Proposal for Redress and Reparations for Slavery for African Americans
Programs
For the purpose of organizing this document, we are going to create two distinct proposals. The first will be a proposal to plan and implement a redress program for African American communities. The second will be to create historic educational programs that will utilize funds generated from both the redress campaign and separate campaigns by the Jubilee Center.
Redress and Reparations for Slavery for African Americans
The most important program is to gain redress for African Americans for the 246 years of forced enslavement of more than five million individuals, and for the deaths of millions during the Middle Passage.
The redress program could take its precedent from the Japanese American redress movement of the 1970s and 1980s.
We would propose that the redress movement be organized as quickly as possible.
Reparations would include a formal apology by the Congress of the United States and by the Executive branch. A letter would be sent to every individual African American in the country whose family was directly affected by the institution of slavery.
There would be monetary reparations that would be paid collectively to the entire African American community. The amount and its use would be determined by African American community leaders, the U.S. Congress, historians, specialists in the field, etc.
The programs and funds allocated would address the following:
· Economic opportunity (including unemployment rates)
· Education, to include improvement of schools, including colleges. Scholarships would be provided to African Americans for higher education.
· Health (e.g., higher rates of many diseases; shorter life expectancy)
· Justice (e.g., incarceration rates). Encouraging sentencing reform and prison reform.
· Legal (e.g., Blacks have greater likelihood of arrest for same behavior as Whites; police brutality)
· Voting rights (e.g., recent efforts to restrict access to polls in some states)
· Housing (e.g., current discrimination, legacy of redlining, current disparities in impact of subprime mortgage lending, etc.; see Coates article)
· Cultural. Creating and endowing museums, historical societies, cultural centers. Preservation of historic and natural resources relevant to African American history. Creating a database of African American historical sites. Funds for acquiring, preserving and interpreting these sites.
Plan for Redress
The following is a draft plan for redress and reparations for African Americans for slavery.
The United States paid $1.75 billion to the Japanese American community under the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. This was passed as House Resolution 442 in 1987.
White House Conference on the Legacy of Slavery
Lobby for legislation to convene a White House Conference to consider the legacy of slavery. This would involve inviting a wide range of scholars and others to Washington for a conference sponsored by the President of the United States. The purpose would be to discuss the present day injustices that are likely to have stemmed from the enslavement of Africans in the United States between 1619 and 1865. Invited participants would include community leaders as well as experts in history, sociology, Black studies, public policy, education, housing, medicine, law, criminal justice, etc. Presentations prepared by speakers could be published as an edited book. An important outcome of the meeting would be a set of recommendations for action.
Examples of previous White House Conferences include: White House Conference on Civil Rights, held in 1966; White House Conference on Aging, held once a decade since 1950; White House Conference on Children and Youth, held on multiple occasions between 1909 and 1971.
The meeting could be designed to be a reprise of the 1966 WHC on Civil Rights, or it could be positioned as a new type of conference (e.g., the WHC on the Legacy of Slavery). One possible recommendation would be to hold a WHC on Civil Rights once per decade.
The ideal timing of the White House Conference would be in 2019, to coincide with the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the introduction of slavery to North America.
Historic Programs Related to the African American Slavery Experience
One of the principle goals is to permanently commemorate and memorialize the institution of slavery in the United States and its aftermath. The legacy of slavery still permeates the history and culture of the United States. From its very founding as a British colony, the United States utilized slave labor to build its history and culture. Over five million individuals were enslaved during this 240 year history.
Slavery continues to overshadow all aspects of the American experience.
Until there is a national reconciliation between the ideals of democracy and freedom and equality of all human beings, and slavery for millions, there can be no true realization of the ideals of democracy.
Healing and reconciliation are paramount. Coming to terms with the failure of the American founding fathers and generations of political leaders must be addressed at the most fundamental level.
African Americans comprise nearly 14% of the total American population. There are more than 40 million African Americans living in the country. All of these individuals bear the collective and individual wounds of centuries of slavery, injustice, and inequality. That inequality is the legacy of slavery.
First and foremost, a reconciliation and healing must be accomplished.
African Americans must be made to feel whole, appreciated, and understood. The vast majority of Americans have little or no idea of the fundamental issues involved in the historic legacy of slavery and its aftermath. These historic programs would address those issues.
The programs would serve as both an education and as a healing mechanism for those Americans.
These issues will be a bitter pill to swallow for many millions of Americans. This is an extremely difficult and painful legacy of America. Many millions of Americans who now live in the country have ancestors who were not here during the period of slavery from 1619 to 1865. Getting them to appreciate the importance of the memory of slavery will be one of the fundamental goals of the Jubilee Center.
Without the fundamental agreement by most Americans, this reconciliation and healing cannot be accomplished.
The utmost sensitivity must be used in framing these historic programs. We must assume that most Americans, if educated with the true facts of slavery and its aftermath, will be of such understanding that they will be highly supportive of historic programs and ultimately of the African American community.
At the moment that we are writing this document, we are living in the shadow of the shooting of an African American youth in Ferguson, Missouri. This has led to an opening of a dialog of the African American legacy. We are now celebrating and commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment, ending slavery. This is also the 50th anniversary commemoration of the Civil Rights and Voter Rights Acts of the mid-1960s.
We are now also in the 6th year of the presidency of the first African American chief executive of the United States.
Perhaps there is no better time than now to begin to initiate these historic commemorative and ultimately healing programs.
These are ideas that could be implemented by the Jubilee Center working with other African American civic, historical and civil rights organizations. The Jubilee Center will act as a coordinating committee to bring together the many diverse African American museums, historical societies, civil rights groups, in the United States.
The Jubilee Center will be the inspiration for this endeavor.
Proposed Health and Welfare Programs
These are programs directly related to the health and welfare of African Americans. Perhaps these would have the highest priority for funds from national redress.
Proposed Public Health Programs for African Americans
African Americans have a disparity in both longevity and health in the United States. This can be traced back directly to the history of slavery in the country.
Health disparities are well documented in the Health and Human Services Department’s 2011 report, HHS Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities (http://www.minorityhealth.hhs.gov/npa/files/Plans/HHS/HHS_Plan_complete.pdf) as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2013 report (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/other/su6203.pdf) and materials (http://www.cdc.gov/minorityhealth/populations/REMP/black.html#Disparities). Reducing health disparities is a goal of the Healthy People 2020 action plan (http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/about/foundation-health-measures/Disparities).
Blacks have nearly 4 years lower life expectancy than Whites (75.5 for Blacks vs. 79.1 for Whites, as of 2013). For Black males, the average life expectance is 72.3. For Black females, it is 78.4. For White males, the life expectancy is 76.7, and for White females, it is 81.4 (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr64/nvsr64_02.pdf, Table 7).
Slave reparations could provide an important source of funding for agencies to study and ameliorate these conditions. This could be done through the Health and Human Services Department’s National Partnership for Action (http://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/npa/) and the Offices of Minority Health at various federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Agency for Healthcare Research Quality (AHQR), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Experts in the field of public health would contribute to a major study and funding proposals for this project.
This is perhaps one of the most important program objectives for redress.
Scholarship Programs for African American Students
Scholarship programs would be made available for descendants of enslaved individuals. They could be full or partial scholarships. This program could be administered by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. The programs could also work in conjunction with universities, colleges. Matching funds could be solicited from colleges, universities and corporate entities.
Funds for Aiding Needy African American Families in Obtaining a Mortgage and Down Payment
One of the greatest disparities for African Americans is the lack of home ownership. This was outlined in the 2014 Atlantic article “The Case for Reparations,” by Ta-Nehisi Coates (http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/05/the-case-for-reparations/361631/).
A fund would be created to provide funds for down payments and to arrange for low cost mortgages for African Americans.
Proposed Memorial and Commemorative Programs
The funding for these programs will come from an official redress and reparations payment for slavery. The payment will come from Congress. This will be considered a collective payment for 246 years of slavery.
Individuals eligible for these programs would be African Americans who are direct descendants of enslaved individuals.
These numerous programs could provide employment and training for all Americans. It would be a significant contribution to the U.S. economy.
Issuing of an Apology for Slavery in the Name of the President and Congress of the United States and the Congress
Every African American who is a descendant of a slave will receive an official letter (certificate) on White House stationary with a formal apology signed by the President of the United States. The letter will be drafted and approved by African American community leaders, historians and representatives.
Establish a National Genealogical Database for African Americans
The Library of Congress would be tasked with establishing a national program to aid African American families in producing their family histories. African Americans would work with local offices and create a database that could be passed down to future generations. These databases would include photographs and historic documents, including slave registries, etc. These services would be provided free of charge to African Americans. Most African Americans cannot race their family history further back than 1865. This, of course, is a result of slavery, when accurate genealogical records were not kept by slave owners.
Establish a DNA Testing Program for African Americans
The United States government would establish a DNA testing program for every African American who requests it. This service would be provided free of charge to African Americans. This would provide a record of ancestry that cannot be established through genealogical records. These DNA records would be kept (with the consent of the family) by the Library of Congress, and could be made available to the National Institutes of Health for the study of African American history and health-related issues.
Establish a National Audiovisual History Program for African Americans
This program could be administered by the Library of Congress and in conjunction with the National Archives and other Federal agencies. It could also work in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
The program would first interview senior members of the African American community. It would be for people over age 55. The program would do broadcast-quality audiovisual histories of each individual. The DVDs would be provided to the individual. At the African American individual’s request, the DVD could be deposited in a national historic database for future historic reference. Professionally-trained videographers and interviewers would conduct the interviews. This program would seek to hire African Americans and would provide employment opportunities.
A pilot program could be established to collect the oral histories of African Americans who are community and cultural leaders.
This collection will be invaluable to future generations of historians, much as the WPA Slave interviews conducted in the 1930s are a priceless resource for understanding slavery in America. Many of the individuals who would be interviewed lived through a transition from post-World War II America. They lived through the end of Jim Crow and through the civil rights history of the mid-1960s.
Identify and Purchase Historic Sites and Architecture Related to African American History
Identify and purchase historic properties that relate to slavery, emancipation, civil rights and African American communities. These properties would be purchased, restored and maintained by both the federal government, under the National Park Service, and/or state and local governments, under their parks departments. These sites would also be registered as National Historic Sites. The National Park Service and the Department of the Interior would make sure that these sites are maintained in perpetuity. A national database of these sites would be published and put online as a website.
This would include acquiring land and putting up historic markers where there is no architecture.
These sites could include former plantations, freedmen’s villages, historic public buildings, African American burial sites, historic churches, schools, etc.
A fund could also be set up within this program to aid African American families who are in danger of losing historic family homes and sites.
This program would be a program coordinated with the Library of Congress, the National Archives, the Department of the Interior, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Create a National African American Library and Archives
This program could establish an African American specific collection.
It would be a Library of Congress for African Americans. It could be established as part of the Library of Congress, or as part of the new African American museum. All of the books related to African American history that are not under copyright could be put online. This would be a user-friendly system, where people could download historic books and even print on demand. This institution could be tasked with collecting historic material in the field. African Americans with historic collections of archives could be gathered, curated, safely stored and made available.
The collection would include books, archives, photographs, home movies and videos, etc.
Funding would be available for purchasing collections to add to the library collection.
There could be satellite libraries in cities, as determined.
Create New African American Museums and Community Historical Societies
This project would fund the creation of community museums and historical societies where there are none serving African American communities. These projects could be advised by an outreach program of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Create and Establish African American Historical, Cultural and Artistic Conferences
These programs would create an ongoing series of conferences that would commemorate the African American contributions to the history and culture of this country. The programs could be administered through the Library of Congress, Department of Education, Smithsonian Institution, universities, etc.
The programs could be held throughout the country and could coincide with historic anniversaries and milestones.