Audley Moore, known as Queen Mother Moore, was a radical Black nationalist, Pan-Africanist, and civil rights activist who was a leading figure in the fight for reparations. Photo credit: Schlesinger Library, RIAS, Harvard University.

By Olivia Vita

Black women have led the call for reparations since emancipation, but what are politicians, scholars, and activists saying about it today? By holding up the present moment against movement leaders of the past, it became clear to me, among other things, that politically-neutered personal appeals to non-Black, non-enslaved African descended audiences aren’t what we need.

Reparations Re-Enter the Public Political Lexicon

When the Democratic debates began to kick off over the summer, what stuck with me — besides the new possibility of my horrendous student debt being cancelled — was the months-long discussion on reparations. I knew that presidential candidates might simply use it in a “who’s-the-most-progressive” competition (remember Twitter’s response to the candidates speaking Spanish?), but the topic lingered in my mind.

So, what did the candidates that qualified for the October debate have to say about reparations? Julián Castro, Cory Booker, and Elizabeth Warren are in favor, while Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, and Joe Biden have yet to release clear, official statements — although Biden’s 1975-self voiced a resounding hell no. The remaining candidates — Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, and Andrew Yang — gave more of a “yes, but” or ”yes, and” kind of answer. Buttigieg stated he is in agreement with “some kind of accounting” for the institution of slavery, while Klobuchar advocated for strategic community investment and Yang favored the idea of conducting a nation-wide study, now underway. While it’s difficult to pinpoint where and when the very first campaign in favor of reparations for slavery originated, Black women scholars, workers, activists, and mothers have been on the scene in regards to visualizing and advocating for reparations from emancipation to present-day movements.

A Reparations Legacy Forged by Black Women

In the article, “The History of Black Women Championing Demands for Reparations,” Ana Lucia Araujo, a historian and professor at Howard University, gives us glimpses of the lives of a handful of Black women whose work helped build the foundation for the movement in favor of reparations. One of the more familiar names was Sojourner Truth. Truth “demanded reparations for slavery through land redistribution,” arguing that “slaves helped to build the nation’s wealth and therefore should be compensated.” There was also Callie House, who was “a widow and a mother of five children, who worked as a washerwoman, she saw many former slaves old, sick, and unable to work to maintain themselves. House became one of the leaders of the National Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty and Pension Association that gathered dozens of thousands of former slaves to press the US Congress to pass legislation to award pensions to freed people.”

Araujo also devotes considerable space sharing the life and generation-spanning impact of Audley Eloise Moore, the Marcus Garvey-influenced Black nationalist, Pan-Africanist, and civil rights activist.

Callie House was the leader of the of the National Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty and Pension Association. Photo Credit: Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

University of Texas at Austin Assistant Professor of History and African and African Diaspora Studies Ashley Farmer, has a forthcoming biography on the life and legacy of Moore, also known as Queen Mother. Louisiana-born Moore “came of age in the 1920s and ‘30s, ... soon realiz[ing] that the promises of equality, security and due process, backed by constitutional amendments, were nonetheless out of reach for most black Americans.” Moore organized petition drives for bills like H.R. 40, the bill up for debate in the most recent congressional hearing on reparations whose author, former Representative John Conyers, passed away just last week (read more about Conyers in Politico’s post-mortem tribute here). The beginning of the legislation itself states that its purpose is “[t]o address the fundamental injustice … of slavery in the United States … and to establish a commission to study and consider a national apology and proposal for reparations for the institution [and legacy] of slavery.”

While a formal apology has been issued, we have yet to see significant action on the part of the federal government to rectify the wrongs inflicted upon and repay the debt owed to Black Americans. Reconstruction was eclipsed by an era of white supremacist terrorism, and Lincoln’s Special Order 15 (commonly known as “40-acres-and-a-mule”) that would redistribute land to formerly enslaved people to live off of was canceled by President Johnson who came into office after Lincoln’s assassination.

Dr. Farmer notes in an article for The Washington Post that “[i]f House created the reparations movement, Moore modernized and popularized it.” Over the course of her lifetime, Moore founded and organized with multiple organizations including the National Emancipation Proclamation Centennial Observance Committee; Reparations Committee, Inc. and the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA). Transcending socio-economic barriers, Moore facilitated contact, cooperation, and collaboration between academics, grassroots organizers, politicians, and working people on behalf of reparations. Of Moore’s legacy on reparations, Farmer writes:

“While the Kennedy administration was resistant to reparations, Moore’s ideas about repayment gained traction with black-power activists in the 1960s. Many of the era’s organizers identify Moore as a key figure in shaping Malcom X’s position on reparations. She was also a mentor to other activists in groups such as the Black Panther Party and Revolutionary Action Movement, both of which embedded a call for reparations in their organizational architecture.”

Moore’s writings on reparations detailed plans similar to the 40-acres-and-a-mule model as well as examples of successful reparations initiatives in other countries. Reparations for Moore were about offering Black Americans “an entry into the American economy” through autonomy on the part of the descendants of enslaved Africans to do what they choose with a predetermined amount of money paid by the government.

Putting the Soundbites Back into Context

While Black women have historically led the fight for reparations, others such as the late Black Studies and Political Science Professor Cedric Robinson have provided written analyses that allow for political work done to be placed into a broader historical and international context. Robinson in his magnum opus Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition gave us the historiography of the Black radical left that the world has long searched for, whether we knew we were searching or not. Building off of W.E.B. Du Bois’ and C.L.R. James’ seminal works on African Diasporic experiences, Robinson situates the contemporary U.S. economy in its proper context: as the successor of Western European feudalism. Feudalism (yes — as in, lords and serfs) set the precedent for both the modes and relations of production present in capitalist society today: a small ruling class containing the majority of society’s wealth and the majority class providing the labor which builds said society. Cut to 2019: the manufacturing industry is one of the largest parts of the US economy today, employing more than 12 million workers.

Allow me to explain. The manufacturing industry includes all the raw materials and work required to transform those raw materials into marketable products. Today, how are we fulfilling the demands of such an industry? The work of imprisoned people and immigrants, not to mention the workers abroad employed via corporate outsourcing and the domestic working class. It sounded right, but upon seeing the numbers for myself, I was awestruck. In 2017, the Economist published an article on the “billion-dollar industry” of prison labor, stating:

Most convicted inmates either work for nothing or for pennies at menial tasks that seem unlikely to boost their job prospects. At the federal level, the Bureau of Prisons operates a program known as Federal Prison Industries that pays inmates roughly $0.90 an hour to produce everything from mattresses, spectacles, road signs and body armor for other government agencies, earning $500 million in sales in fiscal 2016.

“However, when the topic of reparations made its way to Congress this summer, these statistics which demonstrate the role of cheap and/or free labor today as a pillar of the US and global economy were absent from the formal hearing on reparations with statistics on the subpar standard of living afforded to Black citizens of the United States in their place.”

As it has become jarringly clear over the past nearly four years, the Trump administration is determined to leave nothing untouched and prison labor has proved to be no exception. Obama-era initiatives “to phase out federal contracting with private prison companies” were cancelled by then-attorney general Jeff Sessions. Federal prisons are currently conducting business under the name “UNICOR,” with its administrators referring to its facilities openly as “factories with fences.” From Georgetown to Stanford, students have been organizing and writing tirelessly to end university participation in the private prison industry.

The second source of manufacturing (and general economic) man-power I mentioned was that of immigrant labor. The Bureau of Labor Statistics 2018 report on foreign-born labor found that “there were 28.2 million foreign-born persons in the U.S. labor force, comprising 17.4 percent of the total.” While foreign-born men were more likely to participate in the labor force than native-born men (77.9% to 67.3% respectively), and foreign-born women only slightly behind native-born women (54.3% to 57.6%), the median weekly earnings of foreign-born full-time workers were $758 compared to $910 for their native-born counterparts. However, when the topic of reparations made its way to Congress this summer, these statistics which demonstrate the role of cheap and/or free labor today as a pillar of the US and global economy were absent from the formal hearing on reparations with statistics on the subpar standard of living afforded to Black citizens of the United States in their place.

The Conversation among Contemporary Policymakers, Scholars, and Media Outlets

This past June, you might’ve heard that Congress held a hearing on Conyers’ HR 40 bill. The gathering was sponsored by Sheila Jackson Lee (Democratic Representative from Texas) as the first step in the larger process of institutionalizing change geared toward reckoning with the modern-day legacies of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The hearing consisted of presentations by panelists who presented for and against reparations such as Ta-Nehisi Coates, Danny Glover, and Dr. Julianne Malveaux before not only Congresspeople but artists, athletes, students, and religious leaders as well. What stood out to me most were the key comments made by Dr. Malveaux that kept the conversation on track when she could get a word in edgewise.

Dr. Malveaux is an economist, author, and National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC) member who frequently provides commentary on CNN, ABC, Fox News, C-SPAN, BET, and other prolific media networks. [1] The first point that bears repeating is the widening wealth gap in the United States between Black and white citizens of which she gives examples. The second point is the need to leave behind the “kumbaya” and focus on “the economic underpinnings” of unequal quality of life for US citizens shaped by racial discrimination. Acclaimed author Coates gave a brief statement in favor of reparations at the hearing five years after writing the op-ed that helped re-catalyze intra-communal and national conversations.

New York Times writer and creator of The 1619 Project, Nikole Hannah-Jones. Photo Credit: Associação Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo.

The first point Coates hit on was that it is ridiculous to imagine modern-day America as divorced from the founding fathers, so why would it be divorced from the legacy of slavery? With the Constitution having been written with the target audience being white, Christian, able-bodied, land-owning, cis, heterosexual men, the notion makes perfect sense, which I believe was Coates’ point. The second was Coates outlining at length the cruelty suffered by enslaved Africans, connecting it to that of Black descendants today from “torture, rape, and child trafficking” to “harassment [and] jailing” respectively. The question is not of the quality of the appeal being made, but of how long we will find ourselves in situations where we are prompted to wait on validation from people, places, and institutions which have never afforded us that — let alone material compensation.

“The question is not of the quality of the appeal being made, but of how long we will find ourselves in situations where we are prompted to wait on validation from people, places, and institutions which have never afforded us that — let alone material compensation.”

Not long after the hearing, journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones released The 1619 Project through The New York Times. The project, a collection of stories that covers the legacy of slavery and race relations in America, was released in August for reading online and listening through Apple’s podcast platform. In the final two-part episode, “The Land of Our Fathers,” 1619 producers Adizah Eghan and Annie Brown travel to Louisiana to interview a family that has farmed sugarcane outside of New Orleans for generations. June Provost took over the farm after being taught by his father who fell ill with heart-related complications. The well-known and successful farm began to suffer when Provost had to find a new bank for a crop loan once their trusted bank stopped issuing them. The bank Provost found, and which he is now preparing to take to court, consistently provided the family with late and insufficient loans that set him back season after season and when he brought it to the USDA to inquire about the loan support they provide farmers, he learned that his claim joined a list of unprocessed claims submitted to the USDA Office of Civil Rights closed during the Reagan administration. [3]

Examples and Guidance from Students and Community Organizations

In a recent article by The New York Times, Adeel Hassan and Jack Healy give examples of instances when reparations have been enacted in the U.S. You might be surprised to know that the most recent instance was this past spring at Georgetown University. In a non-binding referendum, undergraduate students agreed to raise tuition by exactly $27.20 per student each semester “in order to benefit descendants of the 272 enslaved Africans that the Jesuits who ran the school sold in 1838.” Why the students rather than the institution(s) culpable are paying is another conversation, but I would like to take this as a sign that whether or not the people holding office make good on any promises made, university students and the larger generation coming up will. In my own experiences organizing, I have seen more than once the more systemically-privileged group in a collaborative project agree to take on financial responsibility in a sort of DIY-reparations spirit. The president of the university issued a formal response to the referendum and community pressure recently stating that university funds rather than a student fee will be used to compensate descendents of the 272.

In the 2019 Harvard Law Review piece “Abolition And Reparations: Histories of Resistance, Transformative Justice, And Accountability” by Black Lives Matter co-founder and Prescott College adjunct professor Patrisse Cullors, Cullors lays the foundation for what reparations and larger reparative justice initiatives might look like. Building off of the work of Angela Davis, Frantz Fanon, and Audre Lorde, she states that reparations for exploitative practices go hand in hand with abolition, “reminding folks in a series of personal vignettes what abolition is and which principles we should reference in our own abolitionist work.” The intimate stories she shares of family, friends, colleagues, and lovers demonstrate a blending of personal and political ethics in a way that strives to both protect the hurt and heal the ones doing the hurting. Cullors’ style of storytelling communicates the connection between interpersonal and socio-political reparative measures after harm has been inflicted without creating a strict separation of the enacter and the affected, nor does she offer up the wounds of the hurting in hopes of sparking change.

Clearer Boundaries, Broader Horizons

When conversing about reparations, it is essential to understand at the bare minimum that it is not “the past” which is up for discussion but the present which has been molded by past choices. While public discussions on the brutality of American enslavement are both valuable and necessary due to the lack of public education on the subject, the crucial elements missing from this current moment or discussion on reparations are not only Black women’s contributions to reparations but the broader historical context, economic theory, and initiatives that are already in existence which we can uplift and support. Lastly, our audience is crucial and we are in dire need of boundaries in regards to it.

“While public discussions on the brutality of American enslavement are both valuable and necessary due to the lack of public education on the subject, the crucial elements missing from this current moment or discussion on reparations are not only Black women’s contributions to reparations but the broader historical context, economic theory, and initiatives that are already in existence which we can uplift and support.”

To be moved by the suffering of enslaved Africans and their descendents is and should be natural. If it is not, learn and journal about it on your own time, as a professor of mine once instructed me when I began the journey of being an ally to a group I am not a part of. Empathy should not come at the expense of the one being empathized with, however seemingly innocuous. Whether in the form of offering up trauma in hopes of receiving justice or prolonged bureaucratic processes that allow people already struggling to essentially struggle on, I believe both are inappropriate. Any convening on reparations should not revolve around questions that begin with why. The question begins with “what” and ends with “can I/we do.”

At no point should the feelings or opinions of non-Black, non-enslaved African descendents come anywhere near the center of the conversation lest we run the risk of offering up intimate wounds for validation or humanization from people and places who have rarely if ever afforded it to those affected.

In order to move forward, we must leave behind narratives that seek to convince and take up the practice of strengthening our own networks of support. As our generation continues to read about, write about, work toward, search, advocate for, visualize, and institutionalize measures for reparative justice post-colonization, all we ever have to do is look back: look to the labor, activism, and theories of Black women and of Black people.. Most of what we need has already been done and said.

[1] Earlier, I mentioned NAARC, the National African American Reparations Commission. NAARC is a domestic organization established in April 2015 and is, “a group of distinguished professionals from across the country with outstanding accomplishments in the fields of law, medicine, journalism, academia, history, civil rights and social justice advocacy.” NAARC works in tandem with CARICOM, the Caribbean Community, headquartered in Georgetown, Guyana. CARICOM is an organization that unites citizens of countries across the Caribbean and South America under a mission of eradicating poverty, protecting the environment, and creating policy that centers the needs of the formerly enslaved population that today is a mix of African, European, Indigenous, and Asian heritage. A few examples of their work include coordinating effective responses to natural disasters regionally, advocating for renewable energy sources, and conducting research on human trafficking.

[2] Unfortunately, the Provost story is not the first one of a Black family being denied the right to land and as the saying goes, probably not the last.

You can follow Olivia Vita on Twitter at @onelildavid.

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