What Do They Owe Us?
Southeast Queens
Addresses The Reparations Issue

By Tara Thomas

On June 19, African-Americans around the country will mark Juneteenth and the oldest known holiday celebrating the freeing of slaves. But on June 11, about 70 Southeast Queens residents joined together at York college for a lesson in history and a call to action.

The discussion for this forum was “reparations” – a growing movement which asks how and who should help to repay African-Americans for the pain, suffering and injustice of slavery. This week’s open meeting was meant to encourage discussion and debate, but organizers agreed that the first step before any action on reparations can ever be taken is to educate the population on the concept and open up a dialogue on action.

The word “reparation” — from the Latin “reparare,” to repair — describes the payment of damages, the act of making amends or giving satisfaction for a wrong or injury.

www.NCOBRA.com offers information on the reparations movement. The site is the internet home to the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations.

Among social groups, reparations has historically sought to compensate those who have suffered great, arguably irreparable, damage throughout history.

In 1952, Germany issued over $800 million towards Jewish Holocaust survivors. 

For the wrongs suffered in association with World War II, Japanese activists in North America saw the issuance of over $200 million. 

Initiatives such as college funds and reserved land allotments have taken steps to compensate people of Native American heritage for their land. 

Even the financial and social support 9/11 survivors and their families have received are, by definition, forms of reparations. 

However, according to Viola Plummer, chair of the Reparations National Rally, “the most brutal form of [injustice] known to the modern world was perpetrated on [African-American] ancestors” and the time for apt reparations is now. 

Plummer, along with the Code Foundation’s Erica Ford and approximately 70 concerned community members took part in this week’s African-American reparations discourse in a town hall meeting sponsored in part by Councilmen Leroy Comrie, James Sanders and Charles Barron.

The December 12 Movement’s International Secretariat (of which Plummer and Ford are both members) and many other passionate individuals were instrumental in the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) declaration of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade as a crime against humanity. 

The declaration added official support to the collective cry for a  “focused, step-by-step” approach to equal rights that, Plummer said, the African-American community needs to adopt in this era of the reparations movement.

Organizers of this week’s event said the increased public awareness of and action regarding reparations is considered a success when placed opposite the muted past of the movement.

However they noted that insufficient details about the movement threaten to desensitize the masses and turn the term into a mere catch phrase for campaigns and organizers.

Moderator Erica Ford reminded the audience of the movement’s earlier actions such as Queen Mother Moore’s approaching John Conyers (D-Detroit) regarding a Senate reparations bill back in 1969. 

And closer to home, an announcement at a recent rally by Council Member Barron declared that the New York City Council will begin hearings for the bill on June 19 (Juneteenth).

Affirmative action, race-specific scholarships and the like have provided recent examples of reparative initiatives designed to enhance the lives of many in “minority groups.”

However, organizers of this week’s event noted that these actions can resemble “hand-outs,” and therefore  contribute to a rift within the African-American and Caribbean communities.

A pervasive theme in Tuesday’s forum and the upcoming national rally in Washington, D.C. was “They Owe Us.” 

To coincide with and commemorate the birthday of Marcus Mosiah Garvey – the rally is scheduled for August 17 – whose message of Pan-African self-sufficiency contrasted a theme of relying on someone else’s obligation.

This raises the obstacle to reparations of creating a definitive and united list of proper compensation.

It’s an obstacle that required the “decolonialization of the mind,” Council Member Sanders said.

“This is a movement whose time has come… [having little to do with] morality or logic, but absolute power,” power being defined as the ability to have your will accomplished in spite of obstacles. 

To Sanders, the reparations issue is “a question of back pay.” If, and when, a price tag can be put on the affliction of slavery, the fair distribution of those funds will be the next delimea.

Plummer added that the movement is currently staying away from the topic of allocations of funds, and she called it premature.

She told the gathering that the 40 acres and a luxury car requested by a popular rapper and silently echoed by his captive audience is by no means suitable. 

Also, the action of “spending money they say they don’t even owe [the African-American community]” is just as unwise.

There has been mention of lawsuits against the perpetrators of slavery, which most identifiably include, but is not limited to, the U.S. government.  An audience member, who is an attorney with the United Black Men of Queens, applauded the Durban 400 and December 12 Movement’s efforts in securing a ruling of “no statute of limitations” in regard to the reparations issue and the UNCHR’s declaration. 

The ruling means that there is no limit as to the period of time within which a party can bring a legal action. 

“From a legal point of view, the courts are open,” he said, assuring participants that reflecting on past movements with nostalgia or wishful thinking doesn’t have to be the case, that involvement in this current issue would be energy well spent. 

Legal action is not expected to be easy.  Sanders said “suing corporations is one thing, suing the government is another,” to which Plummer added “The right of sovereignty to say ‘yes, you can sue us’ is a real hurdle to jump over.”  She went on to cite awareness as to the power of the purse as a powerful tool of action.  “What turns the U.S. is its economy.  What turns its economy is us.  Either the bill or the disruption,” she said.

“Do I have to have five generations worth of family in America to qualify?” 

“No one in my family kept any slaves.  Why am I responsible?” 

“I went to college.  I’ve got a good job.  My family and I enjoy a nice house, car — the American dream.  Am I eligible?” 

“Who’s supposed to pay?” 

“African-Americans weren’t the only people to struggle.  What makes their situation so different?” 

These were some of the concerns expressed from the audience and personally contemplated during the forum’s question and answer period.  The consensus was set.  “It is a necessity to execute this march for our future,” said Ford, adding that attention must be given to the issues if there is ever to be a meaningful debate and a suitable formula for reparations created.

In conjunction with the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (NCOBRA), the Jamaica Branch of the NAACP, the Afrikan Poetry Theatre and Muslims for Reparations, the United Black Men of Queens and other local groups, The December 12 Movement’s Millions for Reparations committee is sponsoring a Washington rally.

During this week’s meeting, $382 were collected from the audience as a first step in defraying the cost for the ride to reparations. 

Pickup locations for the 6 a.m. trip currently include Richard’s Place II in Laurelton, Rochdale’s NCOBRA Office, St. Albans Congregational Church, Roy Wilkins Park, York College and the Afrikan Poetry Theatre.

For tickets and more information, call 398-1766 or log onto the website  www.millionsforreparations.com.

Africa Reparations Movement [the.arc.co.uk/arm/]
African Holocaust [members.aol.com/jahpaint/newhol.htm]
African Reparations [ar-africare.com]
Africanite Network [africanite.net]
Black Speak [Blackspeak.com]
Gateway to African American History charter.uchicago.edu/AAH/recent.htm
Justice Talking [Justicetalking.org/season_two_shows/reparations.html]
National Black United Front [Nbufront.org]
National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America
[Ncobra.com]
New Panther Vanguard Movement [Globalpanther.com/rep.shtml]
PlebisPsyche Study Group [plebispsyche.com]
Poverty and Race Research Action Council [Prrac.org/]
The Self Determination Committee [Directblackaction.com]
Slavery Reparations [//racerelations.about.com/newissues/racerelations/
library/weekly/aa051200a.htm]
TransAfrica [Transafricaforum.org]