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Reparations

Reparations for slavery is the idea that some form of compensatory payment needs to be made to the descendants of Africans who had been enslaved as part of the Atlantic Slave Trade. The most notable demands for reparations have been made in the United Kingdom and in the United States, where slavery was the most pervasive. Caribbean and African states from which slaves were taken have also made reparation demands.

Professor Sir Hilary Beckles (seated left), Vice-Chancellor of The University of the West Indies (The UWI) and Dr. David Duncan, Chief Operating Officer & University Secretary, University of Glasgow, shake hands following the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding at The UWI Regional Headquarters, Kingston, Jamaica on July 31, 2019, to partner in a reparations strategy including the establishment of the Glasgow-Caribbean Centre for Development Research. Witnessing the event are C. William Iton (left), University Registrar, The UWI and Peter Aitchison, Director of Communications & Public Affairs, University of Glasgow.

Historic Memorandum of Understanding signed between The University of the West Indies and the University of Glasgow

By News & Current Affairs, Reparations

Regional Headquarters, Jamaica. July 31, 2019 — A historic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed by the Vice-Chancellor of The University of the West Indies (UWI), Professor Sir Hilary Beckles and a senior official of the University of Glasgow (UoG), at a ceremony held at The UWI Regional Headquarters in Kingston, Jamaica, on Wednesday, July 31, 2019. The document, framed as a “Reparatory Justice” initiative, acknowledges that while the…

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Bill de Blasio

De Blasio unsure on reparations, but restates support for commission

By News & Current Affairs, Reparations

By Madina Touré — Mayor Bill de Blasio won’t say if he supports reparations for black Americans affected by slavery, but he does support a commission to study the issue. As part of his longshot presidential campaign, the mayor this week attended the 2019 Muslim Collective for Equitable Democracy Conference in Washington, D.C., and was asked about reparations for the descendants of black slaves — a long-debated concept that has…

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Lynette Gibson McElhaney

Reparations Resolution Adopted by Oakland City Council

By News & Current Affairs, Reparations

By Ken Epstien, Post News Group — The City Council this week unanimously passed Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney’s reso­lution in support of HR-40, the bill in Congress to study reparations to “de­scendants of enslaved Afri­can Americans.” Council President Re­becca Kaplan co-authored the resolution. Rebecca Kaplan “This is an important time in our nation’s his­tory where we need to seek to make right that which is wrong,” said McElhaney, speaking at…

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A man representing the Freedman's Bureau stands between armed groups of Euro-Americans and Afro-Americans in this illustration from 1868.Alfred R. Waud, Harper's Weekly

The US Gave Slavers Their Land Back. What About Black Folks’ Reparations?

By Editors' Choice, Reparations

H.R. 40, the bill for a commission to study reparations, can help fulfill the promise of “40 acres and a mule.” By Taru Taylor, Truthout — The U.S. government was on the wrong side of history when they reneged their promise of “40 acres and a mule” to formerly enslaved Black Americans in 1865. Exactly 154 years later, let’s pass H.R. 40, the bill for a commission to study reparations, and…

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Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) sponsored HR 40, legislation to form a commission to study slavery reparations for African Americans.

Germany paid Holocaust reparations. Will the U.S. do the same for slavery?

By Commentaries/Opinions, HR 40 Congressional Hearing, Reparations

By Susan Neiman, Los Angeles Times — Born as a white girl in the segregated South, I’ve spent most of my adulthood as a Jewish woman in Berlin. This double perspective has fueled my resolve to explore America’s fraught relationship with its history. It is easy to point to the differences between the Holocaust and the enslavement and abuse of millions of Africans. When examining possible responses to these crimes,…

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Lawmakers on Wednesday held the first congressional hearing in more than a decade on reparations, spotlighting the debate over whether the United States should consider compensation for the descendants of slaves in the United States. (June 19) AP

‘Poison of America’: Bill on slavery reparations gains backing from Sen. Chuck Schumer

By HR 40 Congressional Hearing, News & Current Affairs, Reparations

By Nicholas Wu and Deborah Barfield Berry, USA Today — WASHINGTON – Calling racism the “poison of America,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer gave his support Tuesday to a bill to set up a commission to study reparations. “The disparities in race affect everything, not just the obvious things, but the non-obvious things” like pollution and climate change, Schumer explained. The bill, proposed by Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Texas…

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Cotton plants soak up the sun at a farm still operating in Limestone County.

In McConnell’s boyhood town where his family owned slaves, the reparations debate thrives

By News & Current Affairs, Reparations

By Sandy Mazza, USA Today — ATHENS, Ala. – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was born about 40 miles from his great-great-grandfathers’ Alabama cotton farms, worked by slaves 100 years before. Like so many long-standing Southern white families, McConnell’s forebearers built their wealth with free slave labor and cheap land. Two of his great-great-grandfathers owned more than a dozen slaves, census records reviewed by the USA TODAY Network show. The…

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