An Open Letter to American Freedmen (Otherwise Known as Black Americans) On the Issue of Lineage Based Reparations

By the Tubman House Center For Reparative Justice

The growing grassroots push for reparations has been tainted by an erroneous

narrative questioning who the descendants of US chattel slavery are and how this

Black population can possibly be distinguished from the current Black immigrant

population. This ahistorical narrative is extremely dismissive and rooted in the

inherent disrespect of American Freedmen. We write this as members of the

grassroots American Freedmen reparations community.

A so-called ‘legacy’ organization, the National African American Reparations

Commission (NAARC), spoke out against lineage-based reparations in a recent

press release, stating that this is the “second time” they’re addressing who qualifies

for American Freedmen reparations. Did we not hear about it the first time because

NAARC is only interested in maintaining their position as gatekeepers in the

community? Who gave NAARC, and the affiliated organizations mentioned in the

press release permission to assert themselves as the leaders in this movement

(National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA), Black Lives

Matter (BLM), Movement for Black Lives (M4BL), the NAACP, National Urban

League, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, National Congress of Black Women, National

Council of Negro Women, and National Action Network)? Did NAARC present their

perspective to the masses of American Freedmen to obtain any consensus? In

truth, NAARC’s letter is rife with common misconceptions and obtuse questions

used to muddle the righteous justice claim of American Freedmen.

Queen Mother Moore was a leading figure in the reparations struggle of the

twentieth century, she authored “Why Reparations? Money for Negroes” in 1963.

The pamphlet is an extensive account of atrocities American Freedmen endured

during slavery throughout the Reconstruction era. She also writes a timeline on

direct reparation payments throughout history. Queen Mother Moore’s language

and specificity of the people harmed and their descendants who demand repair was

very clear. Here is a powerful passage from “Why Reparations:”

“Relative to members of the Black Race who boast of one white

parent, and wish to identify themselves with that parent rather than

identify themselves with the Black Race, the Committee follows the

custom [as] established by the United States Government and rules,

” ...an individual with one drop of ‘Negro’ blood in his or her veins is

considered a Negro.” However, the Committee declares that those

individuals who do not wish to share in the just and fair Reparations,

are not obligated to do so. They are however, obligated not to join

the enemies [whites and Negro reparations oppositionists] of the

American citizens of African descent to campaign against the

payment of Reparations.”

NCOBRA, NAARC and IBW are acting as reparation oppositionists; they are

obligated to remember their elders' words and not act as the enemy of reparations

for the American Freedmen. Queen Mother Moore was not talking about Africans,

Caribbeans or Black Latinos. She was discussing American Freedmen who can

trace their lineage to United States chattel slavery.

NAARC is an organization that has not been relevant to American Freedmen in

thirty years. This organization is in total opposition to the current political moment.

IBW is also in association with known federal informant Ronald Karenga, a

convicted torturer of Black women. These are the organizations supposedly

appointed to the American Freedmen struggle for reparations? This is a complete

farce. The purpose of reparations is to address a specific historical “LINEAGE” that

is descendant of chattel slavery in the United States. Atlantic world slavery and

imperialism are out of place in this discussion.

The “confusion” being presented by anti-lineage based organizations such as

NCOBRA, NAARC and the IBW is abhorrent. The eligibility assertion made

by NAARC that the opposing organizations are promoting “genetic based

lineage” is false. Lineage-based reparations is solely based on identifying

American Freedmen well documented on US census records.

The United States government has documented both our enslaved ancestors, as

well as Black people who immigrated to the United States. Enslaved American

Freedmen and their descendants will not be located on any immigration

documentation. The tactics used to disrupt lineage based reparations are not going

unnoticed and will continue to be fiercely refuted. Let there be no mistake, the

American Freedmen population may not have a census designation but we know

exactly who we are. We are a distinct ethnic group that will not be collapsed under a

false notion of universal Blackness.

Like American Freedmen lineage, the records of formerly enslaved American

Freedmen (and their descendants) demanding the United States government pay

reparations is another subject well documented in US History. On March 11, 1867

H.R 29 was introduced. This bill outlined land confiscation within the “Confederate

States of America” to be distributed to former slaves.

Our ancestor Callie House was imprisoned in 1918 for daring to fight for the type of

legislation being delayed by derisive notions that enslaved American Freedmen

descendants are a mystical group of hard to designate people in America. American

Freedmen and their ancestors who built America deserve better. We, the

descendants of the formerly enslaved American Freedmen, will be as vigilant as our

ancestors in ensuring the protection of our inheritance. We will confront disrespect

and demand accountability from parties convoluting our full repair. We will confront

those who seek to devalue our lineage with attempts to revise the history of the

American Freedmen reparation movements.

In the era before the 1965 Immigration Bill the numbers of Black immigrants were

minuscule compared to our current era. Today these groups are here in larger

numbers and have created their own separate ethnic based communities. This is

why you have places such as “Little Liberia” and “Little Haiti.” What do these

communities have to do with American Freedmen culture? Kwame Ture and

Shirley Chisholm worked within established American Freedmen movements for

liberation. They did not make the same distinctions current Black immigrants have

made.

The wealth of America, without a shadow of a doubt, was built on the centuries of

free labor from American Freedmen. Any organization representing the American

Freedmen community that denies this simple fact is illegitimate. Slave labor

established this country as a global economic power.

Lineage based reparations is indisputable reparative justice. From 1619 through the

present day, American Freedmen have yet to be approached in this conversation

with the honor that has been earned. NCOBRA, NAARC and IBW do not speak for

the American Freedmen justice claim. These organizations do not and will never

have the right to obscure our struggle for reparations with shameless ethnicity

erasure tactics. NCOBRA, NAARC, IBW and all other agent provocateurs want to

give American Freedmen inheritance away to ALL Black people in America. This

will not happen and we are here to ensure the success of lineage based

reparations.

For truth, solidarity, and our ancestors we implore every American Freedmen to

make their disapproval and righteous anger known. Respectability politics will never

prevent organizations like these from bastardizing our reparations claim. We will not

allow respectability politics to influence the way we address NCOBRA, NAARC,

IBW, and other irrelevant community leeches. We ask that the real grassroots

reparations movement embody the strength of every ancestor that built America to

ensure these Black gatekeepers understand fully that their time is up!

Lineage based reparations and direct cash payments is not a negotiation. It is a

sacred demand that we owe to our ancestors, our people and future generations of

American Freedmen.

To find out more, donate, or read this article in its entirety, visit

https://www.tubmanhousecenterforreparativejustice.org/north-star-vigilance.