After attending that REPARATIONS meeting tonight in Harlem, I know a serious REVOLUTION is on the verge of taking place…
Some of the speakers in attendance at the Institute of the Black World’s (IBW) Opening/Welcoming Reparations Rally included Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Dr. Leonard Jeffries, Frantz Fanton’s daughter Mireille Fanon-Mendes [on my way home, the man sitting next to me on the train was reading Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth], UN Ambassador Rhonda King of St. Vincent and Dr. Adelaide Sanford. Also in attendance were various representatives from the Caribbean, who through the organization known CARICOM, are going after various European nations for reparations.
Overall, I have nothing but great things to say about the event. It was extremely informative and demonstrated in the words of Dr. Douglas Slater, that there was a “renaissance in the reparations movement” taking place, but I wish more people would have attended. As Rev. Jackson Sr. stated, both blacks and whites are afraid to address this issue — albeit for different reasons — but black people must get over their fears or else we will continue to be exploited and experience this insidious genocide. As declared by the United Nations, January 1, 2015 marked the beginning of International Decade of People of African Descent. This is the decade in which the African personality will be restored and the Western world will pay for its egregious crimes against people of African descent!!
With all that having been said, I did find it strange that although this event took place at the historical Mother AME [AFRICAN Methodist Episcopal] Zion Church in Harlem, we were having a conversation about reparations while a huge mural containing a non-black Jesus and other figures, hung over our heads. Smdh!
The event was dedicated to the memory of Dr. Yosef Ben Jochannan, whose viewing was taking place a couple blocks away.
In the coming days, I will be posting quotes of statements that were made during the event that resonated with me.
Also, please note that while this 3-day event is taking place, our nation’s “first black President” is in the Caribbean, visiting Jamaica (where he spoke about the legalization and decriminalization of weed although black and brown people in the U.S. are disproportionately profiled, arrested and imprisoned for possession of this natural “drug”) and shaking hands with Raul Castro in Panama City while attending the Panama City for the Summit of the Americas…
Me Against Iniquity: Understanding the Complexities of Global White Supremacy (Racism) Through The Eyes of an Unapologetically BLACK Intellectual 