Reparations and Peacebuilding: two words that seem unrelated. Many think Reparations only relates to things that happened “back then.” And that peacebuilding only relates to things happening “over there.” But both are a significant part of building healthy and just societies. And if we bring them together, we can see they are deeply interrelated. Peacebuilding offers a few frames to help us further explore the work of Reparations.
The Road to Tulsa, Juneteenth, 2024
When I heard the news, I was at the airport in Salt Lake City, on my way to a retreat in Tulsa for 50 regional reparations leaders. On that day, June 12, 2024, the Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed a reparations lawsuit by the last two survivors of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, Viola Ford Fletcher, 109, and Lessie Benningfield Randle, 108. When I arrived in Tulsa, it was an impressive 100 degrees just an hour before midnight.
Reparations: Three Fundamental Questions for White People
As soon as we closed the file on our essay, “How Two White Men Became Reparationists,” about our journey as white reparation advocates, we knew we had to go further. How do we, as European Americans, explain why it is crucial to demand reparative action for African Americans? Why now? How do we demonstrate that reparative action is restorative justice? We knew the objections that our friends and family would raise against reparations. But we also believed that their resistance- in part- is based on false impressions and misconceptions. That got us thinking!