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LA Activists Drill Down on Who Deserves Reparations for Slavery and Why

Published

5 years ago

July 22, 2020

Aldon Thomas Stiles | California Black Media

Two bills calling for the study of reparations owed to African Americans are making their way through both the California legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives.

As state and federal lawmakers grapple with whether or not the State of California — and the United States as a whole — should take a closer look at what it owes the descendants of enslaved Africans in the United States, a group of Black California activists are getting ahead of the conversation. They are distilling the case for reparations down to why African Americans deserve to get paid for centuries of free labor and the Jim Crow laws and other forms of state-enforced discriminatory practices that followed. They are also specifying which segment of Black Americans should get those payments.

On July 12, the Los Angeles chapter of American Descendants of Slavery (ADOS) hosted a live stream that dug down into the complexities of securing reparations for the descendants of enslaved Black people in the United States.

They broadcasted the 90-minute special both on YouTube and Facebook. Experts on the history of the Black experience in America laid out the case for reparations. After that, ADOS activists followed with and a no-holds-barred conversation on race, racism and reparations. They discussed how some Americans, people of other races and some Blacks, too, often misunderstand the arguments at the foundation of their agenda.

The live stream featured Dr. William A. Darity and A. Kirsten Mullen, co-authors of “From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century.” The husband-and-wife duo started the show by denouncing the notion that slavery in America is ancient history.

“When you’re thinking about slavery from a generational perspective, it’s not that long ago,” Mullen said. “The legacy of slavery is something that we’re still feeling today.”

Darity noted that reparations should not be distributed exclusively to mitigate the effects of generational slavery but to recompense for all of the oppressive economic systems that have targeted Black people in America for centuries.

“The case that we build in ‘From Here to Equality’ is not restricted to so-called slavery reparations in the first place,” Darity said. “Our premise is that there is a series of atrocities that have been inflicted on Black Americans that have affected their economic status. So, we begin with slavery but then we move into the post-slavery era where the first atrocity was the failure to provide the formerly enslaved with any form of restitution.”

Darity mentioned the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, also known as the fall of Black Wall Street, citing it as one example of the ways Black people experienced economic violence in America.

He asserted that the racial wealth disparity in the US can be directly tied to atrocities like that committed by citizens as well as systemic discriminatory practices, and it can be assuaged with reparations.

“While 25% of white households have a net worth in excess of $1 million, it is only 4% for Black households in the United States. So, to close that gap would require an allocation of funds that would at least amount to 10 to 12 trillion dollars and that’s what we think should be one of the central objectives of a Black reparations project.”

As far as policy, Darity briefly talked about speaking to Congress about H.R. 40, also known as the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act, which is a bill that was introduced last year that if implemented would create a commission to determine the merits and logistics of providing reparations for the descendants of Black slaves.

Since its televised introduction in the House Judiciary Committee last year, legislators in the lower house of the U.S. Congress have not revisited H.R. 40. The bill would expire if no action is taken on it before the 116th Congress ends in January.

In California, on June 11, the State Assembly voted 61-12 to approve AB 3121, titled the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans. The Senate Judiciary Committee is now reviewing the legislation before it holds a hearing and votes on it. If passed, the bill would be referred to the full Senate for an up-or-down vote.

Last week, in Asheville, North Carolina, the city Council apologized for the town’s role in slavery and discrimination and i5 voted to provide reparations for its Black residents in the form of investments in areas where Black residents face inequities.

Antonio Moore, a Los Angeles-based attorney and ADOS co-founder, says the distinction between descendants of slaves and other Black Americans does make a difference when it comes to generational wealth, citing former President Barack Obama and U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) as his examples.

“What do you do in a world where your first Black president inherited $500,000 from his White lineage and your possible, most likely, first Black Vice President basically lived as an elite ‘Indian’ – they out-earn White folks, and then told you that she’s just as Black as you because she went to Howard,” he said.

Moore was referring to $500,000 in stocks President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama reportedly inherited from the former POTUS’ maternal grandparents’ estate. Regarding Harris, he was pointing to Insight Center study, The Color of Wealth, that revealed that “Asian Indian” families (Harris’ mother, who is deceased, was Indian) has the second-highest median net worth ($460,000) of all sub-groups in Los Angeles County. They are outpaced in L.A. County by Japanese households ($592,000) and followed by Chinese ones ($408,000). U.S. Black median net worth in Los Angeles County ranks the lowest at $4,000.

According to a Gallup News poll conducted in 2019, 27% of Black Americans are opposed to the United States making cash payments to individuals for reparations.

“I’m not saying that acknowledging history doesn’t matter. It does. I’m saying that there is a difference between acknowledging history and allowing history to distract us from the problems we face today,” said Coleman Hughes, a columnist at the online magazine Quillette and a 2020 graduate of Columbia University.

Hughes, who testified against HR 40 before the House Judiciary Committee in June 2019, said paying reparations to all descendants of Black people in the United States who were slaves, “is a mistake.”

“Take me as an example. I was born three decades after the end of Jim Crow into a privileged household in the suburbs. I attend an Ivy League school,” he said at the congressional hearing. “Yet I’m descended from slaves who worked on Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello plantation.”

ADOS has faced pointed criticisms from several prominent media personalities and other Black activists. They say the organization engages in disinformation and divisive rhetoric, some saying the movement’s specific focus on descendants of slaves weakens Black communities, pitting Black immigrant groups against Black American descendants of enslaved people in the United States.

“The movement relies heavily on right-wing, anti-Black, anti-immigrant talking points, and a series of policy positions reliant on a person’s ability to produce documentation or what I am calling ‘slave papers’ in order to verify Black native identity,” said Jessica Ann Mitchell Aiwuyor, a writer for the Institute of the Black World 21st Century. “If implemented, the end result of these policies could be a weakened, further marginalized Black population.”

Yvette Carnell, co-founder and host of the ADOS media outlet “Breaking Brown,” addressed some of these criticisms during the show.

Aldon Thomas Stiles | California Black Media

Posts by Aldon Thomas Stiles | California Black Media

Related Topics:ADOS.American Descendants of Slavery (ADOS)Antonio Moore Black Wall Street featured

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Recently Approved Budget Plan Favors Wealthy, Slashes Aid to Low-Income Americans

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The most significant benefits would flow to the highest earners while millions of low-income families face cuts

Published

1 week ago

March 21, 2025

Stacy M. Brown

By Stacy M. Brown

BlackPressUSA.com Senior National Correspondent

The new budget framework approved by Congress may result in sweeping changes to the federal safety net and tax code. The most significant benefits would flow to the highest earners while millions of low-income families face cuts. A new analysis from Yale University’s Budget Lab shows the proposals in the House’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Resolution would lead to a drop in after-tax-and-transfer income for the poorest households while significantly boosting revenue for the wealthiest Americans. Last month, Congress passed its Concurrent Budget Resolution for Fiscal Year 2025 (H. Con. Res. 14), setting revenue and spending targets for the next decade. The resolution outlines $1.5 trillion in gross spending cuts and $4.5 trillion in tax reductions between FY2025 and FY2034, along with $500 billion in unspecified deficit reduction.

Congressional Committees have now been instructed to identify policy changes that align with these goals. Three of the most impactful committees—Agriculture, Energy and Commerce, and Ways and Means—have been tasked with proposing major changes. The Agriculture Committee is charged with finding $230 billion in savings, likely through changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps. Energy and Commerce must deliver $880 billion in savings, likely through Medicaid reductions. Meanwhile, the Ways and Means Committee must craft tax changes totaling no more than $4.5 trillion in new deficits, most likely through extending provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Although the resolution does not specify precise changes, reports suggest lawmakers are eyeing steep cuts to SNAP and Medicaid benefits while seeking to make permanent tax provisions that primarily benefit high-income individuals and corporations.

To examine the potential real-world impact, Yale’s Budget Lab modeled four policy changes that align with the resolution’s goals:

A 30 percent across-the-board cut in SNAP funding.
A 15 percent cut in Medicaid funding.
Permanent extension of the individual and estate tax cuts from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Permanent extension of business tax provisions including 100% bonus depreciation, expense of R&D, and relaxed limits on interest deductions.

Yale researchers determined that the combined effect of these policies would reduce the after-tax-and-transfer income of the bottom 20 percent of earners by 5 percent in the calendar year 2026. Households in the middle would see a modest 0.6 percent gain. However, the top five percent of earners would experience a 3 percent increase in their after-tax-and-transfer income.

Moreover, the analysis concluded that more than 100 percent of the net fiscal benefit from these changes would go to households in the top 20 percent of the income distribution. This happens because lower-income groups would lose more in government benefits than they would gain from any tax cuts. At the same time, high-income households would enjoy significant tax reductions with little or no loss in benefits.

“These results indicate a shift in resources away from low-income tax units toward those with higher incomes,” the Budget Lab report states. “In particular, making the TCJA provisions permanent for high earners while reducing spending on SNAP and Medicaid leads to a regressive overall effect.” The report notes that policymakers have floated a range of options to reduce SNAP and Medicaid outlays, such as lowering per-beneficiary benefits or tightening eligibility rules. While the Budget Lab did not assess each proposal individually, the modeling assumes legislation consistent with the resolution’s instructions. “The burden of deficit reduction would fall largely on those least able to bear it,” the report concluded.

Stacy M. Brown

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#NNPA BlackPress

A Threat to Pre-emptive Pardons

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — it was a possibility that the preemptive pardons would not happen because of the complicated nature of that never-before-enacted process.

Published

1 week ago

March 21, 2025

Oakland Post

By April Ryan

President Trump is working to undo the traditional presidential pardon powers by questioning the Biden administration’s pre-emptive pardons issued just days before January 20, 2025. President Trump is seeking retribution against the January 6th House Select Committee. The Trump Justice Department has been tasked to find loopholes to overturn the pardons that could lead to legal battles for the Republican and Democratic nine-member committee. Legal scholars and those closely familiar with the pardon process worked with the Biden administration to ensure the preemptive pardons would stand against any retaliatory knocks from the incoming Trump administration. A source close to the Biden administration’s pardons said, in January 2025, “I think pardons are all valid. The power is unreviewable by the courts.”

However, today that same source had a different statement on the nuances of the new Trump pardon attack. That attack places questions about Biden’s use of an autopen for the pardons. The Trump argument is that Biden did not know who was pardoned as he did not sign the documents. Instead, the pardons were allegedly signed by an autopen. The same source close to the pardon issue said this week, “unless he [Trump] can prove Biden didn’t know what was being done in his name. All of this is in uncharted territory. “ Meanwhile, an autopen is used to make automatic or remote signatures. It has been used for decades by public figures and celebrities.

Months before the Biden pardon announcement, those in the Biden White House Counsel’s Office, staff, and the Justice Department were conferring tirelessly around the clock on who to pardon and how. The concern for the preemptive pardons was how to make them irrevocable in an unprecedented process. At one point in the lead-up to the preemptive pardon releases, it was a possibility that the preemptive pardons would not happen because of the complicated nature of that never-before-enacted process. President Trump began the threat of an investigation for the January 6th Select Committee during the Hill proceedings. Trump has threatened members with investigation or jail.

Oakland Post

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Reaction to The Education EO

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Meanwhile, the new Education EO jeopardizes funding for students seeking a higher education. Duncan states, PellGrants are in jeopardy after servicing “6.5 million people” giving them a chance to go to college.

Published

1 week ago

March 21, 2025

Oakland Post

By April Ryan

There are plenty of negative reactions to President Donald Trump’s latest Executive Order abolishing the Department of Education. As Democrats call yesterday’s action performative, it would take an act of Congress for the Education Department to close permanently. “This blatantly unconstitutional executive order is just another piece of evidence that Trump has absolutely no respect for the Constitution,” said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) who is the ranking member on the House Financial Services Committee. “By dismantling ED, President Trump is implementing his own philosophy on education, which can be summed up in his own words, ‘I love the poorly educated.’ I am adamantly opposed to this reckless action, said Rep. Bobby Scott who is the most senior Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee.

Morgan State University President Dr. David Wilson chimed in saying “I’m deeply concerned about efforts to shift federal oversight in education back to the states, particularly regarding equity, justice, and fairness. History has shown us what happens when states are left unchecked—Black and poor children are too often denied access to the high-quality education they deserve. In 1979 then President Jimmy Carter signed a law creating the Department of Education. Arne Duncan, former Obama Education Secretary, reminds us that both Democratic and Republican presidents have kept education a non-political issue until now. However, Duncan stressed Republican presidents have contributed greatly to moving education forward in this country.

During a CNN interview this week Duncan said during the Civil War President Abraham “Lincoln created the land grant system” for colleges like Tennessee State University. “President Ford brought in IDEA.” And “Nixon signed Pell Grants into law.” In 2001, the No Child Left Behind Act was signed into law by President George W. Bush which increased federal oversight of schools through standardized testing. Meanwhile, the new Education EO jeopardizes funding for students seeking higher education. Duncan states, PellGrants are in jeopardy after servicing “6.5 million people” giving them a chance to go to college. Wilson details, “that 40 percent of all college students rely on Pell Grants and student loans.”

Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC) says this Trump action “impacts students pursuing higher education and threatens 26 million students across the country, taking billions away from their educational futures. Meanwhile, During the president’s speech in the East Room of the White House Thursday, Trump criticized Baltimore City, and its math test scores with critical words. Governor West Moore, who is opposed to the EO action, said about dismantling the Department of Education, “Leadership means lifting people up, not punching them down.”