Freedom Dreams by Robin D.G. Kelley

Author:Robin D.G. Kelley [Kelley, Robin D. G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-8070-0978-9
Publisher: Beacon Press
Published: 2002-04-14T16:00:00+00:00

The RNA experienced more than its share of state repression during the late 1960s and 1970s; several of its members, including Imari Obadele, were jailed on charges ranging from assault to conspiracy and sedition. But the RNA survived, reconstituted itself as the New Afrikan Movement, and continued to press for reparations through N’COBRA. Imari Obadele, founder of N’-COBRA, drafted a plan for reparations that went far beyond the RNA’s “Anti-Depression Program.” Presented to the U.S. Congress in 1987, the document was called “An Act to Stimulate Economic Growth in the United States and Compensate, in part, for the Grievous Wrongs of Slavery and the Unjust Enrichment which Accrued to the United States Therefrom.” In this plan, Congress would be obliged to pay out not less than three billion dollars annually to African Americans. One-third of this sum was to be paid directly to families; another one-third would go to the duly elected government of the Republic of New Afrika. (Elections would be monitored by the UN or some comparable international body.) The remaining one-third would support a National Congress of Organizations composed of churches, black civic organizations, and community-based movements committed to ending “the scourge of drugs and crime in New Afrikan communities and [advancing] the social, economic, educational, or cultural progress and enrichment of New Afrikan people.” Participating groups would have had to been in operation for a minimum of two years before the passage of legislation.

Knowing that the United States would not simply hand over the Southern states, Obadele proposed a plebiscite to determine the will of the black community for a separate state. Employing carefully worded, legalistic language, the plan required that at least 10 percent of the black population older than sixteen years of age sign petitions before such a plebiscite could be held. The petition process would be overseen by judges appointed by the president of the United States, the UN, and the RNA. The sovereign status of each state in question, then, would be determined by a majority of voters. If the majority of voters elected to become part of the Republic of New Afrika, residents of these states could leave and maintain U.S. citizenship, stay and become citizens of the RNA, or enjoy dual citizenship irrespective of where they lived. What is not clear from the document, however, is whether or not white people can choose New Afrikan citizenship or residency in the South. Judging from the carefully worded and extremely democratic tone of the document, it seems quite possible that nonblack people fully committed to black liberation and a “New Afrikan” way of life could join the republic, though it is not encouraged.

On May 19, 1999 (Malcolm X’s birthday), N’COBRA did hold a plebiscite on reparations, though the purpose was to raise community awareness and mobilize African Americans to elect “economic development commissioners” (EDCs) who would serve as local organizers for the reparations campaign. Preparation for the plebiscite gave N’COBRA an opportunity to circulate its latest “main and immediate demands.” These included:

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