Join the African American Redress Network on April 10th at 11am EST for an interactive conference on local reparations efforts in the United States. Co-sponsored by Howard University’s Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center and Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights, Reparations 2021 will be an opportunity to learn more about various local redress efforts and for activists and scholars around the country to identify points of collaboration and discuss approaches, challenges, and lessons-learned.
The conference will be an opportunity for open exchange among individuals and organizations working in various areas of reparations. Five themes will guide breakout group discussions: Politics & Legislation, Regulation & Litigation, Advocacy & Organizing, Research & Documentation, and Education & Awareness Raising.
For zoom login information, please click here: http://bit.ly/reparations2021
Concurrent Breakout Rooms
These concurrent sessions will be an opportunity for open exchange among individuals and organizations working in various areas of reparations to learn from each other, discuss challenges, share lessons-learned, and identify points of potential collaboration.
Politics & Legislation: refers to specific measures on the local, state, and national level and the support necessary to pass them into law. That ranges from local ordinances such as the resolution passed by the Evanston city council to national reparations legislation such as HR 40.
Regulation & Litigation: refers to the regulatory and legal challenges mounted by various entities against specific implementation of reparations. Challenges will likely be mounted on the constitutional level; there will also likely be litigation regarding specific reparations projects by private and public entities.
Advocacy & Organizing: Although advocacy exists on all levels, this refers to grassroots organizing and organizers that have a more direct understanding and vision of what reparations are needed in particular communities and what issues are most pertinent and immediate in needing to be addressed. It also refers to the ways in which those groups can most effectively stimulate concrete movement toward implementing reparations.
Research & Documentation: refers most appropriately to identifying existing and ongoing campaigns and projects seeking reparations throughout communities in the U.S. as is done through the Network’s mapping project. A repository of such information can help to target support for existing reparations projects and direct support for reparations that should but haven't yet been supported.
Education & Awareness Raising: refers to the ways in which we inform the public about what "reparations" means and in what forms it can manifest. The lack of a uniform or comprehensive understanding of the ways in which reparations can be generated inhibits the movement's effectiveness, so education and awareness about what they are is key.
