Updates

Some updates: It seems the last resolution at the Episcopal Church Convention on which it called for the church to study its role in the business of slavery and the cumulative impact of white privilege and how the church could begin to repair the damage may have been tabled until some time in the future. I will let you know more as I get more information.

Also here's a link to an NPR story on the Wilmington riots of 1898 that was finally formally investigated and recognized by the city's government. In it's final report reparaions were recommended to the victims.

Report Re-Examines 1898 Wilmington Race Riots

News & Notes with Ed Gordon, June 19, 2006 · The race riots in Rosewood, Fla., Tulsa, Okla., and Atlanta are well-known. But the events on Nov. 10, 1898, in Wilmington, N.C., predate them all. Black businesses were destroyed as whites seized control of local government. A new report details the Wilmington Race Riot's legacy. The report also asks for atonement, and that the riot get its own place in history.

Here's a link to the report

Wilmington Race Riot of 1898 Report

Go to Ghana for CHEAP!

As probably part of a large tourism campaign by Ghana's government to celebrate their 50 anniversay of colonial independence, I saw a great fare sale on Delta.com. They have fares going to Accra, Ghana from $399-$449 each way. The flights are non-stop from New York's JFK airport. This is really the only non-stop flight to Ghana from the US that I know. The price is unbelivable. You can't go to Spain for that price. So if you every thought about going to Ghana because you want to see the important slave sites such as the point of no return then this sounds like the best ticket in town.

Delta Airlines Ghana Fare Deal

Episcopal Church Apologizes for Complicity in Slavery and Adopts Reparations Resolution

It appears that the Episcopal Church has agreed to be committed to some form of reparations both relationally and materially at their conference in Columbus yesterday. A copy of the resolution I received from

N'COBRA listserv

.

2 Million Member Episcopalian Church Adopts Reparations Resolution

House of Initial Action: Bishops
Proposer: Executive Council

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Resolved, the House of Deputies concurring, That the 75th General Convention of Tthe Episcopal Church declare unequivocally that the institution of slavery in the United States and anywhere else in the world, based as it is on "ownership" of some persons by other persons, was and is a sin and a fundamental betrayal of the humanity of all persons who were involved, a sin that continues to plague our common life in the Church and our culture; and be it further
Resolved, That tThe Episcopal Church acknowledge its history of participation in this sin and the deep and lasting injury which the institution of slavery and its aftermath have inflicted on society and on the Church; and be it further
Resolved, That we express our most profound regret that (a) tThe Episcopal Church lent the institution of slavery its support and justification based on Scripture, and (b) after slavery was formally abolished, the Episcopal Church continued for at least a century to support de jure and de facto segregation and discrimination; and be it further
Resolved, That tThe Episcopal Church apologize for its complicity in and the injury done by the institution of slavery and its aftermath; we repent of this sin and ask God's grace and forgiveness; and be it further and ask the Presiding Bishop to call for a "Day of Repentance and Reconciliation" and to organize a Day of Repentance and Reconciliation service to be held at the National Cathedral.
Resolved, That the 75th General Convention of tThe Episcopal Church through the Executive Council urgently initiate a comprehensive program in each and urge every Diocese to collect and document during the next triennium detailed information in its community on (a) the complicity of the Episcopal Church in the institution of slavery and in the subsequent history of segregation and discrimination and (b) the economic benefits tThe Episcopal Church derived from the institution of slavery; and direct the Committee on Anti-Racism to monitor this program and report to Executive Council each year by March 31 on the progress in each Diocese; and be it further
Resolved, That to enable us as people of God to make a full, faithful and informed accounting of our history, the 75th General Convention of tThe Episcopal Church direct the Committee on Anti-Racism to study and report to Executive Council by March 31, 2008, which in turn will report to the 76th General Convention, on how the Church can be "the repairer of the breach" (Isaiah 58:12), both materially and relationally, and achieve the spiritual healing and reconciliation that will lead us to a new life in Christ; and be it further
Resolved, That to mark the commencement of this program the Presiding Bishop is requested to name a Day of Repentance and on that day to hold a Service of Repentance at the National Cathedral, and each Diocese is requested to hold a similar service.



EXPLANATION
Other institutions have addressed their failures in various respects with regard to slavery and its aftermath, including an apology issued by the U.S. Senate for not having enacted federal anti-lynching legislation during the post-Civil-War period. The United Methodists in Alabama recently led a walk to a Birmingham church as part of a service to repent of racial injustice and to pledge to be more inclusive. In addition some dioceses, such as, Chicago, Maryland, and Newark have undertaken a study of the concept of reparations.
It is important to recognize that much of the U.S. economy was built on the basis of slave labor. There are plenty of data that prove beyond doubt that African Americans are a disproportionate part of the nation's poor. No one who is paying attention can fail to recognize that race discrimination is still very much part of the fabric of life in our nation and in our Church. Sometimes it is subtle, sometimes it is inadvertent, but it is plainly there. This resolution complements anti-racism training and other activities that are promoting justice and racial reconciliation in the Episcopal Church.
Resources
Lewis, Harold T. Yet With A Steady Beat: The African American Struggle for Recognition in the Episcopal Church. (Valley Forge, Pennsylvania: Trinity Press International, 1996).
Kesselus, Kenneth, John E. Hines: Granite on Fire. (Austin, Texas: Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, 1996).
Robinson, Randall. The Debt: What American owes to Blacks. (New York: Penguin Putnam Inc., 2000).
Shattuck, Jr., Gardiner H. Episcopalians and Race: Civil War to Civil Rights (Religion in the South). (Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 2000).
Winbush, Raymond. Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations. (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 2003).



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Update on the Episcopal Church Reparations Resolution

More updates on the Episcopal Church's conference and the resolutions for recognizable, atonement and reparations for the Church's involvement in slavery. I really don't understand the argument against reparations that this will lead to more victimize of African Americans. We have already been victimized as a group and it is finally time to right a wrong. Am I victim? Yes! And I will continue to feel so as long as this country does not recognize what it did to African Americans for the good of the nation. Do I go on and lead a productive life? Yes I do but believing in my heart that this country will finally stand up as one nation and say we have done some terrible things in our past in the name of progress and in order for the American people to progress as one nation, we must look at our past as one nation.

From Columbus: Reparations resolutions begin moving through process
Episcopal News Service
Thursday, June 15, 2006
by Daphne Mack
[ENS] The Committee on Social and Urban Affairs, during its June 15 hearing, heard passionate testimony on four resolutions focused on slavery and reparations.
"We hope to embark on a new journey one that involves the Episcopal Church as an institution, confronting its institutional racism," said John Vanderstar, deputy from the Diocese of Washington, and a member of Executive Council. "I'm talking specifically about the church's participation in the ugly sin of racism."

Discussion was centered around four resolutions; A123 focusing on slavery and reconciliation; A124 studying the "complicity" of the church in the Institution of slavery and how "recompense" can be made; C005 from the Diocese of New York requesting the establishment of a commission to research the history of any complicity of the church and several dioceses in slavery and any necessary steps to make reparations; and C011 proposing a task force of the Executive Council to study, document and report on the enslavement of Africans and their descendants.
The committee was also asked to consider resolution A127 which would endorse of the concept of restorative justice as a "fresh means" of achieving "wholeness" in the church.

"I am in favor of a slavery atonement resolution in the Episcopal Church," said Katrina Browne, producer and director of the documentary "Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North." Her film, which is being screened at Convention, documents the journey Browne her family embarked upon as they retraced the route of the "Triangle Trade" in slaves, rum, sugar and other goods between Rhode Island, Ghana, Cuba and back to Rhode Island. Browne and other descendants of the Bristol, Rhode Island, DeWolf family, addressed complex issues of atonement and reconciliation during the journey.

Angela Shepherd, a deputy from the Diocese of Maryland, asked that the committee consider deleting part of resolution A124 which proposes a study of "how the Church can, as matter of justice, share those benefits with African American Episcopalians, and to report to General Convention 2009" because she said it stood "to exclude those of African descent who left the Episcopal Church as soon as they had the opportunity to do so."

Bishop Robert Ihloff of Maryland spoke of recognizing white privilege and said the four resolutions should be taken seriously so "we might really build something of the kingdom of God in this place." However, he said it will not happen until "white people, like myself, are willing to make some sacrifices" and "lay aside the privileges that are in our heritage as the sad result of slavery."

Speaking in opposition to all the resolutions, the Rev. Carolyn Jones, visitor from Northern Indiana, said reparations "encourage helplessness, victimization, and whining." She said reparations "grow from the world of entitlement." But, entitlement "creates second class citizens and second class members of the Episcopal Church."

Elizabeth Powers a visitor from North Dakota spoke in favor of all four resolutions but said "this (slavery) is not the first time that white privilege has impacted this country" and that "Native Americans should not be forgotten."

"The African slave trade was our holocaust," said Shelia Simms, a visitor from California. "To past these resolutions, would be a healing and I think it's time we do the right thing."

--Daphne Mack is staff writer for Episcopal News Service.

June 13th KMOX News radio report
Local News: Episcopals Debate Slavery Reparations
Fred Bodimer
Reporting Religion Editor

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOX News) -- When the Episcopal Church USA begins its weeklong national meeting today in Columbus, Ohio, it will debate slavery and reparations. KMOX Religion Editor Fred Bodimer reports: ©KMOX Radio
Play Report on Slavery Debate

Mugabe to attend International Reparations Conference in Accra, Ghana

Question: Are African nations who sold their brothers to Europeans owed reparations? Let me here from you.

The Ghanian Chronicle
Volume: 15
Edition No: 193
Date: Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Mugabe to attend int’l
From David Allan Paintsil,
Cape Coast Posted: Monday, June 12, 2006
Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe, is expected to present a paper on land issues at a Reparations Conference in Accra next month.
His presentation would educate the organizers of the function on how reparation would be of help to Africans with regards to land issues.
Nana Kwamena Gyebi, President of Sankofa United Continent African Roots Development International Association of Ghana (SUCARDIF), said an invitation has already been sent to Mr. Mugabe.
“Mugabe is the only African leader who is fighting the cause for Africans and he has been portrayed by the West as a demon,” he pointed out.
Nana Gyebi, who is also co-convener of the meeting, said Mugabe’s presence would help allay fears of Africans that the Zimbabwean President was a tyrant oppressing his people.
He said this at a press briefing on Thursday at Amamoma, where a 200-acre land has been released for the construction of a US$180-million Return Tower as a symbol for the return of black Africans who were enslaved in Europe and the Americas.
“Mugabe has been suffocated too much by US and Britain through sanctions they placed on the country,” he said.
Explaining that the conference would give the southern African leader the opportunity to address reparation activists who would converge in Accra from July 22 to August 2.
Nana Gyebi said the conference would serve as preparatory grounds to chart a common course for the demand of reparations for Africans, and also solicit funds for the building of the Tower of Return complex at Amamoma, a suburb of Cape Coast in the Central Region.
African-American Liberation Campaigner, Lewis Farrakhan, is also billed to attend the conference, according to Nana Gyebi.
A repatriated African-American, Seestah Imakhus Njinga Ababio, said Africans were demanding reparations for what they went through during the Trans Atlantic Slavery period and people should not misconstrue it as begging for money from the perpetrators.
The Chief of Amamoma, Nana Yatal, said he was optimistic the tower’s construction would create job avenues for the youth in the area and commended all stakeholders for initiating such a project.
The Central Regional Minister, Nana Ato Arthur, noted that the construction of the tower would boost tourism because the region serves as the tourism hub of Ghana.
He said the Regional Coordinating Council would support the construction of the symbolic tower.
Mr. Nii Adiko, coordinator of the conference, said the African Union, ECOWAS and Ministry of Tourism and Diasporan Relations have all consented to the construction of the tower.

Reparations in the News

There 's been a lot of news lately regarding African American reparations movement. We have the Episcopal church poised to offer an apology for the support of and profiting from slavery. We have a commission in Wilmington, NC releasing a long awaited report on the 1898 Race Riot that put an end to a mostly African-American run local government. There's been a lawsuit filed against the Democratic National Party for their lack of acknowledgement of their complicity in slavery and the support of segregation. Lastly, a fundraiser for a museum dedicated to telling the history of slavery in America in Washington that included celebrities such as Bill Cosby and Ben Vereen. Virginia's very own L. Douglas Wilder is the founder, the first African American to be elected governor of any state in the union. You go Doug!
So here are a few links to these news items. Peace!


OUR VOICE, ''IS THERE A WILL AND A WAY?'', WEEK OF JUNE 1-7, 2006by EDITORIAL STAFF
The Wilmington Journal
Originally posted 6/5/2006
At long last, after over six years, the dream of our beloved late State Sen. Luther Jordan is a reality. The state of North Carolina has finally, and officially, recognized and admitted its culpability in the white supremacist conspiracy that ultimately led to the brutal massacre of African-Americans in Wilmington in November, 1898.That admission is contained in the 500-page final report from the 1898 Wilmington Race Riot Commission, the 13-member body that submitted its completed work to the General Assembly for consideration this week.
http://wilmingtonjournal.blackpressusa.com/news/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=70057&sID=34


BLACK MINSTER LAWSUIT SPELLS TROUBLE FOR LOUSIANA AND NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY U.S.
Author: Christopher Tidmore 6/6/2006
. . . Rev. Wayne Perryman, associate pastor of Mt. Calvary Christian COGIC in Seattle, Washington, first filed a significant reparations lawsuit against the Democratic Party in 2004, The suit was dismissed two times before Perryman refiled in 2005 and now the case is pending further action in the U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th circuit, docket #0535890.
http://www.bayoubuzz.com/articles.aspx?aid=7272


EVENT RAISES FUNDS FOR U.S. NATIONAL SLAVERY MUSEUM
By EDIE GROSS
Date published: 6/5/2006
By EDIE GROSS
. . ."You didn't do it. It goes waaaaaaayyyyyy back," comedian Bill Cosby joked Saturday night to a crowd of 1,100 at the U.S. National Slavery Museum's fundraising gala at the Warner Theatre.
He used humor to deliver a serious invitation: It's about time America--blacks and whites--engaged in a blame-free, guilt-free conversation about a key piece of this country's history.
"If you're here now, you didn't do it. Get that out of your mind," he said, drawing laughter from an audience of all races. "Relax, man. Nobody's looking at you like you did it.
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2006/062006/06052006/196487

Also check out the museum's website:
http://www.usnationalslaverymuseum.org/home.asp

Church debates reparations for slavery

The National Episcopal Church is having its triennial meeting in Columbus, Ohio this month. One of the key resolutions that attendants will be discussing and voting on is whether the Episcopal Church should apologize for its role in slavery and should there be some kind of reparations made. What do you think? Let me here your thoughts.

Toward Columbus: Actions on slavery, racial reconciliation, reparations proposed for General Convention
By Daphne Mack Friday,
April 21, 2006
http://www.ecusa.anglican.org/3577_73860_ENG_HTM.htm

[Episcopal News Service] The June triennial gathering of the Episcopal Church will be asked to consider resolutions concerning slavery and racial reconciliation; studying the "complicity" of the church in the institution of slavery and how "recompense" can be made to its victims; and the endorsement of restorative justice as a "fresh means" of achieving "wholeness" in the church.
Resolution A123, proposed by the National Concerns Committee of the church's Executive Council, declares that the institution of slavery in the United States and "anywhere else in the world" was and is a sin. It would have the church acknowledge and express regret for its support of slavery and for supporting "de jure and de facto segregation and discrimination" for years after slavery's abolition. The resolution also asks the Presiding Bishop to call for a "Day of Repentance and Reconciliation" and to organize a service to be held that day at Washington National Cathedral...


http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/14726718.htm
Church debates reparations for slavery
BY ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
June 3, 2006
ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Episcopal Church is poised to apologize for failing to oppose slavery, but making up for its 19th century inaction won't come without 21st century controversy.
At its national convention beginning June 13, the church is expected to approve a resolution expressing regret for supporting slavery and segregation. But the debate will likely get more heated when a second resolution comes up, calling for a study of possible reparations for black Episcopalians.
The church, already divided over the separate issue of gays' role in the church, is struggling over whether reparations would be a meaningful gesture 141 years after the Civil War ended.
"A lot of times you say, 'I'm not a racist, I didn't have slaves, no one in my family had slaves, I could not possibly be complicit in this,'" said Sharon Denton, a member of the church's National Concerns committee that deals with domestic ministry and mission issues.
"But if you start digging back in the history of things, you find out there were a lot of things that come to you that were built on slave-holding and the slave trade," said Denton, a member of a small, all-white parish in Salina in central Kansas.
The Rev. Harold Lewis, a black priest and rector at Calvary Episcopal in Pittsburgh, called the idea of reparations outrageous and impractical.
"The better thing to do is to talk about how we can work to eradicate racism and how we can fight to eliminate economic disparities regardless of racism," said Lewis, the denomination's former longtime staff officer for black ministries.
The church declined to embrace a resolution three years ago backing federal legislation to create a national reparations task force. This year's resolution is more focused on the church, calling for a study of how the denomination benefited economically from slavery and how that benefit could be shared with black Episcopalians, about 5 percent of the denomination's 2.2 million members.
But it doesn't give specifics, and both supporters and detractors say reparations could mean anything from cash payments to college scholarships.
Previous attempts to deal with the issue have proven difficult. In 1969, the church's General Convention -- or legislative body -- approved a $200,000 grant to the National Committee of Black Churchmen in response to calls for reparations from activist James Forman. But the move created a significant backlash among parishioners.
In the 19th century, the slavery issue tore other denominations in two, including Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians.
Southern Episcopalians temporarily formed their own branch during the Civil War but were quietly marked absent during the Northern denomination's 1862 convention, then welcomed back into the fold when the war ended.
Other denominations have since apologized for their support of slavery.
Earlier this year, the Church of England -- the root of the Anglican Communion of which the Episcopal Church is a part -- voted to acknowledge its complicity in the global slave trade. In 2001, the Indianapolis-based Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) admitted that its apathy prolonged the suffering of enslaved blacks.
The Southern Baptists, born of the Baptist split over slavery, apologized more than 10 years ago for condoning racism for much of its history.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which divided over slavery in 1861 and reunited only in 1983, has supported the study of reparations within the church and has backed a federal reparations bill.
The Episcopal Church's apology is important for the message it will send, said the Rev. Kwasi Thornell, a black priest from Maryland and a member of the National Concerns committee.
"It's not going to change the world, but I think it's an important step that we recognize how we've been involved in a sinful action," Thornell said. "For me as an African-American priest, it would mean a lot for me to hear."

DR. CONRAD W. WORRILL: My annual graduation message: Join the reparations movement

http://www.chicagodefender.com/page/commentary.cfm?ArticleID=5651

DR. CONRAD W. WORRILL: My annual graduation message: Join the reparations movement

by Dr. Conrad W. Worrill
June 5, 2006

Once again, I am sharing my annual graduation speech in hopes it will help African people in America understand the real meaning of these rites of passage for thousands of our young people who will be participating in commencement exercises affirming their graduation from elementary, middle school, high school, and college in the next fewweeks.

My appeal to this year’s graduates is to join the Reparations Movement. As you proceed through this rite of passage, you have a responsibility to connect with the great issues and movements that African people in America are involved in. The “Reparations Movement” is one of those major movements.

Your life has just begun today brothers and sisters. This is probably one of the most important days in your life as you make this transition, this rite of passage in moving toward another stage in your development as young Africans in America.

I’d like to congratulate your teachers, parents, guardians, and extended family members who are with you today and who have supported you in reaching this critical stage of your life at this critical hour in history.

I want to have a brief but serious talk with you today brothers and sisters. It is being predicted that if the current trend continues, 70% of African men in America between the ages of 16 and 28 will either be in jail, addicted to drugs and/or alcohol. Increasingly, this same trend is occurring with African females in America. One of the purposes of our educational pursuits is to turn this devastating trend around.

What does all this mean today as you graduate from tI1is educational institution that professes to be dedicated to the academic and cultural development of young people like you? As young Black people, or Africans in America, about to enter a new stage in life, let me define what being Black and African really means.

First, it is color— your African ancestry.

Secondly, it is culture: practicing a lifestyle that recognizes the importance of our African and African in American heritage and traditions. An African culture that is geared to the values that will facilitate the present and future development of our people.

Thirdly, it is consciousness. We should always be conscious of our strength, beauty, and potential as African people. In this collection, we should always interpret all situations from the standpoint of the greatest good for the greatest number of Africans in the world. This is called the African principle.

Finally and fourthly, Black, or being African, means commitment. It means a willingness to work tirelessly in the interest of African people and all oppressed humanity.

So it is today that I am challenging you to continue on the path of becoming independent African people who are not dependent on others outside of our communities for the things we can do for ourselves.

I am challenging you as you make this rite of passage to prepare yourselves to become committed to the struggle for the just and common cause for the liberation and redemption of African people worldwide.

This dedication to the common cause goes beyond the resources of one generation. It means we must always learn from previous generations. We must always learn from the wisdom of our ancestors using this knowledge as a way of seeking and struggling for a better way of life for African people based on goals and objectives in our own best interests.

In other words, we must stop killing each other over material items and drugs that other people manufacture and bring into our communities.

We must seek to prepare the generations to come to develop the skills and resources for making our ultimate freedom and liberation a reality. As Malcolm X always said, “education is the passport to freedom.”

As the renown African in American educator, psychologist and historian Dr. Asa G. Hilliard, III writes in SBA: The Reawakening of the African Mind, “We Africans. . . have not viewed our problem holistically. After years of living under conditions of extreme oppression, we have settled for limited definitions of our problem.”

Dr. Hilliard explains; “A classic example may be taken from the period of the Civil Rights Movement. The evil and gross injustice of slavery and segregation violated the civil rights of African people and had to be addressed. However, the necessary task of fighting for civil rights was insufficient to allow for the healing of a people. Our healing requires a greater conceptual frame than that provided by civil rights.”

Dr. Hilliard continues with this insight: “First we must see ourselves as African people, or we will be unable to develop this critical frame. Second, we must understand not only the role that white supremacy has played in our subjugation, but also the role that we ourselves have played by not practicing self determination our struggle to counter the MAAFA (this is a KiSwahili term that means disaster or as Marimba Ani has conceptualized it to mean the African holocaust of Eurasian enslavement/colonialism).”

Remember parents, teachers, and students— as our esteemed ancestor Dr. John Henrik Clarke has repeatedly warned, “powerful people never teach powerless people how to take power from them. Education is one of the most sensitive arenas in the life of a people. Its role is to be honest and true and to tell people where they have been and what they are.” Most important, Dr. Clarke points out that the role of education and history is to tell a people where they still must go.

This is a great day for you who have made this step in your rite of passage and transition. We congratulate you in the name of all our ancestors and send you forward to the next stage of your development in the cycle of life. I encourage you to spend the summer helping to spread the word about the growing Reparations Movement in America and throughout the world.

A LutaContinua— the struggle continues, and we will conquer without a doubt. Hotep! (Peace!)

Conrad Worrill ,National ChairmanNational Black United Front (NBUF)

Baltimore Sun: "Saving black boys"

http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/custom/unisun/bal-un.wbush04jun04,0,6088356.story?track=rss

This article profiles Dr. Ray Winbush, a well-known, outspoken advocate for reparations. He's also a psychologist and scholar and has focused much of his work on connecting African American boys to their roots to give them a sense of identity.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog about the African American reparations movement. I started this blog to provide a central place for information about this movement, the latest news, and to discuss and debate the issue. In doing my own research on the topic, I felt that there was not a place one could go to for good, up to date information. The movement itself is so decentralized and so vast that it's difficult to wrap one's brain around it. More importantly, it was difficult to get current news and information on the issue since it is a subject that is rarely covered by the major news outlets. So, I hope this blog will help to bring knowledge and the debate to the fore so that a real discussion can be had once and for all. Please free to post your knowledge, news, and opinions on the site.

Peace!
Salimah