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  • Freedom's Journal - Issue #2 - The Clone Wars

Freedom's Journal - Issue #2 - The Clone Wars

March 31, 2022

In the war for Reparations for Black American Slavery Descendants (Freedmen), all is not as it seems. The landscape of this current battlefield is one not directly against White America but against the gatekeepers charged with keeping Freedmen from ever reaching the main battlefield.

Reparations Definition according to dictionary.com:

1 - compensation in money, material, labor, etc., payable by a defeated country to another country or to an individual for loss suffered during or as a result of war:

2- monetary or other compensation payable by a country to an individual for a historical wrong:

The concept of reparations is not a difficult one. It should go without saying that reparations are compensation to the specific individual(s) or country harmed. Yet during recent years as the push for reparations for Freedmen has reignited, I have found that the primary and most vocal adversaries have been Black Immigrants and Pan-Africanist groups attempting to dilute or latch on to the reparations claim.

They have done so using a diverse variety of tactics. They have claimed that it would be too difficult to know who is who amongst Black America. They have argued that though Black Immigrants did not suffer through Chattel Slavery in America nor for the most part the domestic terrorism present during reconstruction, or systemic segregation and oppression of Jim Crow, they still have been affected by the residual effects of being black in America. These individuals and groups claim that racism has still affected their lives and that of their children. I agree with the effect racism in America may have had on them, but that is not the full story. During a Twitter exchange with Kamm Howard the National Co-Chair of NCOBRA (National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America) he argued just this.

“@TonyBlount @NCOBRA40 @JAMAiwuyor @ABPsi @ReparationsComm I am glad you recognize the difference. If a Black person arrived to America after enslavement - say Jim Crow Apaetheid-era crimes (lynching, land theft, convict leasing, etc) and there are specific redress for that era, they would be included, along with us. (Not before us).”

Kamm's argument is flawed on multiple fronts. One glaring problem with this disingenuous statement is that he specifies the harms of lynching, land theft, and convict leasing. Considering that prior to the 1980's less than 1% of America's Black population were immigrants it makes no logical sense to base an argument on atrocities that occurred before most of them arrived. Yes, there were Black Immigrants in the United States before the 80s, particularly in Northern cities. However, if we simply look at the example of convict leasing his entire argument falls apart.

Convict Leasing occurred in the southern United States following the Civil War. Those who were essentially re-enslaved in order to continue the cotton-industry practices or lay railroads were people who had already been enslaved before emancipation.

Still, I kept my argument to an even simpler point. I countered by explaining the slippery slope created by trying to push America to enact repairs based on "Race" as a defining factor as opposed to lineage or status. To which he doubled down that "reparations are for Melanated".

“@kammh @NCOBRA40 @JAMAiwuyor @ABPsi @ReparationsComm Chinese immigrants also suffered systemic racism, so did Mexicans, Native Americans, women. Are you creating a reparations plan for all who have been harmed or is it based on Melanin? This logic is a slippery slope. Give something to everyone you never repair the original harm”

Similar sentiments have been repeated and pushed in a deliberate and unified manner by other heads of legacy pan-African organizations like Dr. Ron Daniels of the Institute of the Black World and NAARC

“The National Commission Supports Reparations for All Blacks Harmed in America!

#Reparations #BlackTwitter #BlackAmericans #AfricanAmericans #NAARC #PressRelease https://t.co/RyuMLOVDhC”

While the forces assembled against "Contemporary Reparationists" (word to Chad Brown) have been strong, a major battle has still has been won.

California Reparationists Score a Major Victory in Limiting Reparations to the Descendants of Enslaved People

California’s first-in-the-nation task force on reparations voted Tuesday to limit state compensation to the descendants of free and enslaved Black people who were in the U.S. in the 19th century, narrowly rejecting a proposal to include all Black people regardless of lineage.

After hours upon hours of deliberating, debates and public opinions California's task force on reparations limited the scope of reparations to those in the United States in the 19th Century. This monumental decision was met with celebration but also some bitter back-handed critique.

“Today we are closer to Reparations. Thank you CA Reparations Task Force Members @KamilahVMoore @CD4Monica @JovanLewis @ThirdBaptistSF @SteveBradford for voting for Lineage-based Reparations eligibility! & Big shout out to @BrokerChampion @NAASDLA for your 🔥 testimony yesterday! https://t.co/YTRaVkvrDL”

“The ADOS'ers won a victory today.Congrats to your efforts. Still not convinced it will not exclude more descendants of enslavement who can't prove their ancestry than Black immigrants who were also harmed and suffering injury you were bent on excluding.”

This recent and hard-fought win does not come close to ending the overall fight. However, specificity is a defining point at the starting line of a long campaign ahead. What has been defined by the California task force lays the foundation and sets a precedence for how a national reparations plan should be centered.

What's Next for Freedom's Journal

I must admit that while I have not been purposely delaying the second issue of this publication it has been quite a task finding the time to write. Between grassroots organizing, family and work obligations I have been at maximum capacity. However, I will be doing my best moving forward to publish weekly though I will not make any promises yet as to a specific day of the week.

I feel that while Twitter is a great tool to express ideas, expounding on them in long form is important. Bear with me and please share this newsletter with friends and family.

Until next time!