On Juneteenth 2019: Will the U.S. seriously reckon with anti-black racism and commit to reparations for enslavement?

I started my day by listening to the House Judiciary subcommittee's congressional hearing on the topic of reparations for slavery. This is the first hearing in over a decade on the topic of #reparations for HR-40, which has been introduced for over 30 years in Congress and dismissed every time. You can watch today's hearing in its entirety here: https://cs.pn/2Rog2nI. It should be noted that some reparations were made to Japanese-Americans to account for the internment camps during WWII, but no reparations have been made to the indigenous people of Turtle Island or to African Americans.

Since moving to Atlanta from Boston in 2014, I've been in an ongoing practice of learning more about enslavement, and the legacies of violence as well as movements for liberation that permeate the soil and the air here and across the Southeast. The more I learn, the more I realize I was purposely not taught. The more I learn, the more viscerally I am able to absorb the truth.

Ta'Nehisi Coates and Katrina Brown were two of the witnesses at today's hearing; I think their comments are worth reading in entirety along with the opening statement of Rep. Steve Cohen:

Ta'Nehisi Coates
YESTERDAY WHEN I ASKED ABOUT REPARATIONS, MITCH McCONNELL OFFERED A FAMILIAR REPLY: "AMERICA SHOULD NOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED 150 YEARS AGO SINCE NONE OF US CURRENTLY ALIVE ARE RESPONSIBLE." THIS REBUTTAL PROFFERS A STRANGE THEORY OF GOVERNANCE THAT AMERICAN ARE COUNT TO THE LIFETIME OF ITS GENERATION. WELL INTO THE CENTURY THE UNITED STATES WAS STILL PAYING OUT PENSIONS TO THE HEIRS OF CIVIL WAR SOLDIERS. WE HONOR TREATIES THAT DATE BACK SOME 200 YEARS DESPITE NO ONE BEING ALIVE WHO SIGNED THOSE TREATIES. MANY OF US WOULD LOVE TO BE TAXED FOR THE THINGS WE ARE SOLELY AND INDIVIDUALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR. BUT WE ARE AMERICAN CITIZENS AND THUS BOUND TO A COLLECTIVE ENTERPRISE THAT EXTENDS BEYOND OUR INDIVIDUAL AND PERSONAL REACH. IT WOULD SEEM RIDICULOUS TO DISPUTE INVOCATIONS OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE GREATEST GENERATION ON THE BASIS OF LACK OF MEMBERSHIP IN EITHER GROUP. WE RECOGNIZE OUR LINEAGE AS A GENERATIONAL TRUST, AS INHERITANCE AND THE REAL DILEMMA POSED BY REPARATIONS IS JUST THAT, A DILEMMA OF INHERITANCE. IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO IMAGINE AMERICA WITHOUT THE INHERITANCE OF SLAVERY. AS HISTORIAN ED BAPTIST HAS WRITTEN, ENSLAVEMENT SHAPED EVERY ASPECT OF THE ECONOMY AND POLITICS OF AMERICA SO THAT BY 1836 MORE THAN 600 MILLION, ALMOST HALF OF THE THE ECONOMIC ACTIVITY IN THE UNITED STATES DERIVED DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY FROM THE COTTON PRODUCED BY THE MILLION ODD SLAVES. BY THE TIME THE ENSLAVED WERE EMANCIPATED. THEY COMPRISED THE LARGEST SINGLE ASSET IN AMERICA. $3 BILLION, MORE THAN ALL THE OTHER ASSETS OF THE COUNTRY COMBINED. THE METHOD OF CULTIVATING THIS ASSET WAS NEITHER GENTLE CAJOLING NOR PERSUASION, BUT TORTURE, RAPE AND CHILD TRAFFICKING. ENSLAVEMENT REIGNED FOR 250 YEARS ON THESE SHORES. WHEN IT ENDED THIS COUNTRY COULD HAVE EXTENDED ITS HOLLOW PRINCIPLES, LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS TO ALL REGARDLESS OF COLOR. BUT AMERICA HAD OTHER PRINCIPLES IN MIND. AND SO FOR A CENTURY AFTER THE CIVIL WAR, BLACK PEOPLE WERE SUBJECT TO A RELENTLESS CAMPAIGN OF TERROR. TERROR. A CAMPAIGN THAT EXTENDED WELL INTO THE LIFETIME OF MAJORITY LEADER McCONNELL. IT'S TEMPTING TO DIVORCE THIS MODERN CAMPAIGN OF TERROR, OF PLUNDER, FROM ENSLAVEMENT WITH THE LOGIC OF ENSLAVEMENT OF WHITE SUPREMACY RESPECTS NO SUCH BORDERS AND THE GUARD OF BONDAGE WAS LUSTFUL AND BEGAT MANY HEIRS. VA PROGRAM VA VAGRAN VAGRANCY LAWS. McCONNELL WASN'T ALIVE FOR THE APPOTAMOX. HE WAS ALIVE TO WITNESS THINGS IN ALABAMA AND ELECTORAL THEFT. MAJORITY LEADER McCONNELL CITEDCIVIL RIGHTS LEGISLATION YESTERDAY AS WELL HE SHOULD BECAUSE HE WAS ALIVE TO WITNESS THE HARASSMENT, JAILING AND BETRAYAL OF THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT LEGISLATION BY GOVERNMENT SWORN TO PROTECT THEM. HE WAS ALIVE FOR THE RED LINING OF CHICAGO AND THE LOOTING OF BLACK HOMEOWNERS OF SOME $4 BILLION. VICTIMS OF THEIR PLUNDER, ARE VERY MUCH ALIVE TODAY. I AM SURE THEY WOULD LOVE A WORD WITH THE MAJORITY LEADER. WHAT THEY KNOW THAT THIS COMMITTEE MUST KNOW IS THAT WHILE EMANCIPATION DEAD BOLTED THE DOOR AGAINST THE BANDITS OF AMERICA, JIM CROW WEDGED THE WINDOWS WIDE-OPEN. THAT'S THE THING ABOUT SENATOR McCONNELL'S SOMETHING. IT WAS 150 YEARS AGO. IT WAS RIGHT NOW. TYPICAL BLACK FAMILY IN THIS COUNTRY HAS ONE TENTH THE WEALTH OF A TYPICAL WHITE WOMEN. BLACK WOMEN DIE IN CHILD BIRTH AT FOUR TIMES THE RIGHT OF WHITE WOMEN. THE DESCENDANTS OF THE ENSLAVED MAKE UP THE LARGEST SHARE OF IMPRISONMENT. THE MATTER OF REPARATIONS IS ONE OF MAKING AMENDS AND DIRECT REDRESS BUT ALSO A QUESTION OF CITIZENSHIP. HR-40 THIS BODY HAS A CHANCE TO MAKE GOOD ON ITS 2009 APOLOGY FOR ENSLAVEMENT AND REJECT FAIR WEATHER PATRIOTISM SO SAY THAT NATION IS BOTH ITS CREDITS AND DEBITS. THAT IF THOMAS JEFFERSON MATTERS SO DOES SALLY HEMMINGS. IF D-DAY MATTERS SO DOES BLACK WALL STREET. IF VALLEY FORGE MATTERS SO DOES FORT PILLOW. THE QUESTION REALLY IS NOT WHETHER WE'LL BE TIED TO THE SOMETHINGS OF OUR PAST BUT WHETHER WE'RE COURAGEOUS ENOUGH TO BE TIED TO THE WHOLE OF THEM. THANK YOU.
 
Katrina Brown, producer and director of "Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North"
I GREW UP IN PHILADELPHIA SIX BLOCKS FROM INDEPENDENCE HALL AND THE LIBERTY BELL. I'M A DEEP SEATED PATRIOT. SO IT WAS DEVASTATING TO LEARN FROM MY GRANDMOTHER AT AGE 28 THAT OUR ANCESTORS HAD BEEN SLAVE TRADERS. AND TO DISCOVER THAT THEY WERE IN FACT THE LARGEST SLAVE TRADING FAMILY IN UNITED STATES HISTORY BRINGING OVER 12,000 AFRICANS TO THE AMERICAS IN CHAINS. THAT THESE WERE MY RHODE ISLAND ANCESTORS. AND THAT RHODE ISLAND TURNS OUT TO BE THE STATE THAT SENT MORE SHIPS TO AFRICA THAN ANY OTHER, REQUIRED ME TO RE-ORGANIZE MY BRAIN. THE AMNESIA IN MY FAMILY MATCHED THE LARGER AMNESIA OF THE NORTH. THE SELF-SERVING MYTHS OF ALWAYS BEING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY. I COULD NO LONGER CARRY A SENSE OF MORAL SUPERIORITY RELATIVE TO WHITE SOUTHERNERS NOR A SENSE OF INNOCENCE VIAS-A-VIS THE HISTORY. WHAT WE LEARNED, HOW WE STUMBLED, HOW WE GREW DURING THAT JOURNEY LED ME TO BECOME A PASSIONATE BELIEVER IN THE IMPORTANCE EVER RECKONING WITH THE HISTORY AND LEGACY OF SLAVERY. A BELIEVER IN PERSONAL AND FAMILY RECKONINGS, INSTITUTIONAL ONES AND LARGER NATIONAL RECKONING. AND WITH THAT, IN THE NEED FOR REPAIR OR REPARATIVE ACTION. I EXPRESS WHOLE HEARTED SUPPORT FOR HR-40 AND I MET COUNTLESS PEOPLE OF ALL BACKGROUND WHO BELIEVE IN THIS NATIONAL EFFORT AS WELL. I KNOW THERE ARE MANY WHO STRENUOUSLY OBJECT TO THE PREMISE THAT WE NEED THIS RECKONING. THE PUSH BACK I HEAR MOST OFTEN IS THAT'S YOUR PROBLEM GIVEN YOUR ANCESTORS, BUT IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ME. IT'S UNDERSTANDABLE THAT PEOPLE DISTANCE THEMSELVES. I'LL FOCUS ON TWO REASONS. ONE, MOST OF US LEARNED A DISTORTED HISTORY OF SLAVERY IN SCHOOL. SO AS WHITE AMERICANS MOST OF US DON'T REALIZE OUR CONNECTION TO IT. SECOND, THERE'S A NATURAL INSTINCT TO AVOID THAT WHICH CAN BRING FEELINGS OF SHAME ABOUT OUR PEOPLE, ABOUT THE COUNTRY THAT WE LOVE. TO ADDRESS THE FIRST ISSUE HERE'S A QUICK RUNDOWN OF HISTORICAL FACTS I HAD NOT BEEN TAUGHT. THAT THE NORTH WAS DEEPLY IMPLICATED. THAT SLAVERY WAS LEGAL IN NORTHERN STATES FOR OVER 200 YEARS. THAT NORTHERNERS UP AND DOWN THE ECONOMIC SPECTRUM MADE THEIR LIFE'S LIVINGS AND BUSINESSES TO THE SLAVE TRADE. THE MIDWEST AND THE WEST WERE IMPLICATED. THEY GREW FOOD TO FEED THE SOUTH WHERE LAND WAS DEVOTED TO CASH CROPS LIKE COTTON, HARVESTED BY THE ENSLAVED. CONSUMERS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY WERE IMPLICATED IN THEIR EVERY DAY PURCHASES OF CLOTHING, COFFEE, SUGAR, RICE, TOBACCO. PEOPLE WHO IMMIGRATED FROM EUROPE AFTER SLAVERY WERE IMPLICATED. I HAVE IRISH, FRENCH AND GERMAN IMMIGRANT ANCESTORS WHO CAME TO THE UNITED STATES IN THE 19th CENTURY. WORKED IN FACTORIES. STRUGGLED. THEY WERE GIVEN ACCESS TO THE AMERICAN DREAM. WHY WERE WAVES OF IMMIGRANTS FLOCKING HERE? BECAUSE IT WAS THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITY. WHY WAS THE ECONOMY BOOMING? WHY WERE THERE JOBS? BECAUSE IT HAD BEEN BUILT LARGELY ON UNPAID LABOR. ONCE HERE EUROPEAN IMMIGRANTS GOT TO SYSTEMATICALLY LEAPFROG OVER BLACK FAMILIES WITH DEVASTATING CONSEQUENCES UP TO THE PRESENT DAY. SO SLAVERY BUILT THE NATION. IT TURNED US INTO AN ECONOMIC POWERHOUSE DUE MOSTLY TO GOOD FOLK WHO PARTICIPATED IN MUNDANE WAYS AND LOOKED THE OTHER WAY. NOW FOR THE SECOND BIG REASON FOR PUSH BACK AGAINST THIS BILL. THE EMOTIONS THAT IT STIRS UP. AND I WOULD SPEAK DIRECTLY TO MY FELLOW WHITE AMERICANS ON THIS. FIRST, FEAR NOT, THOUGH IT'S COUNTER INTUITIVE I'VE SEEN OVER AND OVER AGAIN THE LIBERATING POWER FACING THIS PAINFUL PAST. SECONDLY WHITE PEOPLE IMAGINE BLACK PEOPLE ARE ANGRY AT US BUT IN MY EXPERIENCE BLACK AMERICANS DON'T BLAME US FOR THE DEEDS OF BY GONE ANCESTORS, BUT ARE RIGHTFULLY ANGRY THAT WE DON'T JUST DROP THE DEFENSIVE OR THE SELF-ABSORBED GUILT AND SIGN UP TO WORK WITH THEM SHOULDER TO SHOULDER TO TACKLE THE LEGACIES THAT ARE STILL WITH US. THIRD, WHEN WE LET GO OF DEFENSIVENESS OR GUILT WE CAN GET TO A HEALTHY AND SHARED GRIEF WHICH OPENS THE DOOR TO ASSOCIATE, SACRED, RESPECTFUL, CREATIVE CONVERSATION ABOUT HOW TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT. THERE ARE SCORES OF ORGANIZATIONS THAT ARE ALREADY ABLE TO ATTEST TO THIS, THE POWER OF THIS WORK. THEY KNOW, I KNOW, THAT THE PROCESS THAT A COMMISSION WOULD HELP THE COUNTRY EMBARK UPON CAN BE A TRANSFORMATIVE THING FOR THE COUNTRY AS A WHOLE, A BEAUTIFUL THING. IT IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL OF A PERSON, A PEOPLE AND OF A NATION TO SET THINGS RIGHT. THANK YOU.

Rep. Steve Cohen, co-sponsor of HR-40
TODAY IS JUNE 19, A DAY THAT COMMEMORATES THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN TEXAS AND MORE GENERALLY THROUGHOUT THE CONFEDERACY. THE NEWS WITH THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION DID NOT REACH TEXAS FOR TWO YEARS SO ALL ENSLAVED PEOPLE KNEW THEY WERE FREE DESPITE LINCOLN'S EMANCIPATION. SLAVERY WAS A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY, ONE WHOSE IMPACTS WE AS A SOCIETY CONTINUE TO GRAPPLE WITH TODAY. THIS YEAR MARKS THE 400th ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST AFRICAN SLAVES BEING BROUGHT TO AMERICA. SLAVERIES OF OUR NATION'S FIRST ORIGINAL SIN. OUR CONSTITUTION PROTECTED IT AND VARIOUS COMPROMISES THAT GAVE POWER TO SLAVE STATES. FOR EXAMPLE, THE CLAUSE COUNTED AS THREE FIFTHS OF A PERSON FOR POPULATION COUNTS. THEY WEREN'T CONCERNED PERSONS BUT PROPERTY. THAT IN TURN GAVE DISPROPORTIONATE REPRESENTATION TO HOUSE SLAVES. THE CONSTITUTION ALSO CREATED THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE, SYSTEM OF ELECTING THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND GAVE SLAVE STATES ANOTHER AVENUE TO EXERCISE DISPROPORTIONATE INFLUENCE OVER NATIONAL AFFAIRS. IT IS ONLY FITTING, THEN, THAT WE SHOULD HOLD A HEARING ON THE COMMISSION TO STUDY AND DEVELOP REPARATION PROPOSALS FOR AFRICAN-AMERICANS ACT. MY COLLEAGUE WO IS IN ANOTHER HEARING, SHE'S HERE WITH US. MEMBER OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE IS THE CURRENT LEAD SPONSOR OF THIS LEGISLATION AND I'M PROUD TORT A CO-SPONSOR WITH HER ALONG WITH THE FULL COMMITTEE CHAIR JERRY NADLER. BUT THE GREATEST CREDIT FOR HR 40 BELONGS TO TWO INDIVIDUALS. FIRST AND FOREMOST, MR. JOHN CONYERS. MR. CONYERS IS A FORMER COLLEAGUE AND CHAIRMAN OF THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE, A GREAT AMERICAN AND A GREAT LEADER. ONE OF MY MENTORS. ONE OF THE REASONS THAT I HAVE INTRODUCED THIS RESOLUTION WITH HIM SINCE 2007. HE INTRODUCED IT FIRST 30 YEARS AGO. HE REINTRODUCED IT EVERY CONGRESS THEREAFTER UNTIL HIS RETIREMENT. THE SECOND INDIVIDUAL MOST RESPONSIBLE FOR HR-40 IS SADLY BUT IN REALITY JOHN WILKES BOOTH. HIS ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN LED TO ANDREW JOHNSON BECOMING PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENT JOHNSON EFFECTIVELY RESCINDED THE PROMISE MADE BY GENERAL SHERMAN TO FORMER SLAVES THEY WOULD EACH GBE GUARANTEED 40 ACRES OF LAND TO MAKE A LIVING AS A FREE PERSON. BUT BECAUSE OF THAT DAY OF APRIL 12 OF 1865, IT DIDN'T OCCUR. IT WOULD CREATE A COMMISSION TO STUDY THE HISTORY OF SLAVERY IN AMERICA IN THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENTS TO SUPPORT SLAVERY. OTHER FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THE DESCENDENTS OF SLAVES AND SLAVERY AND JIM CROWE ON AFRICAN-AMERICANS. IT WOULD MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS AS TO APPROPRIATE WAYS TO EDUCATE THE PUBLIC ABOUT FINDINGS AND APPROPRIATE REMEDIES. AN HONEST RECKONING WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S ROLE IN PROTECTING THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY HAS BEEN A LEADING PRIORITY IN MY CONGRESSIONAL CAREER. IN TO 2007 MY FRESHMAN YEAR, LESS THAN TWO MONTHS INTO THAT TERM, INTRODUCED HR-194, A APOLOGY FOR ITS ROLE IN PERPETUATING SLAVERY AND OFFSPRING OF JIM CROW. THE HOUSE ULTIMATELY PASSED THIS RESOLUTION BY VOICE VOTE AND ONCE AGAIN THANK CHAIRMAN CONYERS FOR GETTING IN A VOTE AND GETTING IT TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. AS I NOTED IN MY RESIDENT LOUGS THEN, IT WAS NOT JUST SLAVERY THAT WAS WRONG, BUT ALSO THE VISCERAL RACISM AGAINST PERSONS OF AFRICAN DISSENT. THAT WENT ON TO BECOME ENTRANCED IN THE SOCIAL FABRIC AND AN EVIL WE MUST CONFRONT TODAY. CAN WE GET THAT DOOR CLOSED? THANK YOU, SIR. MY RESOLUTION EMPHASIZED WHILE SLAVERY WAS THE ORIGINAL SIN OF ANTIBLACK RACISM WITH THE CIVIL WAR AND 13th AMENDMENT AND CONGRESS'S INACT ACTION IN THE FACE WAS A BIG REASON WHY. RACISM BECAME ONLY FURTHER ENTRINCH EDED AS REFLECTED IN SOCIETAL ATTITUDES, A SYSTEM OF RACIAL SEGREGATION LAWS AND CREATED SEPARATE AND UNEQUAL SOCIETIES FOR WHITES AND AFRICAN-AMERICANS, ONE THAT WAS ENFORCED THROUGH OFFICIAL MEANS AND THROUGH LYNCHINGS, VIOLENCE, INTIMIDATION AND DISENFRANCHISEMENT. NOT UNTIL 10 YEARS AFTER0 YEARS DID CONGRESS UNDER PRESSURE FROM DR. KING AND OTHER CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS FINALLY CARRY OUT ITS DUTY BYPASSING A CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964. THAT ARE FULFILLING THE GUARANTEES OF EQUAL PROTECTION FOR ALL. TODAY OUR NATION CONTINUES TO STRUGGLE WITH THE LEGACY OF THE ANTIBLACK RACISM AND SLAVERY IN JIM CROWE. WE SEE THIS IN STATISTICS THAT PAINT A BLEAK PICTURE. 21.2% OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS LIVED IN POVERTY. THAT'S OVER TWO TIMES AS MANY. THE CENSUS BUREAU REPORTED IN 2015 THE NET WORTH OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN HOUSEHOLDS WAS $13,000. WHICH WAS LESS THAN 10% OF THE NEARLY $140,000 NET WORTH OF WHITE HOUSEHOLDS. LIMITED ACCESS TO WEALTH BUILDING RESOURCES AND OPPORTUNITIES HAVE LED TO THIS DARK DISPARITY. AFRICAN-AMERICANS CONTINUE TO FACE DISCRIMINATION OF THE WORKPLACE, THEY HAVE LIMITED ACCESS TO EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES ACCORDING TO THE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, THE HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION RATE, GRADUATION RATE FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN WAS 67% COMPARED TO THE NATIONWIDE AVERAGE OF 81%. AFRICAN-AMERICANS ALSO CONTINUE TO FACE RACIAL SEGREGATION IN HOUSING AND DISCRIMINATION AND THE AVAILABILITY OF HEALTH CARE SERVICE AND MOST OTHER MAJOR FATSCETS OF LIFE. AN ACTING HR-40 WOULD BE AN IMPORTANT STEP IN FINDING LONG-TERM SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS ONCE THEY CAN TRACE THEIR ORIGIN TO OUR SHAMEFUL HISTORY OF SLAVERY AND ANTI-BLACK RACISM. AS THE DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR CHARLES OGLETREE ONCE NOTED, THE CONCEPT OF REPARATIONS IS NOT MADE PAYMENTS TO INDIVIDUALS BUT A FOCUS ON THE R POOREST OF THE POOR, INCLUDING EFFORTS TO ADDRESS COMPREHENSIVELY THE PROBLEM OF THOSE WHO HAVE NOT BENEFITTED FROM INTEGRATION OR AFFIRMATIVE ACTION. I HOPE OUR HEARING TODAY CAN LEAD TO FRUITFUL CONVERSATIONS WITH THE AIM OF ACHIEVING THAT GOAL.