ROGER WAREHAM ON REPARATIONS AT NAN

t the National Action Network's Saturday Morning Action Rally of April 13th, attended by hundreds of people and heard live over WWRL and WLIB radio, Rev. Al Sharpton said, "The National Action Network is completely behind the drive for reparations." He stated too that one of the things about his possible presidential bid is, if he runs, his opponents will have to deal with issues they don't want to deal with--like reparations. "I'd like to get Joe Lieberman into a debate on reparations," said Rev. Sharpton. "But if you aren't in it, they aren't going to debate it."

The Rally's invited guest was internationally renown activist and founding member of the Dec. 12th Movement, Attorney Roger Wareham, who spoke about the lawsuit which he and others filed last month in the Brooklyn Federal Court on behalf of Deadria Farmer-Paellman, lead plaintiff. It was the first class-action suit filed in behalf of all living descendants of enslaved Africans in the United States, and it seeks compensation from the FleetBoston Financial Corporation, Aetna Inc., and the CSX Corporation because they or their parent companies profited from slavery. As Atty. Wareham made clear, "The lawsuit, very simply, is not against the US government; it is against corporations that profited from the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade and Slavery."

NO STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS ON CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY

Atty. Wareham went on to say that one of the responses he gets about the case on different talk shows around the country--and certainly from the corporations themselves--is, "But it was so long ago, and there aren't any victims alive today."

He stated, "Our position is that the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade and Slavery was a crime against humanity." He explained that crimes against humanity are murder, rape, torture, forced pregnancy, and forced transfer of population. "Everything that happened to us that brought us to these shores are crimes against humanity," Atty. Wareham continued. "And a crime against humanity, as any lawyer will tell you, has no statute of limitation. Just like murder, you can't outlive it; you can't outrun it."

He said that this is why reparationists fought so hard at the World Conference Against Racism, held in Durban, South Africa last year, to make sure that the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade and Slavery was declared officially and recognized internationally as a crime against humanity. "And that's the reason why the United States government walked out of that conference. Because they understood the implications of that."

Atty. Wareham stated as well, "Even with that, the crimes that our forefathers, our elders were the victims of continue to this day. They didn't end in 1865. They continued with the Black Codes; they continued through sharecropping; they continued through Jim Crow; and they continue with the institutionalized racism we're subjected to now. So our position in this suit is that they raped and murdered our people, they enriched themselves unjustly, and also that we, the descendants of those victims, continue to suffer--and they're going to have to pay for it!"

Atty. Wareham also explained, "The checks are not going to people's mailboxes. The money is going to go into an institutional collective fund to deal with the problems that we face collectively today." As part of this, a historic commission is going to be set up comprised of respected people from the African American community. "It's not going to be the lawyers who determine what happens with whatever money comes out of this," he stated. "It's going to be the people of the community and their representatives who decide."

Atty. Wareham pointed to several other things that show the growing momentum for reparations in legal, legislative, and social action arenas. "There are going to be suits filed around the country with a lot of different defendants--textiles, financing, insurance, because all of them profited from slavery. New York Life Insurance, for instance--of the first 1,000 policies that they issued when they first set up in the 1700s, one third of those policies were to insure enslaved Africans."

On the legislative front, the advances there are to be seen through such things as New York City Councilman Charles Barron's Queen Mother Moore Reparations Resolution for the Descendants of Enslaved Africans in New York which he submitted to the City Council in February. Related to it, there will be a proclamation at the City Council meeting of April 24th recognizing the courage of the initial plaintiffs in this suit. Then, on June 19th, the Governmental Operations Committee, chaired by Councilman Bill Perkins, will hold hearings on the Queen Mother Moore Reparations Resolution.

And finally, there is the tremendously important Millions for Reparations Rally that will take place in Washington, DC on August 17th, the 115th anniversary of Marcus Garvey's birth. Every self-respecting African in America should be there to send a powerful message to the government and the people of this nation that--as Atty. Roger Wareham ended so rousingly with a call and response--"We're going to fight for reparations when?" The audience roared back, "Now!"

For more information about the Millions for Reparations Rally, call (718) 398-1766 or inquire by e-mail to millions4reparations@hotmail.com.

To learn more about the lawsuit, call (718) 941-1931.

Donna Lamb is Communications Director for Caucasians United for Reparations and Emancipation. She can be reached at dlamb@gis.net.