HISTORIC REPARATIONS RESOLUTION SUBMITTED TO
CITY COUNCIL
 By Donna Lamb
 ake note, New Yorkers. Wednesday, February 6, 2002 was a historic
day in your city's history. Councilman Charles Barron submitted a
resolution to the City Council which calls for the creation of the
"Queen Mother Moore" Reparations Resolution for Descendants of Enslaved
Africans in New York City. Its purpose is to create a Commission to
explore reparations to New Yorkers of African ancestry, and to come back
with recommendations for compensation.
Of paramount importance as well is the fact that instead of remaining
silent and assigning it to a committee to be killed, City Council
Speaker Gifford Miller spoke favorably of the Resolution and assigned it
to a committee where he knows it will be given serious, respectful
consideration: the Government Operations Committee, chaired by
Councilman Bill Perkins. On the floor of the Council, Perkins said,
"This is a historic moment, and I want to thank the Speaker for
assigning this Resolution to my committee where it will definitely get a
hearing."
Stated the elated Councilman Barron in an interview, "That's the key,
it gets a hearing! We're talking about much publicity; we're
talking about bringing in people, historians, to testify. This is a real
victory for us."
When Councilman Barron spoke on the floor of the Council urging
support of his resolution, he said the following:
"Madame Chair, even though this, Black History Month, is the coldest
and the shortest month of the year, I do want to say that it is
significant that during it I offer my Resolution 41, calling for a
Commission to be set up to deal with reparations to descendants of
enslaved Africans in New York City.
"It is time that this city and the people of the city understand that
slavery wasn't just a Southern thing; slavery was very much alive right
here. Slavery existed from 1625 to 1827 in New York City. We all must
agree that a crime has been committed, a people has been injured, and
compensation is due. That is the spirit of this Resolution.
 "It comes at a time that I understand we are in an economic crisis,
and one may ask, 'Why now?' And I say this is as good a time as any,
because reparations take many, many forms, and when the Commission
finishes its work you'll see the various forms compensation can take."
He concluded, "So I urge all of my colleagues to support this
Resolution calling for the setting up of the Queen Mother Moore
Commission on Reparations."
The Resolution is already receiving a great deal of support, with
several people signing on, including John Liu, the first Asian member
elected to the City Council; the Majority Leader, Joel Rivera; the
Majority Whip, Leroy Comrie; as well as Council Members Jose Serrano,
Helen Foster, Bill Perkins, Yvette Clarke, Margarita Lopez, and James
Davis.
[columns/ad_middle.htm]"That's a pretty big voting number already," said Barron. And that's
just as it's on its way to committee! To have that number is really
great--which means there's a good chance that it will pass the
Government Operations Committee, come to the full Council, and that they
will vote for the creation of this Commission."
The Resolution is named after Queen Mother Moore who was born Audley
E, Moore on July 27th, 1898, and passed on to be with the Ancestors on
May 21st, 1997. She spent 77 of her 98 years of life fighting for Human
Rights, Civil Rights, Liberation, Black Nationalism and Reparations for
African People. In the early 1960s, she formed "The Reparations
Committee of Descendants of United States Slaves" to demand Reparations
for Africans in America from the U.S. Government. She canvassed the
country to get over a million signatures to petition the government and
was successful in presenting the signatures to President John F.
Kennedy.
 Stated Barron, "I met her on several occasions, and every time we had
a meeting she started off by saying, 'Pay me my reparations!' Even
before anybody was making the subject popular around here, Queen Mother
Moore did. And that was why we wanted to honor her and name the
Resolution after her."
The "Queen Mother Moore" Reparations Resolution for Descendants of
Enslaved Africans in New York City reads in part:
Whereas: In 1625 the Dutch established the village of New
Amsterdam on Manhattan Island and began the wholesale kidnapping and
enslavement of African people from the Caribbean and Africa, and,
Whereas: In 1664 the English won control of new Amsterdam and
renamed it New York after the Duke of York, and continued the wholesale
thievery of African people from the Caribbean and Africa, and,
Whereas: These Africans were forced to provide "Free Labor" to
New York City under British rule that was even more aggressive and cruel
in its participation in the so-called Transatlantic slave trade; the
greatest crime committed against humanity, and,
Whereas: These Africans during New York City's colonial period of
enslavement, cleared land, built houses, paved roads, built forts and
bridges, planted and harvested crops, and,
Whereas: The enslavement of Africans continued in New York City
after the colonial period when the United States ratified its
constitution in 1789 and became the United States Of America, until New
York City abolished slavery in 1827, and,
Whereas: In short, Africans built New York City's infrastructure
and economy and were never paid, and,
Whereas: Not only were these Africans never paid, they were
subjected to the worst kind of rape, torture, brutality and murder the
human mind can conjure up, and,
Whereas: These Africans are now represented by over 2.1 million
people of African ancestry in New York City,
Be it resolved: That a "Queen Mother Moore" Reparations for
Descendants of Africans of New York City Task Force be established, and,
Be it further resolved: That the Queen Mother Moore Reparations
Task Force be funded by the City of New York for the duration of time
deemed necessary by the Task Force to hold hearings, conduct research
and recommend compensation to the New African Descendant Community of
New York City for the debt owed for the enslavement of their African
Ancestors during the colonial and post-colonial periods in New York
City.
Charles Barron can be reached at (718) 649-9495 or
cbdynamics@igc.org.
Donna Lamb can be contacted at
dlamb@gis.net
Read Donna's Last Column |