Publish to Newswire
Add an EventFrom the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
CAUCASIANS UNITED FOR REPARATIONS
White supporters of reparations to descendants of enslaved Africans got together in Atlanta recently to meet each other and to stratagize about how they can best be of service to the reparations movement.
Likely for the first time in U.S. history, a group of white supporters of reparations to descendants of enslaved Africans traveled from across the country to meet each other and to strategize about how we can best be of service to the reparations movement. We met in Atlanta Georgia from Friday, Feb. 22 to Sunday, the 24th. Before the three days were over, not only had we gotten to know each other and come to some important ideas about how we, as whites, can do even more to back up this Black-led initiative, we had met with the international reparations leader Mr. Silis Muhammad, attended an awards banquet, attended the annual Savior's Day celebration of the Lost-Found Nation of Islam, and spoken on the radio twice. What's more, Brent Buell and Molly Secours, two filmmakers who took part in the weekend of events, shot hours of film which Buell will make into a full-length documentary to be used as a tool for educating other Caucasians about reparations so that they, too, can see the rightness of the claim and come to support the movement as well.
WHO WE ARE
Ida Hakim, the founder of Caucasians United for Reparations and Emancipation (C.U.R.E.) organized the meeting of white supporters. As with many things that started modestly but went on to shake the world, the gathering may have begun small, but it began--which is a tremendously important thing when it comes to whites supporting reparations to Blacks.
Along with Ida Hakim, who is recognized as a long-time reparations activist, the persons present were Ferrell Winfree, anti-racism activist among white Christians and C.U.R.E.'s representative in Tennessee; Molly Secours, filmmaker, writer, and social activist; Brent Buell, actor, filmmaker and writer; Janice Cline, teacher of English and Cultural Diversity in New York; Bryan Pennington, social activist who lives and works in Atlanta; Jim Cox, an early member of C.U.R.E. from Santa Fe, New Mexico; Tom Fox, a sincere young supporter; and myself, Donna Lamb, an anti-racism activist and journalist in New York City.
Coming from our homes on the East Coast, West Coast, and various cities in the South, we had spent our formative years in California, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Ohio and upper New York State.
Along with the geographical diversity, one of the most exciting things was seeing how different each of the participants was in terms of what had shaped our lives and how we had come to support reparations. For example, one man spoke seriously yet humorously of having been a socialist from about the age of two. Another told courageously of his blatant racism throughout his childhood and young adulthood, and of how it changed. One woman sees her Christian beliefs as at the very core of everything she is and does, while another person identified himself as completely non-religious. And there were seasoned veterans in the struggle who were accustomed to going toe-to-toe with the most rabid white supremacists, as well as newcomers who were there to learn from the ground up.
What united us all was our firm conviction that full and complete reparations, including repatriation if people so desire, to descendants of enslaved Africans are long overdue, and that this nation stands totally in the wrong until that debt is paid. We also recognize that no amount of money or anything else can ever even come close to truly undoing the financial, spiritual, and psychological harm that the enslavement and its brutal aftermath caused, but that we must, in good faith, repair the damage as fully as we can.
One of the other things that was crystal clear from this cross-section of people is that there isn't any particular type of person or standard background that makes one eligible to be a white supporter of reparations. There is room for all. All a person needs is to see with their own eyes, to feel with their own heart that what this country did was wrong and that it must be set right through reparations.
DISCUSSING THE ISSUES
During our meetings, we spoke at length about, as we put it, "How I got this way"--how we came to support reparations. We also talked extensively about what our experience has been as we've discussed reparations with other whites. One thing we all found is that people who are flagrantly racist are often no more difficult to deal with than so-called "progressive" whites when it comes to the subject of reparations.
Ida Hakim also gave a brief talk on the many and diverse Black organizations, such as N'COBRA, IHRAAM, Self Determination Committee, December 12th Movement, AFRE and others, so we are more knowledgeable about the many important organizations that have been working for decades both nationally and internationally on behalf of reparations.
Later on, we held a workshop on how to answer the questions and statements that Caucasians bring up to try to prove we don't owe reparations. And finally, we discussed where we go from here, how we plan to extend our boundaries and reach out to more and more people most effectively.
MEETING SILIS MUHAMMAD
A high point for all of us was meeting the international reparations leader, Mr. Silis Muhammad, when he came to our meeting place to speak with us. Mr. Muhammad, who has been the CEO of the Lost-Found Nation of Islam since 1977, encouraged us in our work, and told us that the most important thing we could do was to continue what we are doing. He spoke for nearly an hour and a half about the effects of slavery on African Americans throughout the entire Americas region, and about the need for collective political recognition of all of the descendants of enslaved Africans by the UN and the world community.
As a person who has hungered, thirsted, to meet other white people who feel as I do--that assisting in bringing about reparations is a central, driving passion of their lives--you can just imagine what a thrilling weekend this was for me. I was also very moved to see how Silis Muhammad and other people we met in the Lost-Found Nation of Islam and elsewhere welcomed our efforts. It all made me surer than ever that we are right, and that a life used fighting for reparations is a life well spent.
For more information, please contact Donna Lamb at dlamb [at] gis.net.
WHO WE ARE
Ida Hakim, the founder of Caucasians United for Reparations and Emancipation (C.U.R.E.) organized the meeting of white supporters. As with many things that started modestly but went on to shake the world, the gathering may have begun small, but it began--which is a tremendously important thing when it comes to whites supporting reparations to Blacks.
Along with Ida Hakim, who is recognized as a long-time reparations activist, the persons present were Ferrell Winfree, anti-racism activist among white Christians and C.U.R.E.'s representative in Tennessee; Molly Secours, filmmaker, writer, and social activist; Brent Buell, actor, filmmaker and writer; Janice Cline, teacher of English and Cultural Diversity in New York; Bryan Pennington, social activist who lives and works in Atlanta; Jim Cox, an early member of C.U.R.E. from Santa Fe, New Mexico; Tom Fox, a sincere young supporter; and myself, Donna Lamb, an anti-racism activist and journalist in New York City.
Coming from our homes on the East Coast, West Coast, and various cities in the South, we had spent our formative years in California, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Ohio and upper New York State.
Along with the geographical diversity, one of the most exciting things was seeing how different each of the participants was in terms of what had shaped our lives and how we had come to support reparations. For example, one man spoke seriously yet humorously of having been a socialist from about the age of two. Another told courageously of his blatant racism throughout his childhood and young adulthood, and of how it changed. One woman sees her Christian beliefs as at the very core of everything she is and does, while another person identified himself as completely non-religious. And there were seasoned veterans in the struggle who were accustomed to going toe-to-toe with the most rabid white supremacists, as well as newcomers who were there to learn from the ground up.
What united us all was our firm conviction that full and complete reparations, including repatriation if people so desire, to descendants of enslaved Africans are long overdue, and that this nation stands totally in the wrong until that debt is paid. We also recognize that no amount of money or anything else can ever even come close to truly undoing the financial, spiritual, and psychological harm that the enslavement and its brutal aftermath caused, but that we must, in good faith, repair the damage as fully as we can.
One of the other things that was crystal clear from this cross-section of people is that there isn't any particular type of person or standard background that makes one eligible to be a white supporter of reparations. There is room for all. All a person needs is to see with their own eyes, to feel with their own heart that what this country did was wrong and that it must be set right through reparations.
DISCUSSING THE ISSUES
During our meetings, we spoke at length about, as we put it, "How I got this way"--how we came to support reparations. We also talked extensively about what our experience has been as we've discussed reparations with other whites. One thing we all found is that people who are flagrantly racist are often no more difficult to deal with than so-called "progressive" whites when it comes to the subject of reparations.
Ida Hakim also gave a brief talk on the many and diverse Black organizations, such as N'COBRA, IHRAAM, Self Determination Committee, December 12th Movement, AFRE and others, so we are more knowledgeable about the many important organizations that have been working for decades both nationally and internationally on behalf of reparations.
Later on, we held a workshop on how to answer the questions and statements that Caucasians bring up to try to prove we don't owe reparations. And finally, we discussed where we go from here, how we plan to extend our boundaries and reach out to more and more people most effectively.
MEETING SILIS MUHAMMAD
A high point for all of us was meeting the international reparations leader, Mr. Silis Muhammad, when he came to our meeting place to speak with us. Mr. Muhammad, who has been the CEO of the Lost-Found Nation of Islam since 1977, encouraged us in our work, and told us that the most important thing we could do was to continue what we are doing. He spoke for nearly an hour and a half about the effects of slavery on African Americans throughout the entire Americas region, and about the need for collective political recognition of all of the descendants of enslaved Africans by the UN and the world community.
As a person who has hungered, thirsted, to meet other white people who feel as I do--that assisting in bringing about reparations is a central, driving passion of their lives--you can just imagine what a thrilling weekend this was for me. I was also very moved to see how Silis Muhammad and other people we met in the Lost-Found Nation of Islam and elsewhere welcomed our efforts. It all made me surer than ever that we are right, and that a life used fighting for reparations is a life well spent.
For more information, please contact Donna Lamb at dlamb [at] gis.net.
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Donate
$330.00 donated
in the past month
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network
I do not support giving rich African-Americans any money, in particular, such anti-workingclass fascists as Willie Brown, the illegal "mayor" of San Francisco, or Ward Connerly, the anti-affirmative action UC Regent, or Clarence Thomas, the fascist US Supreme Court Justice or Condelezza Rice, former oil company executive and now advisor to our latest Hitler, George War Bush.
As to the Nation of Islam, it is not only part of Willie Brown's election fraud team, it has a long history of collaboration with Nazis and of union-busting. Malcolm X left that fascist outfit for good reason: It is anti-workingclass.
That is why we say all nationalism is reactionary. The class struggle must prevail if humanity is to survive and move forward. These reparation schemes are nothing more than enrichment schemes for the black bourgeoisie so they can promote capitalisim in the black community, for their benefit, as the Nation of Islam does.
Religion is the opiate of the people, and the Nation of Islam is no exception. All religions are anti-women, and so is the Nation of Islam.
The identitiy politics movements of the post-WW2 era have reached their full postive possibilities for now. At this point in history, we are in a labor era. When the workingclass advances and realizes its historical potential by establishing socialism, then and only then can humanity advance.
All power to the entire workingclass, regardless of color, gender, sexual orientation or any other identity. Those who labor must rule, and we, the workingclass, as a class, shalll win, for history is with us.
people who never owned slaves should pay money to people who have never been slaves.
zero fucking chance.
get a hobby kids.
REPARATIONS ISN'T SOME SORT OF A FUCKING TAX BILL. if any money ever came out of you white gringo's levi's jeans pockets, it'd be nothing compared to how much you've benefitted at the expense of africans and other exploited peoples of color in this continent. but so that you let your fucking natural republican instincts down, reparations is more about OFFICIAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of the oppression to africans and the inequality they've suffered as a community than about how much money a fucking state court in the south would give to the black COMMUNITY.
learn your shit, educate yourself muddafuckas, deal with your racism, then open your mouth or be ready to have shit thrown at ya. -M
sorry for my foul language, sorry for not being "civilized" towards a supremacist viewpoint that doesn't allow other's right to self-determination. sorry i may have cheered when the berlin wall came down.
btw, i was recently at a Black Radical Congress National Council meeting in Oakland (don't think you were there), and all the folks who talked about and organize around reparations weren't even muslim. muslims were there alright, the few that spoke didn't even appear to be nation of islam.
learn from anarchists who've been able to work with people of color in their organizing, don't try impose your ideology, ESPECIALLY when it comes to race issues. it's why not too many leftists/activists of color would agree with the "workers" view on race and reparations. it's why you don't see too many people of color organizing with the ISO's and WWP's, etc., etc.
i don't even wanna get started on this... i believe the above evidence proves my case already. peace! -M
While we hear this nonsensical discussion of reparations, we have a Dr. Strangelove sitting in the White House, promoting nuclear war, with the complicity of the Democrats. The only hope to putting an end to this barbarism is workingclass unity to fight for socialism. That means organizing general strikes so we can take state power. It does not mean dividing the workingclass by color with liberal guilt, money-making extortion rackets for black capitalists known as reparations. We need a labor movement now, with all deliberate speed. The lives we save will be our own, regardless of color. All power to the entire workingclass.