CHICAGO (FinalCall.com)�After spearheading a
series of powerful community forums in full support of the reparations
movement in America, Congressman Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.), along with the
National Coalition of Blacks for Reparation in America (N�COBRA) and the
National Commission on Reparations (NCR) will host "Reparations Outreach
Day", a community campaign to educate Blacks about the international
reparations agenda.
Rep. Davis told The Final Call that the road
to reparations should be the business of all people of African decent,
and he hopes the June 30 Reparations Outreach Day will re-enforce the
importance of Black involvement in the growing national and
international reparations movement.
Canvassers will go door-to-door from 10 a.m. to dusk
that day in Rep. Davis� district educating citizens about reparations,
organizers said.
During his latest reparations town hall meetings,
Rep. Davis said a recent study revealed that individuals who were
non-Black who lived in Chicago and the surrounding areas were more
supportive of the reparations than those who lived further away from the
city.
"Reparations education is vital because the goal is
to convince the American people that reparations are appropriate to try
and soften the impact of slavery and its aftermath on the quality of
life for Black people in America. There are some people who would never
go to a town hall meeting. Reparations Outreach Day is another serious
outreach effort to bring the information directly to the people," Rep.
Davis said.
The congressman said Reparations Outreach Day will
promote House Resolution 40 (H.R. 40), which was introduced in the U.S.
House of Representatives by Congressman John Conyers (D-Mich.). The
resolution would "acknowledge the fundamental injustice, cruelty,
brutality and inhumanity of slavery in the United States" and the 13
American colonies between 1619 and 1886, establish a commission to
examine the institution of slavery and economic discrimination against
Black Americans and make recommendations to the Congress on appropriate
remedies.
According to Baba Hannibal Afrik, N�COBRA is stepping
up the demands for reparations and, through educating the international
community, is positioning Blacks to receive reparations.
"We are working in conjunction with other reparations
groups across the country and internationally to make sure that we, the
descendants of enslaved Africans, who never received any form of
compensation for the 400 years of our sojourn, would one day obtain
their vision of independence, freedom and prosperity," Mr. Afrik said.
N�COBRA�s 20 chapters and more than 4,000 members
will champion their cause during its annual convention June 22-24 in
Baton Rouge, La., and is organizing a delegation to attend the United
Nations World Conference Against Racism to be held in Durban, South
Africa in Aug/Sept. N�COBRA will voice their support for the African
Nations Resolution that deems the trans-Atlantic slave trade a crime
against humanity, and that all European countries that have profited
from the trade must pay reparations to African nations.
While the United Nations is an independent arbitrator
for reparations through the Sub-Commission on Human Rights, whose main
goal is to ensure the implementation of the rights of minorities, many
reparations activists believe that educating Black communities through
America and abroad through initiatives like "Reparations Outreach Day",
is the most effective way to bring about the reality of compensation for
people of African decent.
