Hello faithful Reader,
As always, I hope this letter finds you well and in good spirits. I am well. This month I'm sharing my thoughts on the concept of loving crumbs when you should desire the whole plate. In the news today, the things being called victories when you factor in:
The years of legal enslavement of black people.
Generational wealth the slave owners acquired.
The fact that the wealth passed down to the descendants of oppressors establishes current-day familial wealth, which puts the descendants at an advantage.
On January 1, 1863, Lincoln officially declared the Emancipation Proclamation. He instructed all union army to free their African slaves, but it was not until June 19, 1865, that African slaves in Galveston, Texas got the news of their freedom. That is where Juneteenth derived. Informed, conscious, and woke black people have always celebrated Juneteenth….and this year, black folk act like it's brand new.
Why are black people so pumped up and happy to be "given" a federal holiday that most already take off. It makes no sense at all.
The following is a list of paid U.S. reparations for wronged individuals. Will slavery be next?
1969: The Black Manifesto in Detroit demanded $500 million in reparations from predominantly white religious organizations for their role in prolonging slavery. The Episcopalian and Methodist churches raised nearly $215,000.
1971: $1 billion along with 44 million acres of land: Alaska Natives Land Settlement
1980:$81 million was paid Klamaths of Oregon
1985:$105 million was paid to the Sioux of South Dakota for confiscation land
1985 $12.3 million was paid to the Seminoles of Florida.
1985: $31 million was paid to the Chippewas of Wisconsin
1986: $32 million was paid to the Ottawas of Michigan
1988: $1.2 billion dollars paid to Japanese for confinement during World War II (The Civil Liberties Act was signed by President Ronald Reagan) in 1988.
1988 President Ronald Reagan also signed a bill providing $1.2 billion ($20,000 a person), $12,000 to 450 Aleuts for confinement during W.W. 11, and a $6.4 million trust fund created for their communities.
1994: The state of Florida authorized $2.1 million for the living survivors of a 1923 racial massacre that resulted in the destruction of the Black community in the town of Rosewood.
1998: President Clinton signed the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Study Site Act, which recognizes the raid by seven hundred U.S. soldiers on a Cheyenne village in 1864, killing mostly women and children. The act calls for the formation of a federally funded Historic Site at Sand Creek.
2014: $10 million was set aside by the state of North Carolina for reparations payments to survivors of the state's eugenics program, which by force sterilized over 7,000 individuals.
2015: A law awarding cash and college education (free) to 57 living survivors of police cruelty totaling $5.5 million was signed by the city of Chicago.
2016: Georgetown University confessed that the university benefited from the sale of slaves and offered reconciliation by offering preferred admission to any heirs of slaves who worked at the university and naming two buildings after African Americans.
2016: More than 30 states practiced forced sterilization. The state of Virginia is said to have awarded $25,000 to each survivor.
2017: Congressman John Conyers, D-Michigan, introduced a revised H.R. 40 bill, demanded that the House of Representatives study and develop reparations proposals for the African Americans Act.
2018: The Supreme Court ordered that the state of Washington make billions of dollars of repairs to roads that prevented salmon from reaching their spawning grounds.
2019: The U.S. House passed legislation that permitted same-sex couples to get approximately $67 million in tax refunds if they were married before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act in 2013.
With all the information about all the people who have received reparations, why should black people feel victorious because Juneteenth is now a federal holiday? Some say that the naming of the new federal holiday it is a victory because it is a yearly reminder to racist American's that slavery was abolished…. but …. was it?
The 13th Amendment is acknowledged for putting a stop to slavery, BUT it excluded those imprisoned for criminal activity. The only legal slaves in the United States are individuals who are incarcerated. Maybe that is the reason why Raleigh Police Department is running around framing people in trumped-up charges…. Slave catches gathering the slaves.
I say all this to say that we look foolish getting all excited about being "given" a federal holiday that we could have always taken if we wanted to when we have bigger fish to fry.
Until next time.
Always,
Robin Ess
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