An apology is meaningless without reparations. But reparations would be meaningless without a heartfelt apology.
HR 40 is a U.S. federal bill which proposes a commission to study the effects of slavery on the descendants of enslaved people of African descent and make recommendations to repair the harm, including economic harm, caused by inter-generational poverty rooted in slavery. Here is the full wording of HR 40. Here is the status of the bill’s progress in Congress.
As of August 2019, Racial Justice Rising is offering the local and global community the opportunity to express why reparations are important to you. One of the co-chairs of New England N’COBRA (the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America) has suggested that especially people of European descent talk about this topic. And every voice is welcome here.
If you’d like, provide your comments in support of reparations.
Reparations
An Historical Timeline of Reparations Payments Made From 1783 through 2022 by the United States Government, States, Cities, Religious Institutions, Universities, Corporations, and Communities, by Dr. Allen J. Davis, Ed.D.
40 Acres and a Mule Would Be At Least $6.4 Trillion Today: What America Really Owes Black America, an infographic by Tracy Loeffelholz Dunn & Jeff Neumann at Yes! Magazine
Video describing the basis for the need for Reparations: Shawn Rochester’s talk, “The Black Tax: The Cost of Being Black in America”.
Book: From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the
Twenty-First Century by William A. Darity Jr., Andrea Kirsten Mullen
Webinar: From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the
Twenty-First Century (June 19, 2020)
Book: My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to
Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem
Black Farmers To Receive Payouts From Federal Lawsuit, by Carolyn Brown at Black Enterprise
Article: The Case For Reparations, by Ta-Nehisi Coates, at the Atlantic
- Audio Recording: Ta-Nehisi Coates Makes The Case For Reparations, at a June 2015 talk on WNPR
Georgetown University to offer slave descendents preferential admission status, by Kathryn Vasel at CNN
Jamaica is Calling on Britain To Pay Millions in Reparations by Rowena Mason at Business Insider
Book: “Laying the Foundation For Local Reparations: A Guide for Providing National Symmetry for Local Reparation Efforts” by Kamm Howard
National African American Reparations Commission
National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA)
Randall Robinson’s book: The Debt
Reparations: The Time is Now, a guide from Coming To The Table
Slavery reparations dominate David Cameron’s Jamaica visit, a very short video from A&J films
This Could Be Reparations’ Best Chance Since 1865, by Salim Muwakkil at In These Times
The Truth Telling Project’s Grassroots Reparations Campaign
U.S. Owes Black People Reparations for History of Racial Terrorism, Says U.N., by Ishaan Tharoor at the Washington Post
Apologies for Slavery
U.S. government apologies for slavery:
State & City apologies for slavery:
December 2015: Delaware Governor Says State Must Apologize For Its Role in Slavery, by Barbara Goldberg at Huffington Post
- Alabama (in 2007)
- Connecticut (in 2009)
- Delaware (in 2016)
- Florida (in 2008)
- Maryland (in 2007)
- New Jersey (in 2008)
- North Carolina (in 2007)
- Virginia (in 2007)
- Alameda County CA
Other countries:
- In 2006 Tony Blair, prime minister, expressed “deep sorrow” for the UK’s role in the slave trade.
Businesses and universities
- Brown University
- Aetna, mid-2000, prompted by Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, apologized for insurance policies written on slaves 140 years earlier.
- In 2002, New York Life, the insurer, donated documents about the insurance it sold to slave owners in the 1840s to a New York library. It also backed educational efforts.
- In 2005 JPMorgan, the investment bank, apologized that two of its predecessors in Louisiana
- Citizens Bank and Canal Bank – had mortgaged slaves. The bank made its research public and set up a $5m scholarship fund for African- American pupils.
- Lehman Brothers apologized in 2005 for its predecessors’ links to slavery, while Bank of America said it regretted any actions its predecessors might have taken to support or tolerate slavery.
- Wachovia Bank, since acquired by Wells Fargo, also apologized for its predecessors having owned and profited from slaves. It set up a program offering $1bn in loans for black car dealerships.
- In October 2001 students at Yale University pointed out its past links with slavery. The university noted it had already founded the Gilder-Lehrman center for the study of slavery.
- Brown University has set up a commission to look into links with slavery and how it should make amends.
- Emory University, January 2011
Faith groups
- Episcopal Church
- Church of England
- Episcopal Church in North Carolina
- Southern Baptist Convention