Dear Mrs. Obama:
It is with highest homage and admiration to you that I write this letter. I am the Northeast Regional Representative, and Board Member, for the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America. The Reparations Movement, of which N’COBRA is a member, implores you to start a national dialogue on a reparations accord for Blacks in America. This national dialog must be firmly rooted in the historical context of the “trans-Atlantic slave trade, and the “holocaust” of African enslavement in the United States which is anchored in the destruction of life, culture, and human possibilities.
Our ancestors were terrorized by injustices codified in the Constitution of the United States by America’s founding fathers and carried out by religious organizations, corporations, and units of government. Left unchanged, This collaborative will continue in perpetuity impacting African-Americans’ capacity to develop all of their human possibilities if reparations are not paid for the damage done.
Chattel enslavement, and the de facto and de jure racism that have grown from it, was not that long ago as opponents of truth and justice would lead the voting public to believe. As a distinct people in America, African-Americans, with a pre-determined social, economic and political status, have been “free” for only 144 years (1865-2009). This also means that 100 years of our so-called freedom (1865-1965) were spent trying to repair ourselves and seeking recognition as humans.
Our ancestors were “freed” dead broke, without brick, bread, or thread, despite, the promises made, while the enslavers were compensated for the lost of their chattel. Still, today, 44 years later, even with the election of your husband as the President of the United States of America, African-Americans are still not fully recognized.
Therefore, a true national dialogue on a reparations accord for Blacks in America is appropriate within this founding context of America. Reparations are the cross-road solution to these historical injustices and our current undeveloped human capital. This past due debt, left unpaid, will forever contradict the U.S. Constitution you know so well, as well as the Holy Bible you held and where your husband placed his hand to take the Presidential Oath of Office.
Congress passed, and President Obama signed, a stimulus bill to save large financial institutions and corporate America, of which significant amounts were used to pay bonuses to the very corporate executives under whose watch the current economic crisis has deteriorated. Now is the time for Congress and the President to come up with a stimulus check to pay for the damage done to Blacks in America.
There is no statute of limitations for this moral and economic debt owed. This is why America should participate in the United Nations World Conference against Racism, Durban Review being held in Geneva Switzerland next month.
I ask that you remind the President, in the ways only you can, that he has the wherewithal to make real the God-given words of our beloved servant-leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Junior, spoken boldly in 1963, on the steps of our nation’s Capitol, in his “I Have a Dream” speech,
“So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Dr. King’s 1963 speech is indelible as truth is,
“It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.”
So I write this letter openly to remind the First Family that a reparations accord would stimulate America’s economy and give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. And I close this letter with the reminder of the “fierce urgency of now.” Dr. King said it this way,
“This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism...Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.”
Thank you for your fidelity. It is with my fervent faith that I trust you will realize that God brought you to the White House, as First Lady, for such a time as this, to help with, amongst other things, the dialogue on a reparations accord and support for House Bill H.R. 40, sponsored by the Honorable Congressman John Conyers, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
For our ancestors and our descendents,
Minister Ari S. Merretazon, M.S.CED
Northeast Regional Representative
Board Member, N’COBRA
www.ncobraphiladelphia.org
215-850-1699
1 comment:
An Open Letter to NCOBRA
To: Minister Ari S. Merretazon, M.S.CED
Northeast Regional Representative
Board Member, N’COBRA
I was recently sent a copy of your “Open Letter to First Lady Michelle Obama” and was struck by the level of ignorance displayed in this letter. By ignorance I am not necessarily referring to typical inference of stupidity, there is a difference. I am referring to the level of the lack of understanding and real knowledge that our people, and particularly those who are supposed to be intelligent display with regard to historical fact.
The letter begins by referring to the U.S. Constitution and states that:
“Our ancestors were terrorized by injustices codified in the Constitution of the United States by America’s founding fathers and carried out by religious organizations…”
This is wrong on several counts. The Constitution in truth was the vessel and vehicle by which slavery was abolished
1) The word “slave” or slavery does not appear in the Constitution.
2) The Constitution did in actuality give the federal government the power to restrict it, which was attempted several times but Southern Democrats kept trying successfully to circumvent these attempts. (Fugitive Salve Laws, Dred Scott decision, Missiouri compromise, etc.)
3) The 3/5ths clause which I am sure you were referring to is one of the most misunderstood items in the history of our nation. It has been misread and distorted to mean something it does not. The 3/5th clause was actually one of the greatest tools in fighting slavery. Yes, I know you think I have lost my mind but here are the facts.
Because the constitution apportions congressional seats according to the population, as it still does today, Southern Democrats wanted to count their slaves as people in the census for apportioning votes. Northern Democrats & Whigs said you cannot have it both ways. You cannot say on the one hand that slaves are not to be counted as human when it comes to rights, and then turn around and count them as human to get greater representation. If you are going to do that we will begin counting cows, chickens and other livestock in the north. After a pretty heated battle a compromise was reached and the South was limited to counting slaves as only 3/5ths of a person for apportioning legislative seats only. Because of the 3/5ths clause allowed for a greater proportion of anti-slavery congressmen they were able to get the votes needed to pass anti-slavery legislation, and eventually rid the practice all together, with the help of a President from the newly formed, anti-slavery, Republican Party.
4) You go on attack religious organizations. Again nothing could be further from the truth. From the beginning it was religious groups and leaders who fought against slavery in England & in the United States of America. It was also religious organizations who founded and built the very first schools and universities for the descendents of slaves. It was religious organizations who were at the forefront of the civil rights work with their blood, sweat, tears and above all, money. While there were and still are wicked individuals, pastors included, it does not represent the true faith, and never did. Even you quote the bible in calling on the better nature of Michelle Obama and her husband for your purpose.
Finally, you do not understand this nation, or the new leader of it. Barack Obama owes nothing to the reparations movement. He stated clearly that he was opposed to it in the campaign and shows no sign of taking any note other than thinking it a foolish and wrongheaded idea fostered by ignorant lazy individuals. Obama said he would put an end to racial discord and the division that come with it. Every time you and others raise these type of issues you make him a liar.
Frankly I have to agree with him. Here are my reasons.
While you are on your quest to free corporations and the wealthy from their cash, another generation of young black people have the idea that if they just hold on long enough they will be rescued by that cash. It also gives them an excuse for failure. The truth is that the wealth and reparations are right in front of you and them.
Shame on Black America for the state it is in. Tavis can have all of the meetings and make all of the covenants he wants but until we get the majority of us to understand what makes a race, and a society prosper, we will lie in poverty and shame. You and your ideas cripple the race.
Let me use an example. Katrina devastated the 9th Ward of New Orleans. There were 5000 homes in the 9th Ward. The cost to rebuild 5000 homes at $100,000 each is $500 million or $½ billion. As reported on the CNBC show the New Black Overclass, these black athletes, entertainers, and entrepreneurs earned $4.5 billion just last year. Did you catch that? I did not say in the past 20 years, I said last year. One year! The .5 billion of what they earned, a tithe (tenth) of their earnings, would have rebuilt the 9th Ward, and you know what it would have been done by now because it was done by private $$ with oversight. But no, Kanye & others found it easier to rail against Bush, FEMA, and others than to get up off of their own cash. They could even have deducted the charitable gifts instead of giving that back in taxes.
I wonder if we opened the books of NCOBRA and looked at the financial statements of its board members and leaders what we would find. How much wealth is there? How much could be used to help rebuild, educate and heal our black communities? How much is being squandered by those same people championing for the so-called victims?
This is the silliness that Black America has to outgrow. If not we will lose generation after generation waiting for their 40 acres and a mule, when they could have earned enough to buy 400 acres and a herd of mules.
Regards,
Eddie Huff
Executive Director
Booker T. Washington Inspirational Network (BTWIN)
www.booker-t-washington.com
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