'Millions' of Blacks to Rally in DC for Reparations

CNSNEWS.com ^ | 6/19/02 | Michael L. Betsch

[kattracks]

(CNSNews.com) - Promising that it will be one of the "most historic gatherings of African people in America," organizers of the Millions for Reparations Rally are demanding monetary compensation from the United States government and its citizens. The theme of the rally is: "They owe us!"

Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, founder and president of the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (BOND), and a critic of the rally, said, "If that many people have enough money to go to D.C. to march, then they don't need reparations."

The Aug. 17 event will take place in Washington, D.C. on the 115th birthday of the late civil rights leader Marcus Garvey. But Peterson said Garvey was an outspoken advocate of post-slavery self-repair for black people in America and would not support the idea of modern day reparations.

The Durban 400 and National Black United Front (NBUF), the lead organizers of the rally, claim their event is "simply an attempt to repair, to make whole, the descendants of the victims of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade."

At the urging of the Durban 400 and other groups, the United Nations' 2001 World Conference Against Racism declared the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade and the pre-Civil War slavery in the United States crimes against humanity.

NBUF National Chairman Dr. Conrad W. Worrill recently urged concerned "African people in America" to review and add to a list of nearly twenty atrocities that, according to Worrill, "they owe us for."

Among the atrocities on the list are the "Raping of African Women," "KKK Night Riders and Lynchings," "Mental Atrocities," the "Crack Epidemic," and "the 13th and 14th Constitutional Amendments."

According to Worrill, "The abolishment of slavery was really a constitutional scam and the 14th Amendment that allegedly made African people citizens of America was imposed on us. We were never asked if we wanted to be citizens."

But David Almasi, spokesman for the black conservative group Project 21, said those seeking reparations forget the benefits of living in America.

"What about the fact that now you're in America, the land of opportunity as opposed to being in Africa with malaria, dictators and things like that," Almasi said.

According to Peterson, "These organizations that are supporting this so-called Millions for Reparations are anti-American organizations anyway. They're communist/socialist organizations."

Peterson added that "so-called civil rights leaders" like Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the NAACP, the Congressional Black Caucus and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan have encouraged a culture of dependency among African Americans instead of self-reliance.

Peterson said he especially wants to encourage white Americans to protest those calling for reparations and "not have the fear of being called a racist" for doing so. However, he said, "As long as you give into these people, there is no stopping them. There is no end to their destruction if we don't stand up to them with truth."

The "truth," Peterson said, is that reparations are "a bad idea in that it is divisive, it is racist, and it's another form of using black Americans to gain power and wealth."

E-mail a news tip to Michael L. Betsch.

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[Autie]

I would prefer them to go back to Africa and demand money from the governments which allowed their ancestors to sell them to the slave trade during that period. Unfortunately, those governments or countries no longer exist. But, America does and always will exist because of the millions of men and women.....white, black and yellow who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that these few can rally in Washington asking for something they have always had. I am not absconding the good blacks who have strived to better their lives through education which is available to all, but to the ones who take advantage of every freebie all Americans are taxed for and given to them. My ancestors were driven from Ireland during the 1800's and I for one am thankful of the outcome. I was able to serve my country in Vietnam (regardless of the sentiment at the time), but felt the honor in doing so because of what this country means to me. I believe if these millions of blacks were to leave this country and rally for reparations against say Iraq, they would find their heads distached from their necks. God Bless America!

[Movemout]

Race war, indeed. Sometimes I think some folks are just aching for one. I get sick of thuggery and the slouching towards Gommorah just like everyone else. Reparations seems to be a convenient fuse to ignite the explosives that are just below the surface of middle class Americans everywhere. I don't care to see one American, black or white, injured because of this tilting at windmills. I am simply pointing out that black people are no more monolithic than white people. Take it for what it is worth.

[backhoe]

The Democrats have been fishing for the killer issue for the fall elections. Unfortunately, I think this may be it. I see the Republicans taking the wrong turn and supporting reparations

Sad to say, I'm inclined to agree.

[tomkat]

Think of it more as entertainment

that mean i can laugh and load at the same time ??

[Brownie74]

Ahhhh!! The smell of fresh one hundred dollar bills.

I wonder if I can claim reparations for for the thousands of people that died fighting to end slavery?

My family never owned slaves so leave me out of this!!

[goldstategop]

It'll be a carnival. They'll all holler at whitey and shake black power fists and disperse and head back home. It won't be any different the day after than it will be when they attended the rally. No one cares.

[GaltMeister]

If any reparations are paid beyond what has already been paid through the 'New Deal' and 'Great Society', I would demand that repatriation go along with accepting your reparations check. As an aside, the empty seats coming back could be filled with immigrants who truly desire freedom, and a chance to use their mind and ability achieve something. It would make us a better nation in the long run.

[Skooz]

Good point. Anyone here heard of the court case Zebley v Sullivan? You would be shocked.

[tomkat]

They should open up the prisons for a day--- that will increase attendance

how terribly insensitive of you !

[/sarcasm]

[IronJack]

Reparations are the wedge issue du jour for the socialists. They know it's wrong, they know it's unjustified, but they also know that they can gain momentum with it, and further inflame race hatreds that have shown signs of cooling.

Leave it to the Randall Robinson, Cornel West, Ron Dellums crowd to corrode public unity at a time we need it most. These maggots are as much our enemies as Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. And MORE of a threat to our way of life.

[tomkat]

... These maggots are as much our enemies as Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden

agreed

[Lightnin]

"What about the fact that now you're in America, the land of opportunity as opposed to being in Africa with malaria, dictators and things like that."

Not to mention...famine, aids epidemic, civil war, government corruption, depotism, genocide, pestilence, poverty, dependence on others, institutional corruption, commercial corruption, small pox epidemics and rampant racism.

In short most of southern Aftica is a stinking cesspool and I'm sure most of our black citizens would really love to become permanent residents of one of those garden spots.

[glock rocks]

[Destructor]

When you apply "Million Mom Math" that equates to just over 100,000 people.

[Seeking the truth]

Hey, IJ, you left out Je$$e Jack$son, Inc. - the ulitmate "Shakedown" corporation!

Je$$e Jack$son Reparations 0cents Stamps

[MrNeutron1962]

I have numerous ancestors who where rabid New England abolitionists. Many of whom I still bare the last name of. Quite a few of these people, to quote Lincoln, "Gave the last full measure of devotion" to the anti-slavery cause. Granted that these were all people that lived and died 100 years before I was born; but, we are talking about historic "injustice" here so isn’t it fitting that we also consider historic efforts to redress this injustice.

So, my question is, do I get a break on my reparations charge for services rendered by these dead New England abolitionists? By the way, I can provide absolute proof that many of these people were on record as fighting, not to preserve the Union, but to abolish slavery. A certain young Massachusetts lad often referred to as "The Boy General" to name one of many comes to mind. So, do I get a break, as I’m sure none of my ancestors owned slaves. In fact on the distaff side, there is at least a chance that my ancestors were at one time bound by indentured servitude in England in the 1600s before coming to America.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Tiger Woods certainly deserves reparations. He has been enslaved by white oppression in America which can only be repared by a check from the US Treasury. /bs

[Chad Fairbanks]

I wonder if we could get a million people of all colors and walks of life for a 'Millions Against Reparations' march on the same day? Wouldn't THAT be interesting... ;0)

[iconoclast]

Whadayuh 'spose they'll call this little gathering, "THE MILLION BEGGAR MARCH? What the he!! happened to Black Pride?