Reparation Generation

According to The Brookings Institution, Black-owned businesses are on the rise, especially businesses owned by Black women. “Though far from equitable, the rate of business ownership for Black women is growing rapidly. Black-women-owned employer businesses increased by 18.14% between 2017 and 2020—outpacing women-owned businesses (9.06%) and Black-owned businesses (13.64%).” This is very positive news, however, we must not forget that things are “far from equitable.” There is much work to be done to overcome the systemic racism that holds Black people back from economic opportunity. Support a Black woman-owned business today. https://lnkd.in/d5pbKmNj #BlackOwnedBusiness #BlackWomenBusinessOwners

Join us tomorrow, March 27, for this month’s Virtual House Meeting, a Reparations Deep Dive featuring the Berkeley Reparations Coalition, a group dedicated to securing reparations for Berkeley Unified School District students with enslaved ancestors. Formed in response to George Floyd’s murder, the Coalition is advancing a historic ballot initiative to fund a reparations program through a municipal tax measure. Our Reparations Deep Dive sessions offer a space to explore key topics, expand your knowledge, and strengthen your commitment to the movement. Be part of the conversation. Register today: https://lnkd.in/e_Siz_vN #Reparations #ReparationsDeepDive #RepGen

Racist housing policies aren’t just history; they’re shaping Black wealth today. BET’s The Timeline connects the dots between past discrimination and today’s housing crisis, revealing how systemic barriers continue to widen the racial wealth gap. Ignoring this could set Black wealth back decades. Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/gAykPwEW #BlackWealth #HousingCrisis #SystemicRacism #TheTimeline #BET

Women in Reparations History: A. Kirsten Mullen (1955–) A. Kirsten Mullen is a folklorist and the co-author of the 2022 book From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century and an editor of the 2023 book The Black Reparations Project: A Handbook for Racial Justice. Mullen has studied and advocated for reparations for over 20 years. “We simply want the federal government to do what it should, and that is to eliminate the racial wealth gap,” Mullen told Word in Black in 2023. “For us, the racial wealth gap is a very clean, simple indicator of the cumulative effects of intergenerational white supremacy in this country.” We honor A. Kirsten Mullen today for her amazing contributions to the Reparations movement. #WomensHistoryMonth #WhyReparations #WomenInReparations #ReparationsHistory https://lnkd.in/eQGDAm2Y

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination On March 21, 1960, police in South Africa shot into a crowd that had gathered to #ProtestApartheid, killing 69 people. In 1979, the U.N. General Assembly “decided that a week of solidarity with the peoples struggling against racism and racial discrimination” would be observed yearly on March 21. It is important that everyone works to eliminate racial discrimination. There are many ways you can do this, including supporting #reparations work. Learn more at https://lnkd.in/gkG7F3W3. #Reparations #RepairAndHealing #EndRacism

Unpacking the Acronym: DEI I is for Inclusion. Inclusion means making people a part of something. This requires an awareness of historically excluded people such as women, Black people, and people with disabilities. When there is a conscious effort to assemble a diverse group of people and to give those people what they need to succeed, inclusion often follows. Inclusion goes beyond the presence of diverse voices and instead aims to have diverse voices be meaningful parts of decision making and culture. Everyone knows that being left out feels terrible, especially when it’s the result of discrimination. In other words, inclusion makes us better. #DEI #diversity #equity #inclusion

Women in Reparations History: Henrietta Wood (1818–1912) Henrietta Wood was born enslaved in Kentucky and was granted freedom in 1848. In 1853, in an attempt to profit, Zebulon Ward kidnapped and enslaved her. Wood sued Ward and won “the largest known sum ever granted by a U.S. court in restitution for slavery,” according to W. Caleb McDaniel, author of the 2019 book Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America. “By suing Ward for the wages she had lost while [enslaved],” McDaniel writes, “her lawyers made clear that a verdict for Wood was an acknowledgment of the evils of slavery itself.” Learn more about Henrietta Wood here: https://lnkd.in/dm2AvnEf #WomensHistoryMonth #WhyReparations #WomenInReparations #ReparationsHistory

On March 16, 1827, Freedom's Journal, the first Black-owned newspaper in the United States, was established. This was the same year that slavery was abolished in New York State. According to PBS, “Freedom's Journal provided its readers with regional, national, and international news and with news that could serve to both entertain and educate. It sought to improve conditions for the over 300,000 newly freed black men and women living in the North.” Though it was only published for two years, it “helped spawn other papers. By the start of the Civil War, over 40 black-owned and operated papers had been established throughout the United States.” https://lnkd.in/ghn93VUp

The fight for federal Reparations continues! The Congressional Black Caucus is pushing for a commission to study and develop reparations proposals. This is a critical step toward justice and accountability. Watch the full press conference here: https://lnkd.in/gnXQV7NN #ReparationsNow #CBC #SystemicRepair #RepGen

Unpacking the Acronym: DEI E stands for Equity. The words “equality” and “equity” are sometimes used interchangeably, but they do not mean the same thing. Equality means everyone gets the same thing. Equity means that everyone gets what they need. It acknowledges that not everyone has the same privileges, resources, or abilities and seeks to “level the playing field,” as the saying goes, to make it easier for everyone to reach a particular goal by seeking to remove barriers. Examples include providing a ramp so wheelchair users can traverse an entryway, a therapist using a sliding scale for payment, or ensuring that Black students have a shot at getting into college. In other words, equity is fairness. #DEI #diversity #equity #inclusion