Reparations Daily (ish) Vol. 7
Juneteenth Should Be a Day of Service
Happy Wednesday! It’s honestly surprising (and encouraging) to see how much news there is around this topic every other day.
We are still *close* to our goal of 100 email subscribers. Please keep sharing amongst your circles, particularly my D.C. folks who are in the think-tank world.
Here is some of what has happened since Monday:
The Senate approved a bill that would make Juneteenth a public holiday. I have mixed feelings about this which I get into in the Hot Takes section.
Mackenzie Scott gave away $2.7 billion to over 200 organizations, many of which are trying to close the wealth gap.
Amazon launched an accelerator program for Black-owned businesses that will provide financial assistance, business mentorship, and marketing and promotion to support Black entrepreneurs.
I highly recommend that you check out The NDN Collective’s new campaign, LANDBACK U, a “free, comprehensive, online learning platform to engage in political education and discussions on topics critical to the Indigenous movement to reclaim land and relationship to land.”
Texas became the latest state to ban teaching critical race theory in public schools, without, of course, defining what critical race theory is.
The predominantly white and relatively small town of Amherst, Massachusetts is considering creating a “reparations stabilization fund,” to hold surplus cash ($210,000 to be exact) that could be used for “making restitution to Black residents for past harms.” It will apparently be modeled after the Evanston, Illinois “reparations,” bill. I have some thoughts that I give in the Hot Take section.
Here’s Vol. 7 of Reparations Daily (ish)!
With radical love,
Trevor
National News
NPR:Senate Unanimously Approves A Bill To Make Juneteenth A Public Holiday
ABC News: MacKenzie Scott, citing wealth gap, donates $2.7 billion
NDN Collective: NDN COLLECTIVE LAUNCHES “LANDBACK U”: A CURRICULUM ON HOW TO JOIN THE FIGHT TO RETURN LAND TO INDIGENOUS HANDS
Forbes: Amazon Launches Black Business Accelerator With A $150 Million Commitment
Slate: Understanding the Horror of Slavery Is Impossible. But a Simple Cotton Sack Can Bring Us Closer.
Washington Post: Democrats seek to undo institutional racism embedded in pivotal New Deal law
NBC: Critical race theory battle invades school boards — with help from conservative groups
Washington Post: The Scholar Strategy: How ‘critical race theory’ alarms could convert racial anxiety into political energy
USA Today: Juneteenth 2021 celebrations: What to know about the holiday
The Hill: Black Democrats press leaders for reparations vote this month
Inside Higher Ed: Paying Reparations
ABC News: MacKenzie Scott, citing wealth gap, donates $2.7 billion
WBUR: Why Juneteenth Isn't Taught In Schools — And What That Means For Our Understanding Of Slavery
Mother Jones: Conservatives Are Hellbent On Attacking Critical Race Theory. They’re Whitewashing Structural Racism.
Regional News
Detroit Free Press: Detroit city council pushes ahead with reparations initiative
Times Union: How can Albany bridge its racial wealth gap? Residents, experts offer solutions
ABC 7: Evanston, Illinois, to begin paying reparations to some Black citizens this summer
Dallas News: Gov. Abbott signs ‘anti-critical race theory’ bill into law over objections from educators and civic groups
Daily Hampshire Gazette: Amherst panel backs new fund for reparations for Black residents
MSNBC: North Carolina plantation's Juneteenth event underscores South's historical whitewashing
Alabama Local News: Whitmire: Alabama lawmaker wants to ban critical race theory, so I asked him what it is
Hot Takes
NPR: Senate Unanimously Approves A Bill To Make Juneteenth A Public Holiday
Symbolic policies like making Juneteenth a public holiday are tricky to digest. There are some people who will say ‘this is not what we asked for,’ and there are some people, like me, who value the importance of these symbolic policies in pushing the conversation forward around racial justice in the United States.
Private employers are not mandated to give their employees these days off. I saw a tweet that spoke to the issue I’ve been grappling with since reading this news, which said “I can already envision a Black DoorDash or Amazon employee delivering packages to a white salaried nonprofit worker who has Juneteenth off.” This speaks to the dichotomy of who gets to enjoy these days off of work and what they are typically used for.
Leaders of organizations should view these as “anti-racist,” days, and take the opportunity to engage their full staff in activities that will build a more anti-racist organization. This could include volunteering at an organization that serves BIPOC communities, holding a staff-wide discussion on the history of Juneteenth, or dedicating the day to pro-bono work on behalf of a nonprofit.
One of the most racist things to have happened to me happened on MLK day. We cannot simply give Americans, particularly white Americans, another day off in honor of Black history when frankly we do not deserve it.
Daily Hampshire Gazette: Amherst panel backs new fund for reparations for Black residents
If Amherst truly wants to pay reparations to Black Americans, then it should not model its process after the one in Evanston. There are a few incorrect narratives with the Evanston story from my point of view. First, Evanston is not the first city to pay reparations, but yet that is the narrative that media continues to perpetuate. In 2015, the city of Chicago offered a formal apology and paid $5.5 million to 125 mostly Black people who were subject to police torture. Illinois is also not the first state to pay reparations to a specific group of people. After North Carolina sterilized over 7,000 between 1920-1970, the state agreed to pay $10 million to more than 177 living victims in the range of $50,000 each. Evanston also is mandating how these reparations must be used, with each recipient slated to receive $25,000 for down payments on homes.
A local group called 'Evanston Rejects Racist Reparations is calling for the city to stop calling the program reparations and simply call it a housing program and I’d have to agree. What is essentially a housing grant is being co-opted as a reparations package. If Amherst really wants to fund reparations or its Black residents and set aside a fund with surplus cash, then it should pay the recipients directly and give them the agency to decide how they would like to use their payment.