REPARATIONS UNITED WANTS EXECUTIVE ORDER FOR REPARATIONS

Kamm Howard is the Director of Reparations United, an organization that is pushing for an Executive Order for Reparations, as well as a Commission on Reparations. PHOTO PROVIDED BY MELANIE BROWN.
Kamm Howard is the Director of Reparations United, an organization that is pushing for an Executive Order for Reparations, as well as a Commission on Reparations. PHOTO PROVIDED BY MELANIE BROWN.

REPARATIONS UNITED WANTS EXECUTIVE ORDER FOR REPARATIONS

BY TIA CAROL JONES

A national organization with local roots is seeking an Executive Order for Reparations as the push for redress for the impact slavery had on African Americans continues.

Reparations United was founded a year ago with
the mission to educate and inform people about the
central points to the movement for reparations. The
organization’s founder, Kamm Howard, realized the
movement for reparations was disjointed and major
contentions developed.

Howard believes an Executive Order, signed by President Joe Biden, is the best way for the type of redress African Americans, who are the descendants of the enslaved, to receive reparations. But, he does support those on the local level who also are championing reparations.

Howard said there is an HR 40 Strategy Group, working with Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, as well as Why We Can’t Wait, who are calling for reparations on a national level. In the movement, Howard said there is a lot of conversation around eligibility for reparations, the form it should take, what people who receive reparations call themselves.

“All of these conversations are secondary, (or) even should be put in a third position, (below) making sure we get a commission established. Because, if we don’t get this commission established, there’s not going to be any redress,” he said.

Howard wants people to understand that reparations
is more than a compensatory measure. It also has to rectify and correct past wrongs, stop existing wrongs, it has to deal with the existing historical trauma descendants of the enslaved are experiencing, as well as the way help is positioned in the United States. He believes even those conversations before creating a commission is counterproductive.

In 2019, Robin Rue Simmons, then Alderwoman
of Evanston’s 5th Ward, proposed a local reparations
fund, which would direct sales tax revenue collected
from recreational marijuana purchases, to establish
the fund. The measure was approved in Evanston
and it became the first municipally-funded reparations
legislation, with disbursements beginning in January 2022. Rue Simmons went on to become the Founder and Executive Director of FirstRepair, a national not-for-profit organization that advises on best practices for reparations.

Howard called Evanston’s Reparations Program the spark that made people believe reparations could be done nationally. He said Rue Simmons inspired individuals and organizations to engage in a push for reparations.

Howard said every city has its own unique history of harms that require redress, so the redress has to be tailored to those harms.

In Chicago, Howard and other leaders presented
a four-part plan for reparations. It included a Reparations Commission, which would look into the history of harms done to Black Chicagoans and craft remedies to address those harms; an office of Black Americans, which would look at economic development; a revised slavery disclosure ordinance, which would mandate companies doing business in the city to disclose their complicity in slavery and commit to a redress fund; and basic income program centered to moving young people engaged in crime and violence to a formal economy, away from crime and violence.

Howard is hopeful reparations can move forward in Chicago, and there will eventually be an Executive Order for Reparations.

On July 1st, Reparations United will host the Peace, Love & Reparations Concert and Unity Rally, in Los Angeles at Leimert Park.

For more information about Reparations United,
visit reparationsunited.org.

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