Reparations advocates spoke at Kennedy King College in Chicago, Illinois on Tuesday, arguing the “moral” responsibility of the federal government to compensate Black Americans for slavery.
One of the attendees was waiting for the event to begin in the hallway with dozens of students outside the college theater auditorium.
Grace, a student at Kennedy King College, told Fox News Digital that she was eager to see her professor, Dr. Daniel Davis.
“I’m studying African American 101 with Professor Dr. Davis,” Grace said. She continued, “I’m here to be more advanced on my ancestors. I’ve not been to class in over 40 years, but I’m enjoying this day.”
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Davis, a faculty member at Kennedy King College’s social science department, and one of the four speakers on the panel leading the conversation on reparations, teaches African American studies.
The event, titled “Developing an Agenda: A Conversation on Reparations,” was facilitated by Kennedy King College social science department chair Dr. Ted Williams III, who asked the panel several questions about reparations to stir a discussion.
Williams, an Illinois African Descent-Citizens Reparations Commissioner (ADCRC), asked Dr. Rev. Jonathan Brooks about the U.S.’ “moral” obligation to address reparations.
“I think this is an important distinction, because one of the things that I often say is absolutely the idea of reparations and repairing this country is definitely a municipal and governmental conversation. It’s definitely a numbers’ conversation about money,” Brooks said.
“But there’s also a moral aspect of it,” he said.
Brooks is the pastor of Lawndale Christian Church in Chicago.
“A lot of people want to talk about repair, but we don’t want to talk about truth,” Brooks said. “And so repair is not just the check, it’s also the confession of the harm that was done. So truth before repair, before you even start talking about what the check you’re going to write or how you’re going to fix it, can you admit that you did it?”
The panel spoke about the importance of reparations to students and members of the public.
ADCRC Chair Marvin Slaughter, Jr. said that “seven quadrillion dollars” was contributed to the U.S. by slave labor.
The “seven quadrillion” figure comes from missing wages for 24 hours a day for enslaved people since they “had no freedom of time,” Slaughter told Fox News Digital, citing a study he conducted in 2022.
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“The total value is a little harder to calculate, but we see that for just 1839, we contributed the modern day equivalent of 6.2 trillion. Just that one year!,” he added.
Davis was shocked about the number.
“Just hearing these numbers, it tells such a crazy story, but I’ve never heard that number before. I don’t question it one bit, but seven quadrillion dollars, and we have most of the country, the overwhelming majority of the country, not for reparations or some type of compensation for all of that free labor. And the value that we add to this country,” Davis said.
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The ADCRC in March released a report laying out what it called the state’s history of harms against Black Illinoans. The ADCRC released what it described as its “first comprehensive, evidence-based” report examining “how slavery and its vestiges produce historical harms and continue to generate inequities for Black Illinoisans.”
The report, titled “Taking Account: A History of Racial Harm & Injustice Against Black Illinoisans,” was created by the commission to trace “racial injustice from colonial enslavement and early statehood through Reconstruction, Jim Crow, urban renewal, and mass incarceration.”
Williams also mentioned local officials in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, paying out 25K in reparations payments to descendants of Blacks who were affected by housing discrimination.
“We want the government that is responsible for enslaving our ancestors and responsible for the gaps that we see in everything from mother and infant mortality, education, educational attainment, wealth. They’re responsible for all of these things,” Slaughter told the crowd of students.
Slaughter went on to say, “In addition to that acknowledgment, acknowledgment without restitution, without paying for the sin for the crime is nothing. So, you need to compensate the individuals who have experienced the harm directly and if those individuals are no longer alive because you waited for them out, you need to compensate their descendants. And finally closure, making sure that you aren’t repeating the harm is vital.”
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Some of the students spoke with Fox News Digital after the event.
Leonte Fraley, a native of the Englewood neighborhood in Chicago and a graduate of Kennedy King College, is very active in the community. He launched, “Reach, Teach, Pray (RTP),” a nonprofit youth development organization based in Chicago with a “mission to empower underprivileged youth.”
“I showed up to have more understanding about reparations. This event was very helpful, and I feel like it was educational on our past history and knowing what we can move forward,” Fraley told Fox News Digital.
A current student, Wynden, told Fox News Digital that he heard about this event from his professors, Davis and Williams. Wynden wants to get into the trades and hopefully become an HVAC.
“Sometimes I feel we’re unorganized, and we have to get organized. It’s like, if you’re in a race and your shoe is untied and the other person’s shoe isn’t untied. You are more likely to lose the race because you can trip and fall,” Wynden said.
