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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.

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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Sheila Jackson Lee says reparations commission would help "understand the hurts" of African-Americans

Sheila Jackson Lee says reparations commission would help “understand the hurts” of African-Americans

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

By Emily Tillett, CBS News — The topic of reparations for the descendants of Americans who were enslaved has come up on the 2020 campaign trail and in the halls of Congress, as lawmakers continue to push for a commission to study and consider reparation proposals. One of those lawmakers, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, says some in Congress are now turning reparations into a “constructive discussion on the…

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Pete Buttigieg

Buttigieg releases 18-page plan to help African Americans and “complement” HR40

By News & Current Affairs, Reparations

WASHINGTON (NBC News) — Working to prove himself to African American voters, Pete Buttigieg is releasing an 18-page plan Thursday to improve conditions and opportunity for black Americans on everything from the health care, education and criminal justice systems to entrepreneurship and access to credit. The wide-ranging plan constitutes Buttigieg’s initial version of a proposal for reparations for slavery. His campaign says it views it as a “complement” to H.R. 40, legislation working…

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Report Back From the N’COBRA Convention and the State of the Presidential Race — Vantage Point Radio

By Vantage Point Radio, Video/Audio

7/08/19 Vantage Point Radio — Host Dr. Ron Daniels talks with guests Mashariki Jywanza (Co-Chairperson, N’COBRA, Indianapolis, IN), Kamm Howard (Co-Chairperson, N’COBRA, Chicago, IL), Rev. Mark Thompson (Talk Show Host, New York, NY) and callers about the N’COBRA Convention and the State of the Presidential Race

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Community Land Trusts Are a Model for Reparations

By Commentaries/Opinions, Reparations

In a racialized economy, land trusts and cooperatives offer a lasting form of reparations, say activists. By Laura Flanders, Truthout — This year has already seen more Democrats talking about reparations than ever, including several running for the presidency. Now, rather than writing checks to individuals, more and more people are talking about collective strategies for repair and reparation. Community land trusts, cooperatives and mutual housing associations, for example, might…

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