By Joanne Berlin
The August 4 Committee For Racial Justice meeting in the Thelma Terry Center at Virginia Ave. Park will focus on reparations. In Washington and all across the nation a conversation is taking place about whether or not Black Americans are entitled to reparations in compensation for enslavement, Jim Crow, mass incarceration and a host of other crimes against humanity. The U.S. House of Representatives is considering HR 40, a bill that would establish a commission to study the question of reparations. Presidential candidates are beginning at least to mention the topic. With the Committee for Racial Justice, the topic is not, of course, a new one. But the time seems right to renew our exploration of it.
On Sunday, August 4, Trudy Goodwin and Bob Gordh will lead an examination of the chief arguments for and against reparations, using videos of recent pro and con testimonies in Congress as points of departure for discussion.
Our special guest speaker will be Dr. David L. Horne (Professor Emeritus), former chair of the Pan African Studies Department at Cal State University, Northridge. Dr. Horne is is the author of Straight to the Point: An Introduction to Critical Thinking; Meeting Maat: The Handbook of African Consensus Meetings and Gatherings; Introduction to American Government: From a Black Perspective, as well as numerous scholarly and community-based articles, including two Four-Part Series articles in Turning Point Magazine, one on Pan Africanism and the other on Reparations. An internationally known speaker, Dr. Horne has presented scholarly papers in Ghana, South Africa, France, Libya, Zambia, the Netherlands, Brazil, Trinidad, Cuba and Barbados. Dr. Horne will focus especially on the forms reparations in this country might take.
Join organizers for potluck supper at 6 p.m. and an informative & interesting program starting at 6:30 p.m. This event is sponsored by the Committee for Racial Justice. Co-sponsored by Virginia Ave Park; the African American Parent, Student, Staff Support Group; and Church in Ocean Park. Sunday, August 4, from 6 –8:30 p.m. Thelma Terry Bldg., 2200 Virginia Ave. Child care provided. For more information, call (310) 422-5431.
