America: the land of opportunity. This has been the title bestowed on the United States by people all over the world. Immigrants would flee their countries and come to America to get a fresh start in life.
Programs were set in place for these different groups of people to help them flourish and succeed such as the Japanese Americans, Jews, and even the Native Americans. But one group of people has been in a constant battle for hundreds of years to gain reparations and that’s the Colored People.
Calls for reparations for enslaved men and women and their descendants have been an ongoing uphill battle since the end of the Civil War. These demands have never been met by the federal government.
Individuals come here for that American Dream, but that Dream is filled with lies and the assumption that we all have an equal opportunity to generate wealth to take care of our families. Even the words in the oath of the Pledge of Allegiance are misrepresented boldly stating “with liberty and justice for all.”
The fact is that colored people have still yet to see that liberty and justice to this day. African Americans have been defied repeatedly by the United States government’s own decrees and denied countless opportunities to right all the wrongs that have been done.
As the talks for reparations are heating up as each month passes, Many people are jumping on board to fight for the rights of Colored People all across America. Christian” Chris” Smalls who is the President of The Amazon Labor Union was allegedly fired after he organized an employee walkout in protest against unsafe working conditions as a result of the covid-19 pandemic.
Smalls founded The Congress of Essential Workers (TCOEW), a labor-activist group. They have organized strikes at Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Smalls stated he never set out to be an activist but life placed him in the situation to become active in helping people.
Kamilah Moore, who is an activist and attorney is the chairwoman of the California Reparations Task Force, which is the first of its kind ever. She was appointed to study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans.
She is determined to ensure that the task force proposes a package that is in accordance with international standards for reparations. Unfortunately, the slave trade has yet to be acknowledged as a violation of international human rights law, consequently, the United States is not obligated to compensate African Americans. She has vowed to continue this fight until that change happens
Dr. William ‘Sandy” Darity is a Duke University professor who has dedicated much of his life and career to advocating for reparations for African Americans.
Darity and his wife, Kirsten Mullen, wrote the award-winning book, “From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century. Darity also proposed” Baby Bonds,” which is a federal wealth redistribution program aimed at remediating the racial wealth and distributing government-backed bonds for each child born into poverty to be redeemed when the child reaches 18 years of age.
Given the lingering effects of slavery, the monetary value we know that was placed on enslaved African Americans, the fact that other groups have received reparations, and the fact that Colored people were originally awarded reparations only to have them rescinded, provide overwhelming evidence that it is time to pay reparations to the descendants of enslaved African Americans.
President Lincoln’s promise to give emancipated colored people 40 acres and a mule, and we are still fighting for the promise to be honored
