I sent the following text to a Reparations Movement leader:
In a post on my blog chittlintalk.blogspot.com, I have already given my personal feelings on reparations. However, I believe that live Africans are more important than dead Africans. Don't you?
At this moment, the government of Sudan is waging a war against Black Africans. The United Nations has called it the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. You can read the posts on my blog and even on numerous websites on the Internet that address the situation.
Years ago when apartheid was in style, we marched, protested, yelled, screamed, got arrested at South African consulates, etc. We were determined that Black South Africans would not be under the rule of a White minority government. Now there is no more apartheid. We left the Black Africans to fend for themselves. Now it has one of the highest crime rates in the world. But we are not paying any attention to that.
While we are trying to get our 40 Acres and a Black Lexus, Black Africans are being slaughtered.
I challenge the Reparations Movement to suspend (temporarily) their current mission and to unite to focus on trying to stop the bloodshed and possible genocide in Darfur, Sudan. Is not the life of one Black African worth more than any amount of reparations money?
Many in the Reparations Movement claim to have love for African people. Do you really? How much love do you have for your people? Well, this is the perfect opportunity to put that love into action and save hundreds or thousands of Black African lives. I challenge the Reparations Movement to use the same energy we used to protest and fight South African apartheid. You know what I'm talking about. Now we are directing our energies to the government of Sudan.
A brother on the website The Field Negro wrote: “I have seen more white people involved in this struggle and trying to bring this issue to the forefront than blacks. And for that, we as black folks should all be ashamed.” Is he right? Is he wrong?
As I said, it seems the movement cares more about dead Africans than live Africans. At this rate, we will have many more dead Africans to care about. Read the next sentence very carefully. I really believe we have a secret belief that Blacks have the right to kill other Blacks, but Whites do not have that right. I even wonder if we hated White Europeans more than we loved Black South Africans during apartheid, the hatred of the White South Africans being the fuel to action and not the love for Black South Africans. Because when apartheid ended, we quickly forgot about them, did we not?
Apartheid was horrible, but genocide is worse, don't you think? People are being murdered by the thousands now. That did not happen in South Africa under apartheid as bad as it was. Am I wrong? Does that not mean we need to fight the Sudanese genocide harder than we fought apartheid?
What does your common sense tell you? The time for talk is over.
Just do it.
Addendum
This post is to the leaders of the Reparations Movement:
I have my personal feelings and questions about reparations posted earlier somewhere on this blog. The Chicago Defender even published my own reparations plan which I believe is fair and equitable. (I'm not a Bush supporter but it is funny that people are slamming "evil" Bush for being against reparations, but President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore were both against reparations. Did you hear anyone slam them? Who said "I'm waiting on Bill Clinton, our First Black President, to give me my reparations" as I heard someone say "I'm waiting on George Bush to give me my reparations.")
However, if you read other posts on this blog, you will see news of present-day slavery. The Reparations Movement is bringing attention to the Transatlantic slave trade and to 200 years of forced labor in the southern United States.
It seems to be that the Reparations Movement should be on the very forefront and on the front lines of bringing attention to modern-day slavery, especially on the African continent in Sudan and Mauritania. Slavery has been going on in Africa for 1400 years.
The Reparations Movement decries slavery in America, our Black ancestors being held in bondage. Should not the Reparations Movement decry slavery now, be the most vocal in the world, especially when Black Africans, brothers and sisters, are in bondage now? For your edification, go to http://www.iabolish.org/ and www.antislavery.org.
* * *
The following is his response, completely unedited:
"Hotep Brotha Robert, It is always good to see Black people thinking. But I have to ask you: "Why is it that everytime we Reparationist challenge this government and the corporations that profitted from slave labor, that we get so much opposition to our strategies?" The Reparations Movement is a global movement made up of reparations groups all throughout the world. We Reparationist in America are focused mainly on this continent because that is our historical reality. Reparations is about repair of structural inequities, repair of social systems, our political systems, our educational systems, our health systems, our cultural systems and our economic systems. To do that it will take billions of dollars. Just keep in mind that reparations is about repairing a people that had their existence altered through violations of their human rights. I still have a slave name. I still go to a slave school. I still practice a slave religion. and I still have ties to the global plantation even though "they" say we are free.Lastly, Africa is in the last stage of Imperialism. It is called Neo-Colonialism. The European colonist (British, French, German, Italian, Spanish, USA, Japan, Portuguese, and Arabs) are still controlling the wealth of Africa and they have destabilized the parts of the African continent that has the most precious minerals (Liberia, Angola, Sudan, Congo, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda) just to name a few. Everyone of those states are in the same condition as the one you are speaking about. But in order for us to help Africa, we have to help ourselves. That help is Reparations."
Do you see what I see or what I don’t see? This message indicates my original problem with reparations advocates. No mention of any sympathy or compassion for neither the Black Africans who are being slaughtered nor the Black Africans in slavery. Notice he said: “I still have a slave name. I still go to a slave school. I still practice a slave religion. and I still have ties to the global plantation even though ‘they’ say we are free.” Stokely Carmichael changed his name to Kwame Toure. Malcolm X changed his name to Malik Shabazz. What slave master is making him keep his "slave name" or putting him in a "slave school or making him practice a slave religion? Booker T. Washington wrote a book called Up From Slavery. This brotha’s book seems to be called I Love My Chains: Why I Refuse to Leave the Plantation.
I wrote him back:
Brother, I see what you are saying. I already had a reparations plan published in a Black newspaper. But how will future reparations stop the bloodshed going on in Darfur at this moment? How will future reparations stop slavery at this moment? Are not Black lives in the balance at this moment? Are not human rights are being violated at this moment?
Is not the silence is deafening from the Reparations Movement concerning those issues in the Motherland? All I'm asking is to put the reparations work on hold until those other issues in Africa are resolved because that is a now issue, not a later issue. Does not later means death for thousands? Then the Movement can go to work again.
Again, a brother wrote, "I have seen more white people involved in this struggle and trying to bring this issue to the forefront than blacks. And for that, we as black folks should all be ashamed." Do you agree or disagree?
A brother wrote for Afrocentricnews.com:
"Hotep Brotha Robert, It is always good to see Black people thinking. But I have to ask you: "Why is it that everytime we Reparationist challenge this government and the corporations that profitted from slave labor, that we get so much opposition to our strategies?" The Reparations Movement is a global movement made up of reparations groups all throughout the world. We Reparationist in America are focused mainly on this continent because that is our historical reality. Reparations is about repair of structural inequities, repair of social systems, our political systems, our educational systems, our health systems, our cultural systems and our economic systems. To do that it will take billions of dollars. Just keep in mind that reparations is about repairing a people that had their existence altered through violations of their human rights. I still have a slave name. I still go to a slave school. I still practice a slave religion. and I still have ties to the global plantation even though "they" say we are free.Lastly, Africa is in the last stage of Imperialism. It is called Neo-Colonialism. The European colonist (British, French, German, Italian, Spanish, USA, Japan, Portuguese, and Arabs) are still controlling the wealth of Africa and they have destabilized the parts of the African continent that has the most precious minerals (Liberia, Angola, Sudan, Congo, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda) just to name a few. Everyone of those states are in the same condition as the one you are speaking about. But in order for us to help Africa, we have to help ourselves. That help is Reparations."
Do you see what I see or what I don’t see? This message indicates my original problem with reparations advocates. No mention of any sympathy or compassion for neither the Black Africans who are being slaughtered nor the Black Africans in slavery. Notice he said: “I still have a slave name. I still go to a slave school. I still practice a slave religion. and I still have ties to the global plantation even though ‘they’ say we are free.” Stokely Carmichael changed his name to Kwame Toure. Malcolm X changed his name to Malik Shabazz. What slave master is making him keep his "slave name" or putting him in a "slave school or making him practice a slave religion? Booker T. Washington wrote a book called Up From Slavery. This brotha’s book seems to be called I Love My Chains: Why I Refuse to Leave the Plantation.
I wrote him back:
Brother, I see what you are saying. I already had a reparations plan published in a Black newspaper. But how will future reparations stop the bloodshed going on in Darfur at this moment? How will future reparations stop slavery at this moment? Are not Black lives in the balance at this moment? Are not human rights are being violated at this moment?
Is not the silence is deafening from the Reparations Movement concerning those issues in the Motherland? All I'm asking is to put the reparations work on hold until those other issues in Africa are resolved because that is a now issue, not a later issue. Does not later means death for thousands? Then the Movement can go to work again.
Again, a brother wrote, "I have seen more white people involved in this struggle and trying to bring this issue to the forefront than blacks. And for that, we as black folks should all be ashamed." Do you agree or disagree?
A brother wrote for Afrocentricnews.com:
“I am a black man, a former nationalist. I became disillusioned with 'black unity and nationalism' during the massacre in Rwanda and Zaire during the mid 1990s. It seemed to me, a student at a historically black college at the time, that black progressives did not lift a finger to protest or press our government or the UN to act to prevent the slaughter amongst black Africans the same way they did apartheid, Haiti, or even the plight of the Palestinians." Can you see why he became disillusioned?
An African brother wrote: “In North America, black Americans constitute the only group of blacks in diaspora with sufficient clout, credibility and experience to help their black brothers and sisters in Africa in their struggle for freedom. The experience gained in the civil rights struggle in the 1960s could have been helpful to black Africans but, in practice, turned out to be more of a hindrance… In recent times, black Americans have been indefatigable in the campaign for one-man, one-vote for blacks in South Africa. But to the blacks in independent Africa fighting for the same political rights, black Americans have offered little or no support....While black American leaders were at the forefront of calls for immediate democratic reform in South Africa, when it comes to black Africa those same black Americans say it is not America's business to interfere -- even when the victims are Africa's black masses...' Said one incredulous Ivorian student: 'I wish some of these (black) Americans would take to the streets with us instead of supporting the old order' ...A more searing query came from a Liberian exile in the Ivory Coast: 'Why have you black Americans let us down?'
Samuel Cotton, a brother who is also a journalist wrote:
"On March 4, (1995) Black Africans journeyed from all over the United States to meet at Columbia University. Mauritanians and Senegalese from Washington--Ugandans and Sudanese from as far away as Ohio, would spend two days discussing the beast that continues to bite deep into African flesh—slavery….They would also grapple with the enigma of receiving virtually no support on the issue of chattel slavery from African-American spiritual and political leaders…They are disillusioned by Black leaders with African names, who live in houses filled with African statues, and walk the streets in full African regalia but will not raise one voice against slavery…."One African stated that 'African Americans have been at the forefront of the international campaign against apartheid. . . Yet as an African working in the field of human rights in Africa, I am constantly struck, and saddened, by the extent to which a combination of factors have discouraged the majority of Black Americans from speaking out about human rights abuses in sub-Saharan Africa.' Said Rakiya Omaar, a Somali, in the Washington Post….Black leaders have no real interest in stopping the buying and selling of Black Africans."
And I met personally with a member of the Ghanian government along with an Asantefuohene (chief) of the Asante tribe. He told me he was frustrated with African Americans talking about how much they love Africa and Africans yet he has seen no tangible evidence of that love and support. He told me: "The time for talk is over."
Africans are not impressed with us at this moment, and I cannot blame them. Actions speak much louder than words and they have seen little or no action. All I'm asking is that the Reparations Movement put what they are doing on hold temporarily and work to stop genocide and bloodshed in Darfur and also to be more vocal about modern-day slavery. Is that too much to ask? There was silence when 800,000 Black Africans were murdered in Rwanda years ago, wasn't it?
Do Black leaders have no real interest in stopping the buying and selling of Black Africans as mentioned above? Do Black leaders have no real interest in stopping the slaughter of Black Africans in Darfur, Sudan?
Did we Black people let reparations get in the way when we organized, marched, and protested South African apartheid? Can you give me a good reason why cannot we organize, march, and protest the slaughter and slavery of Blacks in Sudan now?
Until I see some tangible evidence to prove otherwise, many other African Americans and I will assume that the Reparations Movement does not care at all about our "brothers and sisters in the Motherland."
Some already think it is a "Show-Me-The-Money" movement. They see who are supporting Black Africans and who are not. The Africans see it all too clearly.
The Liberian brother asked, "Why have you black Americans let us down?"
Have we let them down?
Actions speak louder than words.
* * *
This is his response, unedited:
Hotep, I ask that you keep the two issues separate and distinct. Reparations is for past human rights violations. Once we get the global powers who have and are committing these atrocities to repair the damage done to us from the historical injustices then we will be better able to fight the issues of today. Keep in mind that the Jewish Holocaust was long time ago and Germany is still paying them reparations today. Even though Israel and Palestine are at war Germany is still giving the jewish people reparations. The issues are separate and distinct and they are not confused about it. I say to you to don't get misled on tangential issues. The reparations movement has nothing to do with the modern day wars of Africa. Yes, it is true that the same colonial powers are still causing the underlying problems but the issue of what is going on in Africa is a totally different one from our reparations movement. When you determine who is behind the Darfur war supporting it militarily then you will begin to see that it is not African fighting African. lastly, Natural Resources: Petroleum is Sudan’s major natural resource. The country also has small deposits of chromium ore, copper, gold, iron ore, mica, silver, tungsten, and zinc.
Aluta Continua
I wrote back:
The reparations apples are getting attention while the Black oranges are being oppressed and killed in the Motherland.
You and I are oranges too with common roots to them.
This is not a reparations debate. This is an effort to save Black African lives now. Black radio talk show host Joe Madison, Congressman Bobby Rush, actor Danny Glover, and others have all brought attention to what is going on in Sudan. I have not seen one member of the Reparations Movement say anything about it.
We protested and defeated apartheid 20 years ago. Why can we not march and protest and defeat the slaughter in Sudan now? Do we save Black lives now or later? Remember I said that a Liberian exile said: "Why have you black Americans let us down?"
* * *
No reply.
He did not answer any of my questions.
Is the Reparations Movement and "Black Unity with the Motherland" even on speaking terms?
By the way, that former Black nationalist said in full: “…black progressives did not lift a finger to protest or press our government or the UN to act to prevent the slaughter amongst black Africans the same way they did apartheid, Haiti, or even the plight of the Palestinians. Why not? Well for one, because there was no white victimizer oppressing people of color, both parties were of the same race. But the main reason was that our black American leadership did not want our intervention in Africa to cost Bill Clinton and the Democratic Party politically. Getting Bill Clinton and some other white Democrat governors, congressmen, and senators re - elected to preserve our puny little integrationist affirmative action and welfare programs was worth more to us than the lives of hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of our African brothers and sisters....”
So let me get this straight. If "whitey" was involved then you all would raise hell. Since there is no "whitey" involved, there is no need for you all to raise hell. Are you saying: "Blacks have the right to oppress and kill other Blacks, but we deny that right to Whites? It is not that we love Black people. We just hate whitey more."?
Is that what the "lovers of the Motherland" are really telling you and me?
If you were around years ago, did you not see more activity to defeat apartheid than you see now to stop bloodshed and slavery in Sudan now? Ask the same question of your family, friends, church members, ministers, co-workers, etc. I will bet they will all say the same thing. Ask them if saving Black African lives are more important than reparations. You want a straight answer, not "Well brother, you know that...." or "Well sister, you know that...." You want a yes or no.
It is that "Well brother/sister" crap that got native Africans to say: "The experience gained in the civil rights struggle in the 1960s could have been helpful to black Africans but, in practice, turned out to be more of a hindrance."
"But to the blacks in independent Africa fighting for the same political rights, black Americans have offered little or no support."
"I wish some of these (black) Americans would take to the streets with us instead of supporting the old order."
"I am constantly struck, and saddened, by the extent to which a combination of factors have discouraged the majority of Black Americans from speaking out about human rights abuses in sub-Saharan Africa."
"The time for talk is over."
"Why have you black Americans let us down?"
Finally to quote Rev. Al Sharpton: "I am outraged that more of us, particularly of the African American leadership, have not talked about the slave trade that I witnessed with my own eyes in the Sudan,’ Sharpton told CNSNews.com. Sharpton traveled to the Sudan on a fact-finding mission in the spring of 2001. The Sudanese government denies the slavery allegations despite eyewitness accounts by Sharpton and others, as well as documented evidence (http://www.crosswalk.com/1202707/)."
(Read my earlier post "When Will Black Folks Speak?" in its entirety. Print it out and distribute too.)
An African brother wrote: “In North America, black Americans constitute the only group of blacks in diaspora with sufficient clout, credibility and experience to help their black brothers and sisters in Africa in their struggle for freedom. The experience gained in the civil rights struggle in the 1960s could have been helpful to black Africans but, in practice, turned out to be more of a hindrance… In recent times, black Americans have been indefatigable in the campaign for one-man, one-vote for blacks in South Africa. But to the blacks in independent Africa fighting for the same political rights, black Americans have offered little or no support....While black American leaders were at the forefront of calls for immediate democratic reform in South Africa, when it comes to black Africa those same black Americans say it is not America's business to interfere -- even when the victims are Africa's black masses...' Said one incredulous Ivorian student: 'I wish some of these (black) Americans would take to the streets with us instead of supporting the old order' ...A more searing query came from a Liberian exile in the Ivory Coast: 'Why have you black Americans let us down?'
Samuel Cotton, a brother who is also a journalist wrote:
"On March 4, (1995) Black Africans journeyed from all over the United States to meet at Columbia University. Mauritanians and Senegalese from Washington--Ugandans and Sudanese from as far away as Ohio, would spend two days discussing the beast that continues to bite deep into African flesh—slavery….They would also grapple with the enigma of receiving virtually no support on the issue of chattel slavery from African-American spiritual and political leaders…They are disillusioned by Black leaders with African names, who live in houses filled with African statues, and walk the streets in full African regalia but will not raise one voice against slavery…."One African stated that 'African Americans have been at the forefront of the international campaign against apartheid. . . Yet as an African working in the field of human rights in Africa, I am constantly struck, and saddened, by the extent to which a combination of factors have discouraged the majority of Black Americans from speaking out about human rights abuses in sub-Saharan Africa.' Said Rakiya Omaar, a Somali, in the Washington Post….Black leaders have no real interest in stopping the buying and selling of Black Africans."
And I met personally with a member of the Ghanian government along with an Asantefuohene (chief) of the Asante tribe. He told me he was frustrated with African Americans talking about how much they love Africa and Africans yet he has seen no tangible evidence of that love and support. He told me: "The time for talk is over."
Africans are not impressed with us at this moment, and I cannot blame them. Actions speak much louder than words and they have seen little or no action. All I'm asking is that the Reparations Movement put what they are doing on hold temporarily and work to stop genocide and bloodshed in Darfur and also to be more vocal about modern-day slavery. Is that too much to ask? There was silence when 800,000 Black Africans were murdered in Rwanda years ago, wasn't it?
Do Black leaders have no real interest in stopping the buying and selling of Black Africans as mentioned above? Do Black leaders have no real interest in stopping the slaughter of Black Africans in Darfur, Sudan?
Did we Black people let reparations get in the way when we organized, marched, and protested South African apartheid? Can you give me a good reason why cannot we organize, march, and protest the slaughter and slavery of Blacks in Sudan now?
Until I see some tangible evidence to prove otherwise, many other African Americans and I will assume that the Reparations Movement does not care at all about our "brothers and sisters in the Motherland."
Some already think it is a "Show-Me-The-Money" movement. They see who are supporting Black Africans and who are not. The Africans see it all too clearly.
The Liberian brother asked, "Why have you black Americans let us down?"
Have we let them down?
Actions speak louder than words.
* * *
This is his response, unedited:
Hotep, I ask that you keep the two issues separate and distinct. Reparations is for past human rights violations. Once we get the global powers who have and are committing these atrocities to repair the damage done to us from the historical injustices then we will be better able to fight the issues of today. Keep in mind that the Jewish Holocaust was long time ago and Germany is still paying them reparations today. Even though Israel and Palestine are at war Germany is still giving the jewish people reparations. The issues are separate and distinct and they are not confused about it. I say to you to don't get misled on tangential issues. The reparations movement has nothing to do with the modern day wars of Africa. Yes, it is true that the same colonial powers are still causing the underlying problems but the issue of what is going on in Africa is a totally different one from our reparations movement. When you determine who is behind the Darfur war supporting it militarily then you will begin to see that it is not African fighting African. lastly, Natural Resources: Petroleum is Sudan’s major natural resource. The country also has small deposits of chromium ore, copper, gold, iron ore, mica, silver, tungsten, and zinc.
Aluta Continua
I wrote back:
The reparations apples are getting attention while the Black oranges are being oppressed and killed in the Motherland.
You and I are oranges too with common roots to them.
This is not a reparations debate. This is an effort to save Black African lives now. Black radio talk show host Joe Madison, Congressman Bobby Rush, actor Danny Glover, and others have all brought attention to what is going on in Sudan. I have not seen one member of the Reparations Movement say anything about it.
We protested and defeated apartheid 20 years ago. Why can we not march and protest and defeat the slaughter in Sudan now? Do we save Black lives now or later? Remember I said that a Liberian exile said: "Why have you black Americans let us down?"
* * *
No reply.
He did not answer any of my questions.
Is the Reparations Movement and "Black Unity with the Motherland" even on speaking terms?
By the way, that former Black nationalist said in full: “…black progressives did not lift a finger to protest or press our government or the UN to act to prevent the slaughter amongst black Africans the same way they did apartheid, Haiti, or even the plight of the Palestinians. Why not? Well for one, because there was no white victimizer oppressing people of color, both parties were of the same race. But the main reason was that our black American leadership did not want our intervention in Africa to cost Bill Clinton and the Democratic Party politically. Getting Bill Clinton and some other white Democrat governors, congressmen, and senators re - elected to preserve our puny little integrationist affirmative action and welfare programs was worth more to us than the lives of hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of our African brothers and sisters....”
So let me get this straight. If "whitey" was involved then you all would raise hell. Since there is no "whitey" involved, there is no need for you all to raise hell. Are you saying: "Blacks have the right to oppress and kill other Blacks, but we deny that right to Whites? It is not that we love Black people. We just hate whitey more."?
Is that what the "lovers of the Motherland" are really telling you and me?
If you were around years ago, did you not see more activity to defeat apartheid than you see now to stop bloodshed and slavery in Sudan now? Ask the same question of your family, friends, church members, ministers, co-workers, etc. I will bet they will all say the same thing. Ask them if saving Black African lives are more important than reparations. You want a straight answer, not "Well brother, you know that...." or "Well sister, you know that...." You want a yes or no.
It is that "Well brother/sister" crap that got native Africans to say: "The experience gained in the civil rights struggle in the 1960s could have been helpful to black Africans but, in practice, turned out to be more of a hindrance."
"But to the blacks in independent Africa fighting for the same political rights, black Americans have offered little or no support."
"I wish some of these (black) Americans would take to the streets with us instead of supporting the old order."
"I am constantly struck, and saddened, by the extent to which a combination of factors have discouraged the majority of Black Americans from speaking out about human rights abuses in sub-Saharan Africa."
"The time for talk is over."
"Why have you black Americans let us down?"
Finally to quote Rev. Al Sharpton: "I am outraged that more of us, particularly of the African American leadership, have not talked about the slave trade that I witnessed with my own eyes in the Sudan,’ Sharpton told CNSNews.com. Sharpton traveled to the Sudan on a fact-finding mission in the spring of 2001. The Sudanese government denies the slavery allegations despite eyewitness accounts by Sharpton and others, as well as documented evidence (http://www.crosswalk.com/1202707/)."
(Read my earlier post "When Will Black Folks Speak?" in its entirety. Print it out and distribute too.)
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