To: President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
WHAT IF AFRICAN AMERICANS WERE GIVEN THEIR REPARATIONS?
Africans and African Americans were enslaved for a total of 244 years between the years of 1619-1863 (The Emancipation Proclamation) in which multiple generations of Black People toiled for their task masters without ever experiencing their God given freedom; subsequently African Americans survived without enjoying the freedoms and rights guaranteed to others while suffering racism, degradation and violence for another 101 years until the signing of the Civil Rights ACT of 1964 by then President Lyndon B. Johnson (Classification 173: Civil Rights Act of 1964). I am creating this petition to ensure that those African Americans and their descendants are able to receive their much deserved reparations and enjoy the intended result of those benefits that were guaranteed to other ethnic groups that were treated unfairly by our society and political structure, that were openly offered and never given to those slaves that received their freedom after a lifetime of servitude.
Why is this important?
There are many low and impoverished families who cannot support themselves in our current economy. These disenfranchised members of our society consist of households who are headed by single women fighting for a future that often is perceived as distant and bleak. Among these scores of impoverished citizens the most affected is the African American demographic. In our country African Americans consist of 13.1% of the total U.S. population (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2012), yet this group accounts for only 2.7% of the total wealth (Collins, 2014).
I am an African American philanthropist living in San Bernardino California. I have ran a nonprofit business of which I have poured all of my money and time into for the sake of helping the community that I belong to for over 29 years. I have lived in the city of San Bernardino, California for over 56 years and have seen this city’s decent into impoverishment over the past few years. Recently, there was an article written in the San Bernardino Sun Newspaper explaining the reasons for the recent Bankruptcy that the city suffered and its cause; one of these causes was the closing of Norton Air force Base in 1994 (Hagen, 2014). The closing of this base affected the economy greatly, including many of the businesses that were owned by African Americans. Recently the economy has become so bad that much of the new business has been catered to the presence of government assistance. There are currently families living in shelters that have absolutely no assistance, or a means of transportation. The city of San Bernardino knows this and has done nothing to help correct this problem. As an employer in this city and founder of a currently running nonprofit organization I have seen this city employ obvious racially motivated decision making regarding grant funding and related services offered to nonprofit organizations within this city. One such incident was expressed by the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) that offers city funded grants to nonprofit 501(c)3 organizations throughout the city, both my organization and another organization focused on serving displaced minority women within the city were purposely ranked low on the scoring list to ensure that neither of these organizations receive funds. To our surprise this scoring was implemented without an explanation of the scoring system or reason as to why funding was denied based on this scoring. All of this shows proof that while African Americans are granted rights in this country, racially motivated decision making and prejudice contribute to the overall plight that is currently affecting the African American population.
As a highly contributing group of people within the total population of the United States I believe that African Americans are due the respect that has been denied them. As a people we have suffered the loss of multiple generations of contributing citizens through the genocide of slavery, we have suffered countless losses through the defense of this country by those service members to gave their all for the sake of a country who is currently in a struggle to maintain the voting rights that these honorable service members fought and died for. I have detailed all of my own experiences relating to the occurrences expressed in this text in an autobiography titled “I Give Honor First to God, You Can’t Hurry God”. This is my own story of the experiences that I have had of a lifetime of struggle as an African American citizen in the United States (Hargrave, 2013).
I believe that the evils that have been experienced by the African American community are evils that don’t have to continue. Prejudice has been the primary cause of the glass ceiling that has been imposed upon the African American Community. For this reason I believe that reparations must be paid to account for the staggering loss that has victimized the black communities throughout this country. Segregation, malice, violence, degradation, malevolent opportunism and bigotry are the causes of the inability of total forward progression by African Americans, at the benefit of a country that we have loved which was never truly reciprocated the love that it has received. With all of this being said, a healing process can be started, that healing process must begin with the acknowledgement of our country’s treatment of a very precious commodity. A good start would be the dispersing of reparations.
Bibliography
Classification 173: Civil Rights Act of 1964. (n.d.). Retrieved from The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration : http://www.archives.gov/research/investigations/fbi/classifications/173-civil-rights.html
Collins, C. (2014, January 17). Wealth of 400 Billionaires = Wealth of All 41 Million African-Americans. Retrieved from http://inequality.org/: http://inequality.org/wealth-400-billionaires-wealth-41-million-africanamericans/
Hagen, R. (2014, March 22). Norton Air Force base marks 20 years since closure. Retrieved from The Sun: http://www.sbsun.com/business/20140322/norton-air-force-base-marks-20-years-since-closure
Hargrave, L. (2013). I Give Honor First to God, You Can't Hurry God. Bloomington: Balboa Press.
The Emancipation Proclamation. (n.d.). Retrieved from National Archives and Records Administration: http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation/
U.S. Department of Commerce. (2012). Retrieved from United States Cencus Bureau: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html
I am an African American philanthropist living in San Bernardino California. I have ran a nonprofit business of which I have poured all of my money and time into for the sake of helping the community that I belong to for over 29 years. I have lived in the city of San Bernardino, California for over 56 years and have seen this city’s decent into impoverishment over the past few years. Recently, there was an article written in the San Bernardino Sun Newspaper explaining the reasons for the recent Bankruptcy that the city suffered and its cause; one of these causes was the closing of Norton Air force Base in 1994 (Hagen, 2014). The closing of this base affected the economy greatly, including many of the businesses that were owned by African Americans. Recently the economy has become so bad that much of the new business has been catered to the presence of government assistance. There are currently families living in shelters that have absolutely no assistance, or a means of transportation. The city of San Bernardino knows this and has done nothing to help correct this problem. As an employer in this city and founder of a currently running nonprofit organization I have seen this city employ obvious racially motivated decision making regarding grant funding and related services offered to nonprofit organizations within this city. One such incident was expressed by the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) that offers city funded grants to nonprofit 501(c)3 organizations throughout the city, both my organization and another organization focused on serving displaced minority women within the city were purposely ranked low on the scoring list to ensure that neither of these organizations receive funds. To our surprise this scoring was implemented without an explanation of the scoring system or reason as to why funding was denied based on this scoring. All of this shows proof that while African Americans are granted rights in this country, racially motivated decision making and prejudice contribute to the overall plight that is currently affecting the African American population.
As a highly contributing group of people within the total population of the United States I believe that African Americans are due the respect that has been denied them. As a people we have suffered the loss of multiple generations of contributing citizens through the genocide of slavery, we have suffered countless losses through the defense of this country by those service members to gave their all for the sake of a country who is currently in a struggle to maintain the voting rights that these honorable service members fought and died for. I have detailed all of my own experiences relating to the occurrences expressed in this text in an autobiography titled “I Give Honor First to God, You Can’t Hurry God”. This is my own story of the experiences that I have had of a lifetime of struggle as an African American citizen in the United States (Hargrave, 2013).
I believe that the evils that have been experienced by the African American community are evils that don’t have to continue. Prejudice has been the primary cause of the glass ceiling that has been imposed upon the African American Community. For this reason I believe that reparations must be paid to account for the staggering loss that has victimized the black communities throughout this country. Segregation, malice, violence, degradation, malevolent opportunism and bigotry are the causes of the inability of total forward progression by African Americans, at the benefit of a country that we have loved which was never truly reciprocated the love that it has received. With all of this being said, a healing process can be started, that healing process must begin with the acknowledgement of our country’s treatment of a very precious commodity. A good start would be the dispersing of reparations.
Bibliography
Classification 173: Civil Rights Act of 1964. (n.d.). Retrieved from The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration : http://www.archives.gov/research/investigations/fbi/classifications/173-civil-rights.html
Collins, C. (2014, January 17). Wealth of 400 Billionaires = Wealth of All 41 Million African-Americans. Retrieved from http://inequality.org/: http://inequality.org/wealth-400-billionaires-wealth-41-million-africanamericans/
Hagen, R. (2014, March 22). Norton Air Force base marks 20 years since closure. Retrieved from The Sun: http://www.sbsun.com/business/20140322/norton-air-force-base-marks-20-years-since-closure
Hargrave, L. (2013). I Give Honor First to God, You Can't Hurry God. Bloomington: Balboa Press.
The Emancipation Proclamation. (n.d.). Retrieved from National Archives and Records Administration: http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation/
U.S. Department of Commerce. (2012). Retrieved from United States Cencus Bureau: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html