We are enduring a very troubling juncture in the international politics of white supremacy; the global action that should take place to address our situation is reparations. The movement for global reparations is based on the philosophy of Pan-Africanism, to mount a unified force to garner what historically belongs to us. Reparations is not “just” a check; it’s the restoration of our dignity and personhood, revitalization of our educational and social institutions, proper health care, employment, return of artifacts, end to present exploitation through neo-colonialism on the continent, and freedom from fear.
The European onslaught on African people resulted in division, subordination, and extinction. The case for reparations for the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade, slavery, segregation, and colonialism has yet to be addressed by the perpetrators who profited from unjust enrichment. Their unwarranted crimes have laid the foundation for the present incomprehensible injustice. Racism is global, evidenced in African people’s moral, physical, and spiritual subjugation throughout the Diaspora. From Malawi to Mississippi, our conditions are the same, distinguished only by degrees and types of impoverishment. Annihilation of the race continues through CoVid-1619, massive incarceration, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, all illnesses directly related to our physical and mental states.
I was introduced to the concept of “self-reparations” in the Caribbean; being African American, I had an initial visceral response as it was reminiscent of self-help, pull yourself up by your own bootstraps mentality, but as I wrapped my mind around it, I realized it is the first step in achieving full reparations. To move into the future, we must address our holistic state of health. Every morsel of food we put into our temples will enhance, sustain, or destroy us. Blocking toxins from processed foods, unhealthy people and our environment is a revolutionary act in and of itself. Secondly, we have to educate ourselves on our history to take control of the narrative. Our emphasis should not be on sensitizing others to our plight, which would take generations and is not our responsibility.
We have to educate our youth who are presently buying into misinformation, technology, and social media; there are numerous resources in multiple platforms available to us, but we have to ensure that we focus on an authentic, African-centered education from organizations such as the African Heritage Studies Association, MKA Institute, ASCOT, ASALH, and IKG in Washington. African descendants have not embraced reparations for two reasons: one, we don’t know history, and two, more importantly, we don’t believe we deserve it. If you asked a Black person in 1860 if they thought they would be set free from slavery, they would’ve responded in the negative. Anyone with even a nodding acquaintance with slavery would endorse reparations.
We are still suffering today from not Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome but ongoing trauma; the only difference between being forced to watch an African being quartered and gutted in 1850, castrated and hung from a tree in 1920, or being held in a chokehold until every breath of life is squeezed out of them in 2020-is time. If we don’t confront the dire nature of our situations globally, future generations of Africans and African descendants will suffer. When we unite across the continents, we will be a tremendous force to deal with; everything we need to prosper is within us. The Honorable Marcus Garvey taught us that we have to learn who we are and draw on that power to determine our destiny and fate, “…if we do not seriously reorganize ourselves as a people and face the world with a program of African nationalism, our days in civilization are numbered…”
We have to be politically astute and discern those forces using the issue of reparations as propaganda to divide us, such as African Descendants of Slaves (ADOS) as this group promotes separation of Africans born in America from our families in the Caribbean and continental Africa in the US movement for reparations. We are all the same! Our study of enslavement reveals our ancestors were transported and relocated throughout the world. As we investigate revolutions and rebellions throughout the Diaspora, we see that the average person at the grassroots level manifested change. We have a global charge to move our generation forward, which will take full mobilization and commitment to ourselves, our elders, and our ancestors!
