightful benefits whenever those benefits are flagrantly mis-distributed to others under the “minority” or “people of color” or “disadvantaged community” or “inner city” categories. Same thing. With that, Robin Rue Simmons can dictatorially say to us American Freedmen in so many confident and magnanimous words: “We all came from Africa. We all this. We all that. We all here – and to hell with you Niggers.” And of course, the “Niggers” she is referring to are the descendants of American Freedmen. NAARC and N’COBRA have “collectivized” us without our permission.
Just so you may be clear: Under “Minority” – the hierarchy goes:
White Women
LGBTQ
Native Americans
Latinx’s (citizens and illegal non-citizens)
DACA
Black Immigrants (new arrivals and citizen-generationals)
Foundational Black Americans. Last.
Under “Black” and “African American” – the hierarchy goes:
Caribbean Immigrants (and citizen-generationals)
African Immigrants (and citizen-generationals)
American Freedmen. Last again.
American Freedmen should always insist that their political affairs be dealt with and contained within a “separate file.” Just like Holocaust victims and their descendants, and the Native Americans are. Everybody stays on subject. No more “Black AND Brown” conjuntioning of our issues. A “Separate File” understanding operationally stops any confusion or “gray areas” when it comes to Pure Reparations. That way, nobody can be in the room but us. No Caribbeans. No Africans. No Pan African hustlers of ambiguous provenance playing games. No “Native Black AND Diasporan Black” conjunctioning of this issue.
Simple. Period. And Out.
Understand Family, there are no “local reparations.” This newly created label is an N’COBRA created grant hustle. A hustle for politicians to get out of doing the daily equity and resource delivery work that they should be doing. A hustle for certain Pan-African organizations to grab grant money through sham non-profits and newly created consultancies (like Robin Rue Simmons’ FirstRepair and Kamm Howard’s new Reparations United) for doing zero-sum research and providing bad advice. Advice which takes a Pure Reparations argument fully off-track.
A hustle by certain Caribbean immigrants in concert with legislators and certain Pan African organizations, specifically NAARC, N’COBRA, and FirstRepair of Evanston to accomplish the redirection of resources that should be for the descendants of American Freedmen over to Caribbeans that live here, the CARICOM organization in the Caribbean by secondary and tertiary means, and as many undifferentiated African pockets as possible. A hustle by certain political candidates for campaign strategy purposes, dangerously using the Reparations issue as a political plaything.
A hustle by closeted Reparations opponents for expedient political window-dressing. A hustle for strategic white liberals to systematically kill or mitigate the National demand by a thousand cuts. We see you.
XIV
Let US focus on Pure Reparations. Actual reparations are not income-based, net worth-based, where-you-live-based, who-you-know-based, phenotype-based, DNA-based, or color-based. It is lineage-based only. It is a debt due to a specific ethnic group. Devoid of Pan African intrusions or guidance. Only for The descendants of American Freedmen in this case. To cite an extreme but valid case: Oprah’s lineage is American Freedman. Oprah Winfrey would be eligible to apply and collect on this American Freedmen reparations claim. So is Michael Jordan. So is Beyonce. So is Magic Johnson. So is your rich Black brother-in-law. It is a debt, primarily payable in cash. And not innovatively converted into “other forms.”
Cash “directly into my hands” is the working universal language of capitalist America. That should be your language as well. Because I don’t understand “other forms” talk. As you shouldn’t. Again, not a poverty or relief program.
It Is A Debt.
Also: A Pure Reparations program in fact is not minimizable to city or state resource and governance issues. Any resources expended under a “reparations” heading should not and cannot be for “everybody,” especially those groups that clearly would not be eligible under a federal claim, like American citizens of Caribbean lineage. How does any “local reparations” end up funding scholarships or programs for Jamaican immigrants in Evanston? How is this? Conversely, American Freedmen are rightly locked out of the CARICOM reparations claim at all levels. Repeat – AT ALL CLAIMABLE LEVELS. Understand? And we should be, because of nonconnected histories and governments, different slavery trajectories, problematic international legalities, and very real political logistics reasons.
XV
We Should Have Clarity and Appropriateness Regarding Reparations – Ahh yeah Family. To label distribution and equity activities that should be done on the local level as “Reparations” is conflicting messaging. Purposely done to confuse and deflect. This “local reparations” nonsense can be used as a form of nullification through the strategic interposition of lesser initiatives, which, as these initiatives spread nationally, will potentially undermine and/or eliminate the greater National Reparations case. Do you understand? Local and state legislators may or may not be aware of this. Or may or may not care. Maybe? Ya’ll need to Ask.
But this is the danger again. This “local reparations” can technically be used as a political tool to destroy the possibility of Pure Reparations being expended at the Federal level by Reparations opponents. One possibility is that the Federal government could reduce this Federal demand to a “state’s rights” issue.
Don’t think they can’t.
Some local and state monies necessarily and substantially come directly from the Federal government. And that Federal money – no matter where it goes, who gets it, or how it is used, is always differentiated as “Federal money.”
Understand Family: If even a dollar of that Federal money is designated, directed and expended under any “local reparations” labeling – city by city, county by county, state by state. Everything in terms of potential resource extraction would be reset downward. Step by step. Penny by penny. Dollar by dollar.
Just to illustrate: Every potential thousand dollars in justified recompense from the Federal government could potentially be reduced to one dollar. Because Federal Reparations resources would be already spent at the state and local level. Just to use a hypothetical. This is important: The language we use and the reparational structures we create whether local, county, state, or federal – are critical.
To reiterate: That reset means that if more cities and states decide to do this, the ultimate Federal reparations liability will theoretically over time be severely reduced or possibly nullified. Yes – Zero. Because that Federal money would have already been accepted, designated, agreed upon, expended, and spent through and in states, counties, and municipalities as Reparations. When it is time to talk in reparational substance – and finality – and the correct money at the apex – we are there – the Capitol Hill level – the Federal government can Simply and Legally Say:
“We already paid you Reparations. Go Away.”
For American Freedmen: The time for “getting what we can get” is over. We have to get it ALL this time. But we have to get it ALL in proper legislative order.
XVI
NOW. A word about The NAARC/ N’COBRA Axis. Of which – One of your locals – Yvette Modestin from Panama was formerly a Commissioner with NAARC. And now runs this local organization called “Encuentro Diaspora Afro.” Hold On! We will get to her in a minute. But at this point People – I want you to let these original quotes which were recently modified on NAARC’s website to sink in:
“NAARC firmly asserts that reparations should not be restricted to people of African descent who can prove their lineage to what is termed ‘American’ enslavement.”
AND
“We strongly affirm the right of all people of African descent in the U.S. to receive reparations, irrespective of when they arrived here or their country of origin.”
You See? This is Pan Africanism. Freely giving the recompense from the struggle of our grandparents and parents to any Black person that arrives here like Halloween candy. “Just show up!” This would be the world’s first fly-in reparations program.
Get a check – leave a plantain as a tip.
One of your own local organizations: A “New Democracy Coalition of Boston” posted this interesting article in the January 4, 2023 online edition of Medium.com. Titled: “Boston Can Create New Models for Black Reparations. Let’s Hope the City Doesn’t Blow It.” Blow What? I didn’t know Boston was that kind of town.
OK. So, I’m quoting an excerpt:
“We are morally compelled to trace the historical linkages of those who were directly harmed and ensure that we approximate some kind of justice for them,’ says Reverend Kevin Peterson. ‘These are Blacks who live directly in the legacy of those in Boston whom have been robbed of their wages and culture in this country. — They deserve Reparations first. Black immigrants – from other states or countries throughout the African Diaspora – must then receive compensation or benefit from reparations policies.”
WOW
I’m asking a question: “Reverend Peterson – whom is this ‘we’ that should be ‘morally compelled’ to do something stupid? For example, there are 3000 direct descendants of African slave traders that are African Black that live in this country. Do they get reparations too? West African countries owe us reparations as well.
Do ‘we’ pay their expatriates? Everybody. Right? How does that work Reverend?
If West Africans aren’t talking about running our money in THIS direction – the right direction – we don’t have much to talk about Sir. Because we sure ain’t gonna speak on paying THEM any reparations. But that’s another conversation. If Any.”
So Boston Freedmen!!! Whomever this Reverend Kevin Peterson is – you would be doing yourselves a great favor by keeping this ignorant person far away from dealing with any substantive Reparations discussions in your town. He’s a dummy.
XVII
It is well known that the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was a global event.
Yes It Was. But the question is how the institution of slavery was handled in a separate – a disaggregated sense here, here, and there at each sovereign termination of the Atlantic transit. Every separate time. The question is always: “Where did individuals ultimately land – LEGALLY?” Those landings were accepted AND REGISTERED by traders here, here, and there under different, separate – autonomous governments. Separate and sovereign. Those independent governments had and have their own constitutions, laws, policies, structures, imposed slave cultures, and self-decided abolition timelines. And those other – disaggregated, independent, enslavement operations – AGAIN FAMILY!!!
Had nothing to do with slavery operations in the United States.
Other countries should deal with Their own issues, deal with Their own people, address Their correct perpetrators, and pay Their own bills.
The United States should not be pinned as the world’s default paymaster to compensate for the criminal activities of other countries. Any particular robber is not responsible for all robberies. A justice claim has to equally provide justice for both the victim and the accused. Justice for both the potentially compensating government – and the potentially compensated group. There should be a justice-grounded Federal bill and a Federal commission that in finality – exclusively addresses the historic ills of the descendants of the American Enslaved and the exclusively domestic aftermaths that only American Freedmen have suffered. This compensative legislation being properly rendered, will provide equal justice for both the correct victims and the correct responsible government. Full Stop.
XVIII
There ARE NO operating reparations commissions inside or outside of the United States that include even the possibility of American Freedmen being included in their justice claims. None. Like the “Afro Panamamian Reparations Commission” doesn’t include us. “ARE you listening Yvette Modestin?” They make THEIR line-drawn exclusionism quite clear on their websites – like CARICOM. The Caribbean Commission has fifteen countries organized in the Caribbean archipelago and one continental country in South America (Guyana). And again – the United States is definitely not one of those countries. And we are definitely not included in their Reparations issue. They make sure of that. “Ahh… No niggers from America.”
Jamaica’s GOVERNMENT was in the news petitioning for Reparations from the British Government. We took a look at various media platforms reporting this – and American Freedmen inclusion was nowhere in there nowhere. And nowhere else. You See? When NAARC and N’COBRA were asked if they would petition the Jamaican Government for American Freedmen to be included in this claim, the N’COBRA twitter person replied “NO.” Why was I not surprised?
“Why NO reciprocity for Freedmen?”
The main issue with The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis, is having and maintaining an African Diasporan sensibility for Reparations versus those who may be oriented as ADOS, FBA, Freedmen, et cetera – that are grounded in American specificity. Let us get with the facts. The United States has always practiced specificity grounded reparations in the form of compensative legislation or Civil Suit since 1789.
No reparations legislation or the like anywhere on this planet has ever been “Pan” anything. Reparations worldwide has ALWAYS been specific and targeted and Federal. That is not nativist nor xenophobic nor unfair. Unlike the way Axis criminals will lie you into thinking. That is just the way reparations programs that are actually legitimate reparations programs are structured and deployed.
XVIIII
When “Pure Reparationists” participate in these “local” and “state” reparations arrangements – WE REALLY DON’T WANT TO DO THAT. “Then why do it?” Because in actuality we are getting ahead of the mess. Attempting to get control of the mess. And putting out the destructive small fires that The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis have started across this nation. Attempting to re-stabilize their destabilization of the issue – as our advocational and constructive energies have been diverted to a large degree from the Federal case. The most important case.
Our focus should be Federal ONLY. True Reparations is always a Federal issue.
I have a book titled: “The Handbook Of Reparations” by Pablo De Greiff (ISBN = 978-0-19-929192-2). The 1020 pages of text in this book covers the nature and details of every major Reparations program accomplished in the world. Every single program in this book is FEDERAL-LEVEL-ONLY. No “local” nonsense done nowhere in the world. And neither NAARC nor N’COBRA (You Know – “the reparations experts”) are mentioned even once. Maybe they don’t qualify?
The Handbook was published in 2006. N’COBRA has been around since 1987.
Even though N’COBRA has not accomplished reparations at no time anywhere, even after more than thirty years in operation – they fraudulently put themselves and their associates out in front of everything and everyone as the “experts” of reparations. They want to open the “grifitlicious” door for individual members and associates of NAARC and N’COBRA to establish organizations like “Encuentro Diaspora Afro” (I think that’s how you pronounce it) run by Yvette Modestin.
Opening the door to create fake research concerns, and advising but incompetent “non-profits” (like FirstRepair of Evanston) to non-productively “assist” legislators in developing reparational theft policies, systems, and programs.
They are not beyond using long-standing organizations like certain cooperating chapters of the NAACP or “King Boston” as “fronts” to advance their agenda. If things convene in the way that the Axis wants it to – expect to see that growing list of “experts and consultants” to only consist of certain slick Caribbeans, certain bossy Central Americans, and certain grifting Pan Africans.
XX
American Freedmen must proactively STOP this open Pan African DISRESPECT. Ask yourselves Family: “How does Yvette Modestin – a native of Panama; a person that is not lineaged from Lynching; a person that is not lineaged from Slave Rape; a person that is not lineaged from The Montgomery Bus Boycott; a person that is not lineaged from the Tulsa Massacre; a person that is not lineaged from The Great Migration; a person that is not lineaged from Racial Eminent Domain; a person that is not lineaged from Redlining – GET TO MOVE TO BOSTON – and tell YOU Native American Black Freedmen – HOW your Reparations should go?” How?
She’s the BOSS NOW? Please…
American Freedmen HAVE NO SAY WHATSOEVER in other Reparations Demands internationally or domestically regarding other groups WHATSOEVER. Adjo Amouzou – a NAARC Commissioner was born in TOGO which is in Africa. She has more say in shaping a Reparations program FOR YOU than YOU DO.
There it is Family – Pan Africanism – in your face!
Both Yvette Modestin and Adjo Amouzou in a properly constructed American reparations program – people that are now shaping OUR program would not be eligible(!) for American Freedmen Reparations. So – ask yourselves Family: “Why and how are these foreign born – very ineligible people all the way up in our reparations business?” Got a Green Card Sweetheart!? Ask Them!!!
Now. Whatever they do in Togo – you will never hear of any native-born Black American running, shaping, deciding, or influencing anything in Togo – in Panama – in Nigeria – in Senegal – in Jamaica. NOT NOWHERE!!! But a Togolesian can boat, fly, or swim here and shape OUR reparations? OK? Chinese and Japanese folks are both Asian. RIGHT? But you NEVER find Japanese people running Chinese people’s stuff or Chinese people running Japanese people’s stuff. RIGHT?
And you never will.
Boston Freedmen – TAKE YOUR ISSUE BACK. And render it properly.
XXI
I mean this: I have no NICE words regarding this situation. I am vicious when it comes to our Reparations. The tendency of American Freedmen to be sweet and accommodating to all is the primary reason other groups have walked over and upon us for so long. Your Reverend Kevin Peterson thinks that we have not been walked over enough. Reparations is not inclusive. Reparations is always exclusive. And our Reparations should not be open to “new models” like some morons have suggested. The old models are good enough. Always remember that the job of The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis is not to move us forward – but to keep us running in place in perpetuity. To forever keep Pure Reparations out of our hands.
I speak like this because I have no game. I’m just myself. Fully Native American Black. A Complete American Freedman. That’s the Attitude: John Henrik Clarke said it best to me – he said: “My attitude comes from the essential selfishness of survival.” I KNOW that every American Freedmen’s attitude IN our survival should necessarily be set IN that place. Right Now – As Well.
The Pan Africans are making a joke out of our seriously historic issue. They are messing with our inheritance. They are messing with our money. They are messing with the future of our children. We have been so deprived and financially abused for so long that we will blindly sign onto bad deals just so that we can “get what we can get.” Selling ourselves out for reparational pennies on the dollar. LITERALLY.
Understand Freedmen – for you to self-identify as a Pan African is a definite downgrade to your own Native Black American personhood. By default you are also unconsciously identifying with a dangerous cabal of organizations. Mainly consisting of: The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis run by Dr. Ron Daniels; Reparations United run by Kamm Howard; and FirstRepair of Evanston run by Robin Rue Simmons. A group of calculators that as a matter of their own unwritten organizational policy – coldly downgrade and de-prioritize American Freedmen’s history, justice issues, and rights to the inheritance their antecedents have created.
A group, that in this country, prioritizes the improper desires and plans of the African Diaspora – over the justifiable needs of American Freedmen. NAARC – N’COBRA Axis-type Pan Africanism is a capitalistic form of intra-Black racism. A coldly cynical – insidious type of racism that prioritizes the value of the lives of the African Diaspora over the value of the lives of American Freedmen.
Just look at what they’re doing.
I say NO to “local reparations.” But IF you must do it. Don’t bastardize it. Don’t inclusionize it. At least do it properly. At least do it right. At least do it rightly for us American Freedmen exclusively. And if this can’t be done properly: Family – have the foundational fortitude to shut it down completely. And start that bad boy over. OR, more properly – kill it altogether. You will have to do that Boston. You must get the proper political will to do that.
Boston Freedmen! This is yours. NO to Pan Africanizing this justice claim at any level. NO to Yvette Modestin inserting herself into a business she doesn’t belong in. AND NO to the arrogant Pan African Professor Jemadari Kamara of the University of Massachusetts posing as an expert in something he has no expertise in.
Boston Freedmen. The entirety of American History attests to the justice of our unsatisfied Reparations demand. What amplifies the justice of this demand is the preponderance of the continuousness of the wrongs. Uniquely aimed at US the American Freedmen. In Full Intentionality. Done by this white-supremacist Society. Done By This Government.
Our exclusively deep and long-suffering losses were never addressed nor recompensed. Even though our Blood – our DNA is inextricably intertwined, thoroughly infused, and bottomlessly enmeshed to THIS American soil. A brutal, extractive, and unrelenting history done continuously. Since 1619 unfolded and still unfolding under this reddened watch so far of 146,000 Sunrises and Sunsets. We The People – have an unrepeatable and incomparable history. Right Here.
An intense continuum streaming nonstop From Then. Till NOW.
Only the proper Reparations and all accompanying Freedmen-centric legislation with protections is what will FINALLY get us to Full American. Boston Freedmen. This is your responsibility to make. To demand. To conduct. To happen correctly. Established in the here, the present, and the continuous future.
Boston Freedmen – TAKE YOUR ISSUE BACK. And render it properly.
Thank You So Much for listening.
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976: Allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair Use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.
I was assisted in this reposting and bringing in the New Year 2023 with a bottle of Barbier Louvet – Cuvee d’Ensemble Champagne Grand Cru N.V. 2021 – This is usually about $70.00 per bottle. In Chicago this was on sale for $40.00. Slight but balanced acidity. 12% alcohol. 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay. Green apples, apricots, and pineapples is the predominance throughout its opening, sustain, and closing. Moderate effervescence. Dry – slightly sweet finish.
“We cannot allow the [reparations] Commission to be seated and wait until afterward to pressure it to do the right thing. We cannot leave the [reparations] Commission’s mandate for the content of its report open-ended. Too much is at stake. If such a Commission is created, it must be directed to produce the type of report that will lead to a comprehensive plan for reparations for Black American descendants of U.S. slavery. As HR40 currently stands, designed to give N’COBRA and NAARC a significant role in its deliberations, we face a grave risk of getting the wrong model for reparations.
As HR40 currently stands, it is the wrong legislation for this important moment. – While still wrapped in naivete, I assumed there would be a good faith effort to evaluate HR40 and revise it accordingly. I am beginning to believe it should be scrapped altogether. – The goal is Pure Reparations. The bill as currently constituted will not get us from here to there.”
Dr. William Darity Jr.
This post is for those that want me to reiterate my oughts regarding HR40 and The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis. This is it. Myself – Roslyn Mickens – and Angie Of Baltimore did a Twitter space on February 6, 2022. A second space was done on February 13, 2022 regarding: “Why We Say No To HR40?” This was sponsored by: “By The People Media.” We explained HR40 line by line with commentary and questions and answers from others in the room. Here they are:
Part I – What’s In The Bill?
Part II – Who Benefits From The Bill?
Part III – What Do Freedmen Think About This Bill?
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976: Allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair Use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.
I was assisted in writing this post by a bottle of Treana Cabernet Sauvignon 2020. An inexpensive Paso Robles California contender. Powerful entrance. Dry but faintly sweet. Moderate but balanced tannins. Quiet acidity. Leading in heavy with vanilla, oak, and chocolate. A sustain of blackberries, nutmeg, and black cherries. Ending in cocoa, honey, and tobacco. Long – elegant finish.
“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”
Aristotle
I will be periodically posting random – contained thoughts and observations centered generally on reparations in batches of seven. First Page.
I
The reason I am encouraging study circles with “From Here To Equality” (ISBN 978-1469671208) and “The Black Reparations Project” (ISBN 978-0520383814) is because I would like to see an organic but precise “reparations mentality” to grow within the Freedmen community. The Pan Africans have no materials for the people that serve this purpose. Correct reparations thought. The specificity reparationists have an advantage in this regard and that needs to be exploited.
For those that do Kwanzaa or Christmas, give these books as presents. This information and the subsequent mentality that these actions will generate must be spread as widely as possible within the Freedmen community. Like Now.
II
Observe Family. Eight Nigerian-Americans won congressional seats in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota. Will this be good for American Freedmen? No. Nigerians are probably the most anti-Freedmen group of the Diaspora generally. They are solidly tribal and will readily side with white supremacy against us. You cannot expect these legislators to support reparations unless this issue is “Pan Africanized.” This is a troublesome development that we must be concerned with. It is possible to be entirely Black – but only do policy favorable for some Blacks.
III
I do appreciate Gilad Erdan – Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations for releasing this November 3, 2022 Tweet:
“The Nets are showing no tolerance for hate. We can’t pick and choose when we want to stand against injustice. Kyrie hopped on the trend of being anti-Semitic & was put in his place quickly. I hope he opens his eyes beyond the conspiracy theories he spreads & can educate himself.”
“Put in his place quickly?” That’s some high-handed shit ain’t it? But don’t get angry at the ambassador for speaking his truth. I’m not gonna wear my mind out with some “what’s his place?” type unspoken retorts. “Put in his place quickly” is a 400 year old attitude and practice that only applies to American Freedmen – and comes directly from the core of a racism-white supremacy mindset. It looks like things are changing and the Black community is starting to show some teeth in response to attitudes like this. That should serve as a warning. But! Certain groups are so supremacist-minded and arrogant that they will keep poking the bear. OK? It will not be until that bear fully awakens and things get dangerous (and possibly deadly) that folks will get respectful. Respect with teeth is where we want to be.
IV
Let’s take this further – the good thing (I hope) about the Kyrie Irving situation is that it could be (I hope) making us do a substantial reset as to how we move as a community in all respects. Politics – Economics – Business. Everything about this issue ties into those three areas. I want everybody to thank NIKE for showing its true mentality by showing its true hand. I will never buy another NIKE product.
Why? Because I have unapologetic self-respect and I’m not going to spend money with a company that openly spits on my people and on my people’s issues. We’ve had a long but lopsided marriage with NIKE. Our folks provided uncompensated marketing and devoted customership – while Phil Knight and his associates have enjoyed the collection of unlimited profits. Undeserved abuse and racial insult has occurred. Divorce is sometimes necessary when a relationship turns sour.
Time to research Black-owned athletic shoe companies, and spend our money with our own. If we moved correctly as a community – we would anathematize NIKE immediately and finally (the same way the Jewish community has anathematized Kyrie). And shift to developing our own shit. And shift to spending with our own. And shift to developing and raising our own power. OURS!!! #DontGoBack.
Do I have any faith in what I’m saying here? Absolutely Not. American Freedmen have a unique self-destructive, self-disrespecting psychology that’s hard to beat, understand, or explain. But I do understand this – it wouldn’t matter what NIKE does to Kyrie Irving. Black folks love to spend money with folks that disrespect and shit on us. Korean beauty supply stores? Vietnamese nail salons? Palestinian liquor stores? And now NIKE turning its ass up at us. I mean other communities can literally take a shit on us – and we’ll be right back at their doors (with a smile) to spend money with those motherfuckers after we clean the shit off. It’s weird. At the same time – I do hope I’m wrong on this. I would be totally gratified if my folks flipped the script on my ass and proved me wrong – changing this dynamic.
I now look at the NIKE swoosh the same way the Jews look at the Nazi swastika.
V
Family – please study this video carefully. The Hasidic Jews in practice move the way we should move on the local level. This is a living blueprint. A blueprint on the economic, community, educational, self-protection, networking, gates up, and On Code basis. Man – I hope we wake up to the point that we can move like this.
VI
I want all of us to notice that the same communities that are the most fixated on professional sports are also the most impoverished. Ninety-five percent of the owners of teams have never played sports themselves ever. They were fixated on BUSINESS – LAW – ACCOUNTING – MARKETING – MANAGEMENT. Adam Silver (The 5th Commissioner of the NBA) got his degree in political science from Duke University and his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School. While others were busy bouncing balls. Understand. We hardly ever give our children useful epiphanies. If some guy in a suit is able to pay a single guy in a jersey $40 million in a year – then what is the guy in the suit making? Right? OK? This, in addition to highly compensating the rest of the team and support staff?
And still making a profit?
That’s one thing. There are those that suggest that we ought to construct our own leagues. Totally understandable. But check this, in these times I think we need to divest from professional sports in all respects. In addition to politics – I think our new fixations should be the fixations that I cited above. Time to get serious.
“Government is the game and politics is how you play it” (Brother Logic). Politics is the only process by which you gain or lose protections, set-asides, community resources, and individual considerations. Goals are accomplished depending on how you participate, how much you participate, and how well you play.
VII
“The president of NIKE – John Donahoe said: ‘Without Black athletes and the Black culture, NIKE would not be where it is today.”
Athletic shoes alone generated $70 Billion last year. Black consumers accounted for $23 Billion of that (but see how they regard us?). And Black retailers saw extremely little of that. OK? There is nothing sexy about helping to build businesses that other groups own. Especially those group-owners that fundamentally are hostile to you and your group. But are just civil enough for a few minutes to get your money. To induce you to sign hyper-predatory contracts. To contain you and your children within new forms of slavery with multi-million dollar checks. OK? Consequences? Giving them the power to use, abuse, and disrespect you. We require a “revolution of the mind.” It is insanity to finance your own disrespect. Jewish folks, NIKE, and the NBA wouldn’t have that kind of power over us if we hadn’t given it to them.
Suggestion: BURN NIKE products and post those burnings on social media.
Another resetting thought: LABELS. I don’t know what started this trend. But this is another avenue by which the enemy extracts commercial value from us.
Think about it. Why are YOU paying for clothes that are actually billboards for clothing companies and sports teams without being compensated? NIKE – GUCCI – VERSACE – CHAMPION – ADIDAS – LOUIS VUITTON – PINK – PELLE PELLE – WHITE SOX – RAIDERS. Not me. Not that I am against it per se – but in my case, for me to be a walking billboard for any company, a check has to be attached.
The trick is that you have been marketed into thinking you are trendy and chic while actually being an uncompensated marketing mule for sports teams and clothing companies. Some folks have on so many labels simultaneously that they look like walking clearance racks. If the label that’s on the clothes is the only thing that “makes” the clothes (and you ain’t getting no check), that’s fucked up.
Family. Self-enslavement can come in many forms and be done in many ways.
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