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2009 N'COBRA CONFERENCE
HISTORIC MEETING TO CELEBRATE FREEDOM, REPARATIONS, EQUALITY and RESPECT
Darwin Campbell
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DALLAS-Reparations is the topic of a historic gathering next month in Dallas as the National Coalition for Blacks for Reparations in America holds its 20th annual conference.
The conference is being held in conjunction with the Juneteenth Celebration and festivities and will take place from June 18th to 21st at the Mount Tabor Family Life Center at 3700 Simpson Stuart Rd in Dallas. (Across the street from Paul Quinn College– HBCU).
The theme for this year’s conference is FREEDOM – REPARATIONS – EQUALITY – RESPECT, which echoes the battle cry of generations of Africans who were subjected to the longest running crime against humanity in the history of mankind.
“We feel this theme is motivating and will energize the movement,” said James Rodgers, head of the Dallas N'COBRA Chapter. “It is this kind of educational experience that not only will revitalize a people, but also prepare us, encourage us and renew us as we move forward.”
According to Rodgers, sessions will examine the full dimensions of the reparations movement for the purpose of fashioning new strategies to help move this nation toward a reparations settlement.
One important aspect of the conference will be reaching out to the youth and the addition of Sankofa experience in conjunction with the conference.
“The youth are the future of this effort and our goal is to get them involved and prepare and ready them for leadership roles,” he said. “Sankofa will be an asset as it will present the all important message and value of freedom and communicate how important it is for us to be involved and continue N'COBRA's efforts.”
N'COBRA is a mass-based coalition organized for the sole purpose of obtaining reparations for African descendants in the United States.
It was founded on September 26, 1987, and was convened for the purpose of broadening the base of support for the long-standing reparations movement.
Organizational founders of N'COBRA include the National Conference of Black Lawyers, the New Afrikan Peoples Organization, and the Republic of New Afrika. N’COBRA also has individual members and organizational affiliates and chapters throughout the U. S. and in Ghana and London.
Reparations is a process of repairing, healing and restoring a people injured because of their group identity and in violation of their fundamental human rights by governments or corporations.
Those groups that have been injured have the right to obtain from the government or corporation responsible for the injuries that which they need to repair and heal themselves. In addition to being a demand for justice, it is a principle of international human rights law.
As a remedy, it is similar to the remedy for damages in domestic law that holds a person responsible for injuries suffered by another when the infliction of the injury violates domestic law.
Examples of groups that have obtained reparations include Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust, Japanese Americans interned in concentration camps in the United States during WWII, Alaska Natives for land, labor, and resources taken, victims of the massacre in Rosewood, Florida and their descendants, Native Americans as a remedy for violations of treaty rights, and political dissenters in Argentina and their descendants.
Why Are African Descendants Entitled to Reparations
The Trans-Atlantic Slave "Trade" and chattel slavery, more appropriately called the Holocaust of Enslavement or Maafa, was a crime against humanity. Millions of Africans were brutalized, murdered, raped and tortured. They were torn from their families in Africa, kidnapped and lost family and community associations.
African peoples in the United States and the prior colonies were denied the right to maintain their language, spiritual practices and normal family relations, always under the threat of being torn from newly created families at the whim of the "slave owner."
Chattel slavery lasted officially from 1619 to 1865. It was followed by 100 years of government led and supported denial of equal and humane treatment including Black Codes, convict lease, sharecropping, peonage, and Jim Crow practices of separate and unequal accommodations. African descendants continue to be denied rights of self-determination, inheritance, and full participation in the United States government and society.
The laws and practices in the United States continue to treat African peoples in a manner similar to slavery - maintaining dual systems in virtually every area of life including punishment, health care, education and wealth, maintaining the myths of White superiority and African and African descendants’ inferiority.
Who Must Make Reparations
N'COBRA seeks reparations at this time from two groups: governments and corporations.
There are individuals, families, and religious institutions that directly benefited from slavery in the United States, and who, if acting in good faith, would contribute to reparations funds for use in assisting in the reparations process.
However, N'COBRA focuses on government and corporations because of their particular role in the horrific tragedies of chattel slavery and the continuing vestiges of slavery we live with today.
In addition, the organization recognizes that all White people to some extent have benefited from slavery and the underlying lie of White Supremacy that allowed it to exist for two and one-half centuries in the United States.
This lie has led to what is commonly called "white skin privilege" and results in significant benefits to White people. The process of reparations would include creating ways to change the culture of "white skin privilege" that was created to sustain chattel slavery and its continuing vestiges.
Reparations can be in as many forms as necessary to equitably address the many forms of injury caused by chattel slavery and its continuing vestiges. The material forms of reparations include cash payments, land, economic development, and repatriation resources particularly to those who are descendants of enslaved Africans.
Conference activities will include:
June 18 - Youth Leadership Summit: designed to educate, energize, and activate hundreds of youth ranging from the ages of 18 to 29 from around the country to take a leadership role in the Black Reparations Movement. Professional educators, hip hop artist, and veteran Reparation Activist will be on hand to guide and direct youths on ways to better utilize their skills and talents to help move the Reparations Movement to new heights.
June 19 - Opening Plenary: Call to Conference and introduction of National Co Chairs by Southwest Regional Representative. National Co Chairs will welcome everyone to the conference and give an overview of the conference. National Co Chair will also introduce Sankofa Scholarship recipients. Next, the Honorary Co-Chairs selected for this conference will rally and energize conference attendees setting the tone for the conference. In addition to the Co Chairs remarks we will hear a brief review of the Pre Conference Youth Summit.
- Sankofa Experience: The Sankofa Experience is a unique reenactment of the enslavement process that takes place on farmland owned by the descendants of freed enslaved Africans who settled in the Dallas area.
It starts with the kidnapping of participants from a replica of an African village. At that point the captives are chained together and marched through the Door of No Return to be hurled into the bowels of a mock slave ship. Simulating the infamous Middle Passage voyage, they are tightly packed inside the ship while being battered at the hands of the slave ship captain and crew.
Following the slave ship experiences participants are then lead to the Auction Blocks were they are sold individually to the highest bidder.
Next they are taken to a mock cotton field were they are made to pick cotton until such time they are helped to escaped. Subsequently, they are lead by way of the Underground Railroad through a dense wooded area back to the African village, were they are welcomed home by jubilant villagers.
This experience is design to shock participants by giving them a glimpse of what our ancestor had to endure during the process of enslavement, thereby concretizing their willingness to work toward achieving reparations.
Sankofa is a West African term that means go back and fetch it.
- Town Hall Meeting: A discussion of the Five Injury Areas identified by the N’COBRA Legal Strategies Commission as the most prevalent vestiges of slavery in today’s society which include, Criminal Punishment, Education, Poverty, Health Care, Peoplehood / Nationhood.
We will hear for experts in various professions of social and political life as well as from victims who have suffered with the consequences of these remnants of slavery. June 20 -
-Organizational Training: Instructions will be presented to conference goers on the most effective and efficient methods to organize our community for the push for reparations, including utilization of modern technology. Instructions on Lobbying, Community Organizing, Fund Raising, and Chapter Development are a few of the presentations that will be discussed and documented during this session. Legacy of the Reparation Struggle: Upon freeing themselves from centuries of chattel slavery our ancestors immediately began the struggle to be compensated and to assert their right to self-determination, racial equality, and human dignity in their lifetime, and for the benefit of generations to come.
- Action Planning: Here N’COBRA’S nine commissions and standing committees can take the lessoned learned during the Legacy of the Reparation Struggle session to designed new national initiatives that can be implemented .by N’COBRA’S regions, chapters, and organizational members, after the conference. Each commission will be given space and time to make known its mission, recruit new members, and begin the process of carrying out a new action plan designed to educate, organize, and create the environment nationally to win reparations.
- Commemoration of Juneteenth – Freedom Day!: June 19th 1865 isrecognized as the oldest celebration of the end of chattel slavery in America. Join us for our fund raising dinner as we pay homage to our ancestors and award contemporary freedom fighters of our quest for total freedom, justice and equality. The celebration of Juneteenth is a recognized by the State of Texas as an official holiday and is an honored tradition by Africans descendants in Texas, the nation, and the world.
June 21
-Closing Ceremonies: will include presentation of the Reparations Shrine, which is an African symbolic piece representing the many battles fought, the many lives lost, known and unknown, and the commitment of the present generation to stay on the battle field until the final victory is won. In addition to the Shrine, there we will be an opportunity and privilege to take part in some old time religion (Church) presided over by a well known, local activist, minister of the United Methodist Church.
The conference is being held in conjunction with the Juneteenth Celebration and festivities and will take place from June 18th to 21st at the Mount Tabor Family Life Center at 3700 Simpson Stuart Rd in Dallas. (Across the street from Paul Quinn College– HBCU).
The theme for this year’s conference is FREEDOM – REPARATIONS – EQUALITY – RESPECT, which echoes the battle cry of generations of Africans who were subjected to the longest running crime against humanity in the history of mankind.
“We feel this theme is motivating and will energize the movement,” said James Rodgers, head of the Dallas N'COBRA Chapter. “It is this kind of educational experience that not only will revitalize a people, but also prepare us, encourage us and renew us as we move forward.”
According to Rodgers, sessions will examine the full dimensions of the reparations movement for the purpose of fashioning new strategies to help move this nation toward a reparations settlement.
One important aspect of the conference will be reaching out to the youth and the addition of Sankofa experience in conjunction with the conference.
“The youth are the future of this effort and our goal is to get them involved and prepare and ready them for leadership roles,” he said. “Sankofa will be an asset as it will present the all important message and value of freedom and communicate how important it is for us to be involved and continue N'COBRA's efforts.”
N'COBRA is a mass-based coalition organized for the sole purpose of obtaining reparations for African descendants in the United States.
It was founded on September 26, 1987, and was convened for the purpose of broadening the base of support for the long-standing reparations movement.
Organizational founders of N'COBRA include the National Conference of Black Lawyers, the New Afrikan Peoples Organization, and the Republic of New Afrika. N’COBRA also has individual members and organizational affiliates and chapters throughout the U. S. and in Ghana and London.
Reparations is a process of repairing, healing and restoring a people injured because of their group identity and in violation of their fundamental human rights by governments or corporations.
Those groups that have been injured have the right to obtain from the government or corporation responsible for the injuries that which they need to repair and heal themselves. In addition to being a demand for justice, it is a principle of international human rights law.
As a remedy, it is similar to the remedy for damages in domestic law that holds a person responsible for injuries suffered by another when the infliction of the injury violates domestic law.
Examples of groups that have obtained reparations include Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust, Japanese Americans interned in concentration camps in the United States during WWII, Alaska Natives for land, labor, and resources taken, victims of the massacre in Rosewood, Florida and their descendants, Native Americans as a remedy for violations of treaty rights, and political dissenters in Argentina and their descendants.
Why Are African Descendants Entitled to Reparations
The Trans-Atlantic Slave "Trade" and chattel slavery, more appropriately called the Holocaust of Enslavement or Maafa, was a crime against humanity. Millions of Africans were brutalized, murdered, raped and tortured. They were torn from their families in Africa, kidnapped and lost family and community associations.
African peoples in the United States and the prior colonies were denied the right to maintain their language, spiritual practices and normal family relations, always under the threat of being torn from newly created families at the whim of the "slave owner."
Chattel slavery lasted officially from 1619 to 1865. It was followed by 100 years of government led and supported denial of equal and humane treatment including Black Codes, convict lease, sharecropping, peonage, and Jim Crow practices of separate and unequal accommodations. African descendants continue to be denied rights of self-determination, inheritance, and full participation in the United States government and society.
The laws and practices in the United States continue to treat African peoples in a manner similar to slavery - maintaining dual systems in virtually every area of life including punishment, health care, education and wealth, maintaining the myths of White superiority and African and African descendants’ inferiority.
Who Must Make Reparations
N'COBRA seeks reparations at this time from two groups: governments and corporations.
There are individuals, families, and religious institutions that directly benefited from slavery in the United States, and who, if acting in good faith, would contribute to reparations funds for use in assisting in the reparations process.
However, N'COBRA focuses on government and corporations because of their particular role in the horrific tragedies of chattel slavery and the continuing vestiges of slavery we live with today.
In addition, the organization recognizes that all White people to some extent have benefited from slavery and the underlying lie of White Supremacy that allowed it to exist for two and one-half centuries in the United States.
This lie has led to what is commonly called "white skin privilege" and results in significant benefits to White people. The process of reparations would include creating ways to change the culture of "white skin privilege" that was created to sustain chattel slavery and its continuing vestiges.
Reparations can be in as many forms as necessary to equitably address the many forms of injury caused by chattel slavery and its continuing vestiges. The material forms of reparations include cash payments, land, economic development, and repatriation resources particularly to those who are descendants of enslaved Africans.
Conference activities will include:
June 18 - Youth Leadership Summit: designed to educate, energize, and activate hundreds of youth ranging from the ages of 18 to 29 from around the country to take a leadership role in the Black Reparations Movement. Professional educators, hip hop artist, and veteran Reparation Activist will be on hand to guide and direct youths on ways to better utilize their skills and talents to help move the Reparations Movement to new heights.
June 19 - Opening Plenary: Call to Conference and introduction of National Co Chairs by Southwest Regional Representative. National Co Chairs will welcome everyone to the conference and give an overview of the conference. National Co Chair will also introduce Sankofa Scholarship recipients. Next, the Honorary Co-Chairs selected for this conference will rally and energize conference attendees setting the tone for the conference. In addition to the Co Chairs remarks we will hear a brief review of the Pre Conference Youth Summit.
- Sankofa Experience: The Sankofa Experience is a unique reenactment of the enslavement process that takes place on farmland owned by the descendants of freed enslaved Africans who settled in the Dallas area.
It starts with the kidnapping of participants from a replica of an African village. At that point the captives are chained together and marched through the Door of No Return to be hurled into the bowels of a mock slave ship. Simulating the infamous Middle Passage voyage, they are tightly packed inside the ship while being battered at the hands of the slave ship captain and crew.
Following the slave ship experiences participants are then lead to the Auction Blocks were they are sold individually to the highest bidder.
Next they are taken to a mock cotton field were they are made to pick cotton until such time they are helped to escaped. Subsequently, they are lead by way of the Underground Railroad through a dense wooded area back to the African village, were they are welcomed home by jubilant villagers.
This experience is design to shock participants by giving them a glimpse of what our ancestor had to endure during the process of enslavement, thereby concretizing their willingness to work toward achieving reparations.
Sankofa is a West African term that means go back and fetch it.
- Town Hall Meeting: A discussion of the Five Injury Areas identified by the N’COBRA Legal Strategies Commission as the most prevalent vestiges of slavery in today’s society which include, Criminal Punishment, Education, Poverty, Health Care, Peoplehood / Nationhood.
We will hear for experts in various professions of social and political life as well as from victims who have suffered with the consequences of these remnants of slavery. June 20 -
-Organizational Training: Instructions will be presented to conference goers on the most effective and efficient methods to organize our community for the push for reparations, including utilization of modern technology. Instructions on Lobbying, Community Organizing, Fund Raising, and Chapter Development are a few of the presentations that will be discussed and documented during this session. Legacy of the Reparation Struggle: Upon freeing themselves from centuries of chattel slavery our ancestors immediately began the struggle to be compensated and to assert their right to self-determination, racial equality, and human dignity in their lifetime, and for the benefit of generations to come.
- Action Planning: Here N’COBRA’S nine commissions and standing committees can take the lessoned learned during the Legacy of the Reparation Struggle session to designed new national initiatives that can be implemented .by N’COBRA’S regions, chapters, and organizational members, after the conference. Each commission will be given space and time to make known its mission, recruit new members, and begin the process of carrying out a new action plan designed to educate, organize, and create the environment nationally to win reparations.
- Commemoration of Juneteenth – Freedom Day!: June 19th 1865 isrecognized as the oldest celebration of the end of chattel slavery in America. Join us for our fund raising dinner as we pay homage to our ancestors and award contemporary freedom fighters of our quest for total freedom, justice and equality. The celebration of Juneteenth is a recognized by the State of Texas as an official holiday and is an honored tradition by Africans descendants in Texas, the nation, and the world.
June 21
-Closing Ceremonies: will include presentation of the Reparations Shrine, which is an African symbolic piece representing the many battles fought, the many lives lost, known and unknown, and the commitment of the present generation to stay on the battle field until the final victory is won. In addition to the Shrine, there we will be an opportunity and privilege to take part in some old time religion (Church) presided over by a well known, local activist, minister of the United Methodist Church.