Kamm Howard, Reparations United director, has traveled throughout the United States and internationally, educating audiences about the reparations movement.
The organization’s Unity Tour made a stop in St. Louis at St. Paul AME Church on Saturday Feb. 25, 2023, and Howard said, “our people are really connected to this issue in a deeper way than 10-15 years ago.”
“People are more educated, more eager to grasp on to the message. They are pleased that we are coming out with this message.”
As for the “misinformation,” that accompanies the dialogue Hamm said it is important to explain “what exactly reparations are.”
“Some groups believe that it should only come in the form of a check. This isn’t so,” Hamm said.
“How much does the federal government actually owe? For what period of time does the government owe? We are making sure people understand the answers to these questions.”
Kamm also said he and his organization spend time explaining “what the proposed federal bill actually does.”
On April 14, 2021, the House Judiciary Committee passed House Resolution 40 which established the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act.
The Commission would study the legacy of slavery in the United States and its ongoing harm and develop proposals to redress and repair, including reparations.
According to Human Rights Watch, the bill had been introduced at every congressional session since 1989 but has never before reached a committee vote. This is usually a first step toward passing legislation.
The City Council of Evanston, Illinois approved the country’s first reparations program for Black people in 2019, and in 2020 California established its own H.R. 40-style commission at the state level to study and recommend reparations for Black Californians.
in June of 2020, Howard successfully led the work to pass the City of Chicago Subcommittee on Reparations, making Chicago the second city in America to establish a local governmental body to redress past harms against its Black citizens.
On Dec. 8, 2022, Mayor Tishaura Jones signed an executive order to create a nine-member reparations commission for the city of St. Louis. It will “explore and recommend opportunities for reparations in the city,” and include at least one civil rights advocate, clergy member, attorney, academics, public health professionals, and youth. Members will serve on a volunteer basis.
“The people closest to the problems are closest to the solution,” Jones said after signing the order.
“I look forward to reviewing this commission’s work to chart a course that restores the vitality of Black communities in our city after decades of disinvestment. We cannot succeed as a city if one half is allowed to fail.”
Reparations efforts have also made progress recently in cities including Providence, Rhode Island; Asheville, North Carolina; Burlington, Vermont; and Amherst, Massachusetts.
The Reparations United website states the organization “has an aim of unity of thought and action within the reparations movement.”
“Currently there is tremendous energy within the movement at the local and state levels where grass roots action is most relevant. The current level of grassroots action in the movement is disjointed, visionless and harmfully competitive.”
Howard, who is a Chicago area business owner and real estate investor, is a former National Co-chair of The National Coalition Of Blacks for Reparations in America [N’COBRA.] While serving from 2006-2022, he assisted, led and implemented many actions within the reparations movement.
The late Congressman John Conyers first introduced H.R. 40 more than 30 years ago on the heels of the passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which granted reparations, including cash payments, to Japanese Americans who were incarcerated and forcibly relocated during World War II.
Republicans now hold the majority of seats in the House, which might stall the federal reparations progress, but not at the grassroots level.
“We are making sure everyone is on the same page,” said Safiyah Chauvin, a St. Louis area reparations activist.
“We are moving forward as a unified group. We have lawyers, activists and others who specialize in this type of thing.”
