By Enola G. Aird, CHN Founder and President — When the United States Congress returns to the issue of reparations tomorrow, the most important thing for everyone to remember is that everything depends on how the problem is defined. On Wednesday, February 17, 2021, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties will continue hearings on HR 40 to “explore the path to reparatory justice” for Black people. I fully support reparations…
By Professor Sir Hilary Beckles — On behalf of the CARICOM Reparations Commission, allow me to congratulate members of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties for conducting this Congressional hearing on the HR40 Bill. Your hearing comes at a time when the global movement for reparatory justice for 250 years of enslavement and genocide and for dismantling the structures of systemic racism and white supremacy…
By Earl Ofari Hutchinson— Two things are certain about the Capitol terror attack January 6. And one thing isn’t. The certainties first. One, Trump will not be charged with incitement to riot. Yes, there have been soundings from DC federal prosecutors about the possibility of an incitement to riot charge against him. But this is just shop talk and media copy. The second senate acquittal of Trump pretty much took…
By Earl Ofari Hutchinson— When word hit that a phony Valentine’s Day card was being circulated among LAPD officers that mocked the slaying of George Floyd, a bevy of LAPD police and city officials expressed outrage. All promised a thorough investigation, and tough punishment of whoever the perpetrator is of the obscene, disgusting, and hate filled card. The indignation from on top is all well and good. However, it begs…
Instead of opening doors for American big business or supporting America’s diplomatic position in the world, the U.S. war machine has become a bull in the global china shop, wielding purely destructive power to destabilize countries and wreck their economies. By Medea Benjamin, Nicolas J.S. Davies— In 2004, journalist Ron Suskind quoted a Bush White House advisor, reportedly Karl Rove, as boasting, “We’re an empire now, and when we act, we…
Haitians awoke Monday to empty streets, a tightened police presence and a deeper political crisis: Now there are two men who claim to be the nation’s president. By Jacqueline Charles— Opposition and civil society groups installed Joseph Mécène Jean-Louis, 72, the oldest member of Haiti’s Supreme Court, late Sunday as president for two years. In a video shared on social media, Jean-Louis, sitting next to a Haitian flag, said he…
The failure to appreciate Black history leaves our nation incomplete. By Jonathan Holloway— Many of the insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 were driven by a belief that they were acting in accord with the principles fashioned at the birth of this country, that their protest embodied America’s long history of patriotic rhetoric about freedom and citizenship. And in this, they are at least partly right: Such rhetoric…
The city of Portland is joining a growing chorus of voices demanding reparations for people of color and indigenous communities. By Jesse O’Neill, New York Post— Portland’s City Council unveiled plans last week to lobby the federal government to provide financial payments and other aid to the descendants of enslaved Black Americans and Native Americans harmed by US governmental policy. The federal legislative agenda calls on Washington to “Establish federal reparations for…
By Sundiata Cha-Jua— The key to African American advancement and eventual liberation is the strength of the Black liberation movement. When the movement operates at high tide, it elevates all aspects of Black life. It carries culture, religion, media and electoral politics. The movement establishes the context in which Black entertainers and sports figures acquire the space to stand up and advocate for their people. A movement upsurge pressures politicians…
By Dr. Maulana Karenga— The current conversations concerning the urgency and need to unite the nation must always be undergirded and informed by a parallel recognition of the urgent and unavoidable need of an inclusive and substantive justice. For there can be no real, moral or meaningful unity without justice. As we know from centuries of sustained struggle and reflection, without justice there can be no peace, only an imposed…
By Anthony Quinones— Many historically marginalized groups have the ability to address the atrocities done to them. For example, Jewish people are still talking about the Holocaust. The Nazis killed millions of Jews from 1941-1945. Nobody should ever forget that. All races, ethnicities, and cultures should remember their past to avoid a repeat of the horrible events. All groups have this ability–except Black people. The deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd,…
By Ella Sogomonian— SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) – “This is a time for us to run and save our people intellectually, economically, socially, spiritually, culturally,” Rev. Dr. Amos C. Brown, president of the NAACP San Francisco, said. The NAACP President of the San Francisco chapter referring to the reparations that the county plans to pay descendants of African American slaves. The next step in the process is forming an advisory…
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