Rev. Dr. Walter Arthur McCray, President
Dr. Anne C. Bailey, Co-Chair of the Board, and Reparations Coordinator
http://the-nbea.com/
December 20, 2022
“ 12If any of your people—Hebrew men or women—sell themselves to you and
serve you six years, in the seventh year you must let them go free. 13And when
you release them, do not send them away empty-handed. 14Supply them
liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to them
as the LORD your God has blessed you. 15Remember that you were slaves in Egypt
and the LORD your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command
today.” Deuteronomy 15:12-15
“Love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:39
The National Black Association (NBEA) is a cross-denominational fellowship of Christian believers whose mission is to be an umbrella association that empowers leaders for Jesus Christ. Members of the NBEA represent over 200 Black evangelical leaders of groups, ministries and churches across America and the world.
In the spirit of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and his non-violent movement, the NBEA is
calling for Reparations for people of African descent. We imagine a country and a world built
on what Dr. King called “agape love” – defined as the highest form of love and charity, a self-
sacrificing, unconditional love. Such a radical love for one another and appreciation of our
interdependence ultimately calls us to correct the wrongs of the past.
The following represents NBEA’s Reparations Toolkit, which includes: (1) A 10-Point Rationale
for Reparations, and (2) 10 Recommendations to make Reparations a reality.
10 Point Rationale for Reparations
- Unique Window opens in 2021.
Following the murder of George Floyd and the other deaths of unarmed Black people
across America, we believe there is now one more chance for America to resolve its racial crisis and to close longstanding disparities once and for all. The recent vote of the House Judiciary Committee to allow HB 40 a full vote by the Congress is also a very positive sign.
- Reparations require Apologies and Repentance.
Repentance is in order not just for the crime against humanity that slavery represented
but the subsequent system of Jim Crow, federally sponsored segregation in housing,
education and mass incarceration. There should also be repentance for the construction
of racial ideologies and subsequent denial that the descendants of Africa share the
image of God and a fundamental humanity with all other non-Black persons. - Transgenerational sin calls for Transgenerational Accountability.
Many prominent families in the US currently have transgenerational wealth based on
the labor of enslaved Black ancestors who were never compensated for that labor. The
US government through many government policies including redlining has done little to
rectify these inequities. - A New Beginning goes beyond fear and bondage.
Too often, in response to protests and previous movements, there has been change
without changing. The systems in systemic racism have not changed. The result is fear
and bondage. As Booker T. Washington once said, “To keep a man down, you have to
stay down with him.” This new beginning would give all freedom from the labels of
“oppressed” and “oppressor.” - There is now an opportunity for Truth and Reconciliation.
After the Civil War, there was need for what we today would call a South African
inspired Truth and Reconciliation commission. Though the enslaved were granted
citizenship, there was no reckoning with almost 250 years of slavery. There was no
sustained program of reparations or acknowledgement that free Black labor had
contributed to the white population having a 250-year headstart. The time is right to
hear the requests of the victims. There can be no reconciliation without truth telling as
well as forgiveness. - It is time to give Reparations to Descendants of the Enslaved as some slaveowners were compensated.
On April 16 1862, President Lincoln supported a plan to compensate slave owners for loss of property; DC slave owners were compensated through the District of Columbia Emancipation Act, yet Sherman’s Field Order No. 15 in 1865, the government order which gave slaves in some Southern states 40 acres and a mule, was rescinded later by President Andrew Johnson. After Lincoln was assassinated, the lands were returned to former pro- Confederate owners. It is also important to note that British slaveowners were also compensated for freeing their enslaved population in the Caribbean in 1834 to the tune of 20 million pounds. NBEA also supports the Caribbean call for reparations as there has been a pattern of compensating slaveowners at the expense of the enslaved and their descendants.
- A House Divided against itself cannot stand.
Lincoln quotes the Bible in a famous speech years before the Civil war in 1858 and it was
as true then as it is now. The two Americas are an unsustainable model. The Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King said the same in his speech, “The Other America” in which he
highlighted the poverty gap as a root of inequality. - Fostering Black Inequality and Inequity will yield positive ripple effects for all.
History has shown that positive changes and policies inspired by Black protest
benefitted other groups as well. The 1964 Civil Rights Act is a notable example in which
all US citizens, including women and not just Black people, benefitted from such a bold
statement against discrimination. - This is an opportunity to returning to professed national Ideals.
For those founders who professed Christianity and for all who declared freedom as the
ultimate American ideal yet participated in crimes against humanity against Black
people, (as well as First Nations people), a covenant was broken. Slavery and
discrimination are incompatible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They are also
incompatible with the highest ideals of The Declaration of Independence. Reparations
can restore that breach. - Reparations represents Deliverance after 400 years.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. often reminded us that the Israelites endured 400 years
of slavery in Egypt. God called Moses to deliver His people from the hand of slavery in
that 400 th year. The year 1619-2019 marks the 400 th year of consistent African presence
in then Colonial Virginia where slavery was first codified in US law–a legacy that is still
with us. From a Biblical standpoint, the timing is right.
10 Recommendations – NBEA Reparations Toolkit
The following recommendations reflect deliberations of NBEA. NBEA also acknowledges
the hard work of a number of organizations which have been advocating for reparations
including N’Cobra, (National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America, ADOS,
(American Descendants of Slavery) and NAARC. (National African American Reparations
Commission). We pay special tribute to “Queen Mother” Audley Moore, an early leader in
the struggle for Reparations. At a National Emancipation Proclamation Centennial Observance Committee (NEPCOC)conference in Philadelphia in October 1962, she along with attendees drafted a “Resolution on Reparations.” Finally, we support H.R. 40—the bill sponsored by Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and others calling for a Commission to study and develop Reparation proposals.
Recommendation #1
Execute a Basic Needs Contract for 250 years.
The 4 million men, women and children who received their freedom after the Civil war
in 1865, but who found themselves and their ancestors forced for 250 years into
uncompensated labor, were whipped, beaten, raped, bred and bought and sold on the
auction block for profit, were willed, mortgaged and given as gifts; were used to build
up this country’s wealth and indeed the wealth of the Western hemisphere without
recompense, reciprocity or attribution. In return, for every year of enslavement, the
United States commits to a basic needs contract in housing, education and healthcare
for Black communities. Given the profound and devasting impact that slavery, Jim Crow
and other policies have had on Black families, at the core of this recommendation
should be an attempt to preserve and encourage Black family units. All reparative
efforts should, as much as possible, aim to unite not divide the Black family.
Recommendation #2
Audit of all polices that have disadvantaged Black communities and individuals.
Such an audit would be done with an eye towards reversing the adverse effects of polices such as redlining.
Recommendation #3
Memorialize Reparations.
The nation must develop Memorials as well as new archives to record and restore African American history back to its rightful place in American history.
Recommendation #4
Enact immediate Prison and Criminal Justice Reform.
There is an urgent need for Prison Reform including a review of various laws local and federal which adversely and disproportionately affect Black and brown populations such as drug sentencing laws.
Recommendation #5
Support Black Colleges and other Black institutions.
Historically Black institutions have often been starved for support and so any reparations plan should include substantial support for these institutions which have managed to survive in spite of adverse conditions.
Recommendation #6
Give Tax relief.
We must give serious consideration to Proposals for payroll tax relief, and other related remedies.
Recommendation #7
Provide access to Financial literacy.
Since many Black communities have lacked substantial access to capital, support for financial literacy for those who need it would be an important feature of any reparations program.
Recommendation #8
Endow a Trust Fund for Education Reform and College Opportunity.
Substantial reform is needed in terms of k-12 education on the local level including desegregated schools and more resources for underfunded schools. On the college level, an education fund is necessary for all who need it. Student loan forgiveness should also be a part of such a plan.
Recommendation #9
Establish a Housing and Business Fund.
For those who need it, provision of a down payment for a house and/or a business should be available. All the studies show that home ownership (or business ownership) is the key to sustained wealth in America yet Black home ownership is roughly 30% lower than their white counterparts.
Recommendation #10
Build a Mental Health Fund.
250 years of enslavement and 155 years of systemic racism has brought about great resilience but also trauma in the Black community. At the same time, mental health resources in our community are scarce or non-existent.
The Importance of Faith in the Call for Reparations
At the same time, as a spiritual organization, while NBEA recognizes the importance of general
mental health and other resources, we think the Bible points us to the ultimate source of healing – healing through Christ’s teaching of forgiveness. All the social reparations in the world (education and housing funds, individual checks, public monuments and archives) cannot erase this history which lingers in the minds, hearts and souls of many of African descent.
Ironically, some of our enslaved ancestors though in chains, knew this freedom – freedom that
many of us find elusive today. They were freed by faith.
Here are the words of one such ancestor, Mary, an enslaved woman on the Butler plantation
estates in Southern Georgia in her exchange with the three year daughter of her “slaveowner”:
“Mary, some persons are free and some are not.”
(To which the woman made no reply.)
“I am a free person…I say, I am a free person, Mary—do you know that?”
“Yes, missis.”
“Some persons are free and some are not—do you know that Mary?”
“Yes Miss, here,” was her reply. “I know it is so here, in this world.”
Here the child’s white nurse…interfered saying:
“Oh then you think it will not always be so?”
“Me hope not, missis.” [Me hope not]1
The path forward for America requires a repudiation of the lies that whites, Blacks and others
believe about themselves and race. Truth-telling is a part of reparations. Minds also need
healing. Only then will we achieve full freedom. Reparations is an important part of that
freedom.
This statement is dedicated to Dr. Ron Myers, member of NBEA, who led an early grassroots
effort to make Juneteenth a Federal holiday which came into effect on June 18, 2021.
Anne C Bailey wrote this Reparations Toolkit, and represents the views and ideas of the President, Gospelizer Dr. Walter McCray, Dr. Ruth Bentley and many of the other Board members of the NBEA including former Board Chairman, the esteemed Rev. Freddie Robinson, whose contributions were particularly noteworthy. (RIP)
Contact: http://the-nbea.com/
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1Bailey, The Weeping Time: Memory and the Largest Slave Auction in American History, p. 82
