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Slavery

Freddie Jenkins’ mother attended what is now the last standing African American schoolhouse in Mount Pleasant, S.C., in the 1930s.

Slavery’s descendants say a reparations check won’t make the pain go away

By Editors' Choice, Reparations

By Tyrone Beason, Los Angeles Times — CHARLESTON, S.C. — Five years before the first shots of the Civil War rang out from the harbor here in 1861, alderman Thomas Ryan and a business partner opened Ryan’s Mart at No. 6 Chalmers St. Their merchandise was slaves: African men, women and children who were prodded, picked over and auctioned off to the highest bidders. The finest adult males could fetch…

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Democrat Kamala Harris, U.S. senator from California, spoke Saturday, Aug. 10, 2019, at the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair. Des Moines Register

Kamala Harris on reparations for slavery: ‘It can’t just be, ‘Hey … write some checks’

By News & Current Affairs, Reparations

By Barbara Rodriguez, Des Moines Register — U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris says she supports studying reparations, but she’s not sure what any resultant program would look like. The senator from California and Democratic presidential hopeful said Sunday during a Des Moines Register editorial board meeting that the idea, which would grant compensation to individuals impacted by slavery and racial discrimination, is complex and deserves to be examined carefully. “This stuff…

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Civil rights advocates carry placards during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963, in Washington

Truth and Reconciliation: Addressing Systematic Racism in the United States

By Commentaries/Opinions, Editors' Choice

By Danyelle Solomon — 2019 marks the 400th anniversary of Africans sold into bondage arriving on Virginia’s shores. It has been 156 years since the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, 55 years since the end of Jim Crow, and 51 years since the civil rights movement. All of these moments in U.S. history represent crossroads—moments where the country made a choice or where people demanded that the words on the pages of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights became more than words; that policies and practices were equitably distributed among all people, not just a select few…

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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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