Focus of Monday after Thanksgiving is on reparations giving to Black-led Organizations
Apology-photo by Jan Jenkins.jpg — White congregants apologize to descendants of enslaved African Americans for the sin of slavery and complicity in the misbelief of white supremacy at the state capitol Juneteenth 2023.
LANSING, Mich. — Move over Cyber Monday. A newly designated day on the Monday after Thanksgiving promotes giving to Black-led organizations focused on reparations for African Americans. It is Reparations Monday.
An advocate of Reparations Day in mid-Michigan is the Justice League of Greater Lansing Michigan. The reparations charity is addressing the racial wealth gap between Black and white people. It has raised more than $350,000 for scholarships and grants that will support education, home ownership and entrepreneurship.
JusticeLeagueGLM-Bryan-Solace —Willye Bryan and Prince Solace lead Justice League of Greater Lansing Michigan as founder and president, respectively.
“Reparations Monday aims the spotlight on Black-led reparations groups working for justice and healing for centuries of human rights violations,” said Willye Bryan, founder, Justice League of Greater Lansing Michigan. “When we succeed the entire community benefits, and we’re one step closer to what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. termed the “Beloved Community” — a place where we all share equally and proudly the fruits of our collective labor.
“We invite the public to learn about and support our journey to justice. We want to build a more equitable future – to heal together and repair the breach in our community.”
Movement for Black Lives, an umbrella nonprofit for 50 organizations, dedicated Reparations Monday. The national group works to achieve advancements in areas that affect Black people by hosting conversations and creating a shared movement-wide strategy.
Bryan continued, “Some may ask why Giving Tuesday — The Tuesday after Thanksgiving — doesn’t work for reparations giving. While Giving Tuesday has become a national day for moving funds towards nonprofits, it supports an already unequal system of organizations with primarily large promotion budgets and led primarily by white people. Reparations Monday addresses that.”
Bryan identified the many gross human rights violations against Black people that have prevented them from accumulating generational wealth. They stem from chattel slavery and its aftermath: genocide, hate crimes, land theft, incarceration and police violence, among many others, as well as the collective complicity in the misbelief of white supremacy.
During 2023, the Justice League also addressed the first step in the journey of reparations: acknowledgment of the wrongs of slavery. Three events were organized where white congregants apologized to descendants of enslaved African Americans for the sin of slavery and complicity in the misbelief of white supremacy. One was in front of the state capitol on Juneteenth.
More information about the League is at www.JusticeLeagueGLM.org, including online donations access and soon-to-be-announced educational scholarships for descendants of enslaved African Americans in Greater Lansing. Grants for home ownership and entrepreneurship will follow.
About Justice League of Greater Lansing Michigan
The 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization was founded in 2021 to repair the breach in Greater Lansing caused by the nation’s historical damage of slavery. Reparations are in the spirit of repentance for the sins of slavery, its aftermath of gross human rights violations — including genocide, white supremacist violence, land theft, incarceration and police violence — and complicity in the misbelief of white supremacy.
The solution is a faith-based model of reparations. The Justice League builds relationships and facilitates reparations between houses of worship and collaborative partners to close the racial wealth gap that exists between Black and white residents. This specifically means increasing wealth equity for descendants of enslaved African Americans. Financial reparations will support home ownership, education and entrepreneurship. More information is at www.JusticeLeagueGLM.org.
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