ReparationsNYC is a public and creative dialogue on the need for the New York City government to make reparations for its historic support of the enslavement of Black people, and ensuing legacies of discriminatory practices, including redlining, inequities in education, and policing, which have harmed Black communities.
ReparationsNYC programming will include public dialogue, learning opportunities, and arts and culture projects that address
– the history of slavery and its legacies in NYC, including the extraordinary resilience of Black communities
– the history and demands of the U.S. reparations movement as led by Black communities
– how reparations have been enacted in other cities, states, and nations
– how material, cultural, and symbolic forms of reparation can be made by NYC
Please see FAB’s current Call for Artists – Commission for an installation/memorial for the unmarked Chrystie Street African Burial Ground.
We are inspired by all those who have led the reparations movement in our country over generations. Our intention is to listen, learn, and support their efforts.
Those who have been harmed must be the ones to articulate the forms of redress which reparations must take. However, all of us can insist that truth-telling, recognition of grievous wrong, and acceptance of responsibility to fully address that wrong is enacted by our government at every level.
Beyond Symbol: Culture & Reparations
Public dialogues on how reparations for Black communities can move forward at a local level, and the role of arts and culture within the movement. Each session will include a panel of five co-hosts and a special guest. Made possible with support from Humanities NY.
Co-hosts: Catherine Mbali Green-Johnson – Executive Director, ARTs East NY
Amy Andrieux – Executive Director, Museum of Contemporary Arts of the African Diaspora (MoCADA)
Jordana De La Cruz – Co-Director, JACK
Kemi Ilesanmi, Executive Director, The Laundromat Project
Ryan Gilliam – Executive Director, FABnyc
Ayesha Williams – Deputy Director, The Laundromat Project
Link to full bios on co-hosts and guests.
Past Events – Video Recordings linked
Reparations, Culture, and Cities
Special Guest: Justin Hansford, Founder, U.S. African American Redress Network
Executive Director, Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center, Howard University
Organizing Asheville
Special Guests: grits and Robert Thomas from Asheville Racial Justice Coalition
Reparations in Evanston
Special Guest: Robin Rue Simmons — Alderman, Evanston, IL; Director of Innovation and Outreach at Sunshine Enterprises; Chief Strategist at Ujima Solutions Group.
Reparations and NYC
Special Guest: Anusha Venkataraman, Executive Director, Racial Justice Commission, City of New York.
Reparations Readings
H.R.40 – Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act
“Reparations – Has the Time Finally Come?” – Nkechi Taifa (a history of the Reparations movement)
Ta-Nahesi Coates’ Opening Statement on Reparations at House Hearing (6/19/2019) – video
“H.R. 40 is not a Symbolic Act. It’s a Path to Restorative Justice” – Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, U.S. House of Representatives (ACLU)
“The Case for Reparations” – Ta-Nahesi Coates (The Atlantic)
Reparations Platform, Movement for Black Lives
“It Is Time for Reparations”, Nikole Hannah-Jones, The New York Times
FAB Staff Essays
The Reparations Movement: Asheville NC
1863 Civil War Draft Riots: an attack on Black New Yorkers
Excerpt from The Movement for Black Lives ‘Reparations Now Toolkit’
IT IS REPARATIONS IF IT INCLUDES:
An official acknowledgment and apology for harm, public education, or memorial about the harm; and
Compensation to a specific, defined group of individuals harmed by a violation, including descendants, as well as family and community members of individuals directly targeted for harm who were adversely affected; and
Action to restore individuals harmed to the position they were in before the initial harm occurred; and
Action to stop the systems, institutions, and practices causing the harm; and
Changes to laws, institutions, and systems aimed at ensuring that harm will not happen again.
Photo: A young girl attends a slavery reparations protest outside of the New York Life Insurance Company offices on August 9, 2002, in New York City. Mario Tama/Getty Images