National Reparations Rally in front of UN

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 12^th 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!"

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 20^th century, reparations is the defining issue of the 21^st 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.