espite
the rainy weather and the dire forecasts of afternoon downpours, people
from all over the country and even the mother continent of Africa were
undeterred from attending the National Reparations Rally last Saturday
in front of the United Nations.
This stirring event was put together by a broad-based coalition led
by
Millions
for Reparations. People from as far west as California and as far south
as Texas were there, as were people from many states in between,
including Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio, Kansas, Missouri, Maryland,
Connecticut and New Jersey. Representatives from Zimbabwe, Ghana and
other African nations were present as well.
Throughout the afternoon, December 12th Movement's Viola
Plummer and radio personality and long-time activist, Bob Law, MCed. The
gathered throng heard energizing addresses from speakers such as Elombe
Brath, Dr. Conrad Worrill and Atty. Roger Wareham, all pivotal in the
reparations movement. Spoken word artists Louis Reyes Rivera, Tylibah,
Kahlil Al-Mustafa, and the Welfare Poets added punctuation to the
proceedings with their thought provoking poetry.
One
of the speakers who electrified the crowd was Rev. Herbert Daughtry,
Pastor of Brooklyn's House of the Lord Church. He really broke it down,
stating,
"The question is, did slavery happen? Everybody knows it did. So the
next question is, was slavery wrong? Obviously it was. So when you do
wrong, the next question is, do you pay? Yes you pay."
He continued, "The fact is, there's nothing new about people
receiving reparations. It isn't like we just came up with the idea.
People have been receiving reparations since time immemorial. And if
it's good for other people, it's good for us! With the Nazis, the Jews
said, 'Pay up. You owe us!' The Japanese got paid. But when it comes to
us, people suddenly don't know anything about reparations."
Daughtry pointed out, "We're not talking about reparations making
anybody rich. We're talking about a whole revolutionary concept of using
resources to uplift the entire African people throughout the Diaspora,
from the continent to the Caribbean to the Americas."
Bob
Law brought his point home cogently as well, stating, "We are here
because reparations is a legitimate demand. They owe us. There
are people whose lives have been enriched by Black labor producing white
wealth. And now they say we need not talk about this any longer. They
are afraid to even discuss it because they would have to acknowledge
that they're not smarter or superior, but beneficiaries of a system that
has historically set aside all of the nation's resources for one group
while denying every other group. Then they strut around the planet
claiming to be the smartest, the hardest workers when really you would
have to be a brand new fool not to be able to build a nation with 400
years of free labor!"
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The
International Representative of the Nation of Islam, Min. Akbar
Muhammad, spoke about the fact that as the reparations movement
advances, there are those who want to get the heat off the US and Europe
"by turning the focus on our African brothers and sisters who are
suffering themselves. They want to talk about Africans having sold each
other into slavery. But," he said, "we were brought up in a capitalist
society. We understand supply and demand. The wealth of England, America
was built on slave labor. You've got the keep your focus on Europe and
America because that's where the wealth was amassed."
Council
Member and Mayoral candidate Charles Barron, author of the "Queen Mother
Moore Reparations Resolution" in the City Council, roused the crowd as
he touched on several crucial points. He observed that some whites who
just came to this country say, 'I just got here; why should I have to
pay?' His response is, "I don't care if you came over last night!
America's history didn't start with you coming here. You benefit off the
wealth from slavery, and you have to pay the debt. Reparations is a debt
owed."
He also spoke about whites asking Blacks questions they don't ask
anybody else such as who's going to get paid? "Like they don't know who
you are anymore," Barron exclaimed. "Well, the same people that you
lynched, that you call out of their name, that you raped, robbed and
murdered - that's who's going to be paid reparations!"
He
concluded, "Brothers and sisters, just as WEB Du Bois said that the
color line was the defining issue of the 20th century,
reparations is the defining issue of the 21st century. Don't
let anybody tell you whites will not give you reparations. They don't
have to give us anything. We're going to take our reparations. We
owe this to our ancestors!"
Notice was given that Millions for Reparations is planning a 2004
Long March through The Black Belt South. For further information, call
(718) 398-1766.
