[National Reparations Day]
Pro.Smalls: “Nobody is owed reparations more than African-Americans…If America owes any debt, it’s to the African-American people here in the United States. Reparations should be at the top of our agenda.”
Photo: Flyer
The following statement regarding Reparations–and the upcoming National Reparations Day- was written by Carolyn Jenkins for the December 12th Movement.
The National Reparations Day will take place on August 15th at the Trump International Hotel at Columbus Circle at 59th Street and Broadway.
In the shadow of the death of Civil Rights activist, Congressman John Lewis, the battle for Reparations is approaching a fever pitch. Perhaps the reminder of John Lewis and other activists of that period being beaten with billy clubs on the bridge named after this former Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, Edmund Pettus, triggered outrage at the indignities Black people have been subjected to for far too long. Or, perhaps it was the recent dehumanizing murder of George Floyd, Breanna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and the worldwide outrage which followed in the aftermath. Coupled with the sudden outbreak of a worldwide pandemic, the Black community in particular has no choice but to act. As Lewis was fond of saying, “It’s time to get in the good trouble.”
There comes a point when all of these atrocities, past, and present, meet – they’ve met.
The Asheville, North Carolina City Council must have heard the cries and passed a Reparations Bill to pay its 12,400 Black residents as an apology for slavery and discrimination. One victory and many more to go!
The December 12th Movement and the National Black United Front laid the foundation for Reparations in the 2001 United Nations World Conference Against Racism in Durdan, South Africa, when the world declared the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and Slavery to be Crimes Against Humanity, and that reparations were due the descendants of the crime victims.
Activist Professor James Smalls is steadfast in his support for the National Day for Reparations and payment to African-Americans who were forced to build this country for free, while being left on the bottom rung of the economic ladder.
Smalls said, “Some Native Americans have been given reparations. So have Jews for the German holocaust; Japanese after WWII; Poland and other countries. Nobody is owed reparations more than African-Americans. We have had our lives and history erased and families torn apart with no escape route. If America owes any debt, it’s to the African-American people here in the United States. Reparations should be at the top of our agenda.”
NYC Assemblyman Charles Barron sponsored NY State Reparations Bill A3080A.
The December 12th Movement declared ALL OUT SATURDAY, August 15th as National Reparations Day.
Plans call for a tremendous turnout of supporters for this Reparation Bill. This would be a great way to honor the legacy of John Lewis and many other activists who have fought so valiantly for civil rights. This torch will not be extinguished.
Frederick Douglas said, “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has and never will.”
Join us on August 15th and demand to reap what we’ve sown for 400 years and counting!
