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Commentary
FSU Students Propose Reparations
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Reparations: A Modest
Proposal
The following proposal
for reparations represents
the work of members of the
Multicultural Psychology
class at Fayetteville State
University. Fayetteville,
North Carolina, in the fall
of2002.
After the civil war the
union government promised
“40 acres and a mule” to
freed slaves.
This was to be not only
an acknowledgement of the
suffering endured by
slaves, but compensation
for the great wealth that
resulted from many years
of unpaid labor. Cotton and
tobacco constituted
roughly 7 percent of all
U.S. exports during
slavery’s peak. The
government never kept its
promise of reparations.
Recently, a grassroots
movement for reparations
has gained significant
momentum. The 2001 World
Conference on Racism in
Durban, South Africa, gave
the issue prominent attention.
Conference participants
declared the Trans-Atlantic
slave trade a “crime against
humanity.” The Charter of the
Nuremberg Tribunal defined
crimes against humanity as
“Murder, extermination,
enslavement deportation
and other inhumane acts
committed against any civilian
population... whether or not
in violation of the domestic
law of the country here
perpetrated.”
We add our voice to the
many in the United States
who strive for justice and
equality for all regardless of
skin color, ethnicity, religion,
gender, sexual orientation,
immigrant, status or age.
LAWS AND POLICIES
REGARDING DRUGS
Current Laws and
Policies: Fifteen percent of
the nations reported cocaine
users are Afncan Americans,
but they comprise about forty
percent of the people (40%)
charged with powered
cocaine violations and nearly
ninety (90%) of those
convicted on crack cocaine
charges. Under federal and
many state laws, crack and
powder cocaine carry
different penalties resulting in
what has come to be known
as the 100:1 ratio. According
toSAMHSA, ll%ofthe
nation’s drug users are black,
however they constitute 37%
of those arrested for drug
violations and 42% of those
in federal prisons for drug
violations (1997). Under
mandatory minimums
establishes in 1997, the
average sentence is 93%
higher for those Afiican
Americans than for other
groups. Today, one in four
black men can expect to be
incarcerated in his lifetime.
Suggested
Reparations: We request
that biased and unfair policies
involvingAfrican American
imprisonment for crack
cocaine be stopped. We also
request maximum funding for
residential drug treatment
programs and race neutrality
in drug sentencing laws.
ELDERS IN AFRICAN
AMERICAN
COMMUNITIES
Current Situation: About
2.1 million (8 %) of the black
population in the U.S were
over 65 as of 1980. Of that
group, about 157,000
(7.5%) were age 85 or older.
The elderly form the fasted
growing segment of the Black
population. Many elderly
Afncan Americans are
marginalized. Nursing homes
are inadequate, understaffed,
use unnecessary chemicals
and physical restraints to
control elderly populations.
National Law School Day
Tuesday, February 18, 2003
Time: 3:00-5:00 P.M.
Location: Advisement & Career Services Center
The Broncos’ Voice Staff
Aisha Brooks
Akeshia Hudson
Andria L. Harris
Talia Higgs
HOW TO REACH US
The Broncos’ Voice
1200 Murchison Road
Fayetteville, NC 28301
(910) 672-1279
(910) 672-2029
Broncos Voice(gyahoo.com
Eric Moore, Advisor
Garrett N. James, Editor in Chief
Douglas L. Blake, Jr., Copy Editor
Kantrell Shelton
Kenyatta Raeford
LaVonntra Porter
Russell Farley
Proposed Reparations:
We would like to implement a
community-based concept
that combines retirement
living, assisted living and
long-term care services to
elderly African Americans.
This program would be free
of charge, due to the
decades of slavery their
ancestors endured and the
continuation of
discrimination, which has
kept many African
Americans in lifelong
patterns of inequality in
income, education and
access to health care. We
proposed that the social
security program remain a
federally funded program.
It is a fiind provided by
workers and their bosses
and represents pay for
services rendered for which
workers have not been paid
their value.
MENTAL AND
PHYSICAL HEALTH
Current Situation: The
mis-education among
Afncan Americans
concerning dental care is
very high. Most Afncan
Americans do not know or
understand the importance of
seeing a dentist.
When they do seek
dental care, they are usually
adults with problems that
could have been addressed
when they were young.
Most adults experience
gum disease, tooth loss, and
rampant tooth decay. The
barriers are socioeconomic
and informational.
Proposed Reparation:
Implement a program
that is federally-funded to
educate African Americans
on the importance of early
dental care and maintenance.
All dental services should be
financially accessible to all,
regardless of income.
EDUCATION
Current Situation:
Many Afncan American
children do not know their own
history as well as history of
other oppressed people in the
United States with whom they
share many commonalities.
White, ruling class ideology is
taught in elementary school,
high school and college,
whether taught by white or
Afncan American teachers and
professors. The books children
read do not represent them and
their struggles and fail to note
the major achievements of
Afncan Americans and other
oppressed groups in may areas.
Proposed Reparation:
African American and other
minoritized children need to
leam their history in school.
More Afncan American
teachers or teachers with an
understanding of Afncan and
African American history and
culture should be teaching
African American children.
Further, black history
should not be designated to
one month but should be part
of the yearlong educational
curriculum.
Is The Draft In
USA’s Future?
KRT Campus
As U.S. troops get deployed in greater numbers abroad
and reservists are called to active duty every week, the
Selective Service System is poised to do its job: Draft young
American males into the military.
It has been 30 years since Uncle Sam last sent induction
letters telling nervous recipients they’re in the Army now, but
officials say he can be as efficient as ever supplying needed
manpower against Iraq, North Korea or whomever.
“We’re a big system-in-waiting,” said Army Lt. Col.
Dianna L. Cleven, the service’s Region I director for a 17-
state area. “It’s ‘be prepared’ as far as we’re concerned.”
A draft may be totally foreign to the latest, coming-of-age
generation, plus many parents, but mandatory military service
used to be a fact of life for healthy, young American men both
in war and peacetime.
From 1940 almost continually through 1973, the Selective
See Draft Page 8