Reparations Conversation by 2020 Presidential Contenders
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www.mississippilink.com VOL. 25, NO. 22 MARCH 21 - 27, 2019 50¢ WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH SPOTLIGHT Senator Elizabeth Warren Jennifer Riley delivers Stellar performance Collins at town hall event Collins Mississippi Link Newswire Editor’s Note: As part of our monthly series spotlighting wom- en making a difference during the WOMEN’S month of March. We thought we HISTORY would re-introduce you to Jenni- MONTH fer Riley Collins the fi rst African- American candidate for attorney general in the state of Mississippi. She’s the fi rst African-American Warren addresses audience at JSU while CNN’s Jake Tapper looks on. PHOTO COURTESY OF CNN and female democratic nomi- eral courts. An advocate for qual- nee for this position. Her bio, as ity representation and equal jus- By Othor Cain on full display as she told heart that. I have three older brothers. the bed is the dress. And some pulled from the ACLU website, is tice for all she has been a speaker Editor wrenching stories of her child- They all went off and joined the people here will know the dress. our feature. both across the country on issues Looking for that perfect hood struggles. military. That was their ticket It’s the one that only comes out Jennifer A. Riley-Collins is a related to providing zealous rep- comeback? Jake Tapper, Chief Washing- to America’s middle class. I for weddings, funerals and grad- native of Meridian, MS. She is a resentation to juvenile clients. She That’s what Massachusetts ton Correspondent for CNN, was the late-in-life baby. My uations and my mother is in her 1987 Magna Cum Laude gradu- has coordinated the legislative Sen. Elizabeth Warren has been host of The Lead with Jake Tap- mother used to call me the “sur- slip and in her stocking feet and ate of Alcorn State University. In advocacy efforts aimed at reform- doing since her botched handling per and host of CNNs Sunday prise” and about the time I was she’s pacing back and forth and 1993, she earned her Masters of ing Mississippi’s juvenile justice of claims of Native American morning public/political affairs in middle school, my daddy she’s crying. She is saying “we Criminal Justice Administration system and de-institutionalizing heritage. She has watched other program State of the Union, had a heart attack and it was will not lose this house. We will from the University of Central at-risk youth. senators that are 2020 presiden- served as the moderator for the serious. Thought he was going not lose this house.” She was 50 Texas in one year while serving Collins has studied and writ- tial hopefuls zoom past her in town hall. During one exchange to die. The church neighbors years old. She had never worked on active duty as a primary staff ten about the Mississippi juvenile their quest to take on President with Tapper, Warren became brought covered dishes. It was a outside the home. She was tru- offi cer. In 1997, she returned to justice system. She has authored a Donald Trump next November. very emotional as she shared her scary time. He survived but he ly terrifi ed. And I watched her Mississippi after receiving a merit number of professional publica- Warren might have found her early childhood struggles. couldn’t go back to work. We while she fi nally just pulled it to- based scholarship and in 1999 tions and training materials to in- mojo. Tapper: You talk about how lost our family station wagon gether, put that dress on, put on received her Doctor of Jurispru- clude Mississippi, An Assessment At a CNN-sponsored town your family stood at the brink of and at night I would hear my her high heels and blew her nose dence from Mississippi College of Access to Counsel and Quality hall event held on the campus fi nancial disaster through a good parents talk and that’s where I and walked to the Sears and got School of Law, graduating a full of Representation in Youth Court of Jackson State University, part of your childhood. How has learned words like mortgage and a minimum wage job, and that semester ahead of her classmates. Proceedings, published Fall of Monday, Warren delivered a that shaped your life in the Sen- foreclosure and I remember the minimum wage job saved our Collins is an attorney licensed very strong performance. Her ate? day that I walked into my par- Collins Warren to practice in both state and fed- strength in the policy arena was Warren: I’ll tell you about ents’ bedroom and laying out on Continued on page 3 Continued on page 3 NAARC applauds reparations conversation by 2020 presidential contenders By Julianne Malveaux ner of NAARC and president of the In- tions Summit convened by IBW in New and rehabilitation. These are the intend- NNPA News Wire Columnist stitute of the Black World 21st Century York City. The nonpartisan commission ed outcomes of HR 40. The candidates, The National African-American Repa- (IBW). “They refl ect an increasing body is comprised of distinguished black lead- some of whom are Senators, should craft rations Commission (NAARC) applauds of scholarship that defi nitively draws the ers from across the U.S. in the fi elds of a Senate companion bill. This can be several presidential contenders for their connection between the enslavement of law, education, public health, economic done now if they are serious about their recent expressed interest in reparations Africans and the persistent wealth-gap development, religion, labor, civil and support for reparations.” and calls on all the candidates to priori- and underdevelopment of Black Amer- human rights. To help frame the public discourse tize reparatory justice as an issue of im- ica.” For decades, the National Coalition and as a guide for action by govern- portance to black voters in the weeks and Candidates are also responding to the of Blacks for Reparations in America mental and private entities, NAARC has months ahead. growing, multifaceted reparations move- (NCOBRA) has been a leading force devised a comprehensive and detailed NAARC is also calling on all 2020 ment in this country and to the fact that advancing the struggle for reparations 10-point reparations program that ad- candidates, as well as other lawmakers, in recent public opinion polls, repara- in the U.S. Kamm Howard, national co- dresses the issues of repair and restitu- to support HR40, the reparations bill au- tions now enjoys the support of a major- chairperson of NCOBRA and a NAARC tion. The creation of a National Repara- thored by former US Cong. John Cony- Dr. Ron Daniels, IBW president ity of African Americans as well as from commissioner, welcomes the surge in tions Trust Fund is among the proposals ers, which has languished in Congress a growing percentage of young white support for reparations by the presiden- outlined in the NAACRC Reparations since 1989. HR-40, which was reintro- namely being forged by candidates Sens. millennial voters. tial candidates but insists that the discus- Program. duced in the 115th Congress, was devel- Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and “NAARC stands ready to educate and sion and debate be centered around repa- The authority would receive fund- oped in consultation with NAARC. former Housing Secretary Julian Castro, orient candidates and legislators on the rations as full repair. ing grants, scholarships, land and other It calls for establishing a federal com- is especially relevant in light of the fact defi nition, background, process, inter- “The international standard holds that forms of restitution to benefi t the collec- mission to study reparations proposals that 2019 marks the 400th Anniversary nationally accepted norms and historical reparations ‘must wipe out all conse- tive advancement of Black America. It for African Americans that would repair of the arrival of Africans in chains in Vir- precedents for reparations to repair dam- quences’ of the wrongful acts committed would be comprised of a cross-section of the horrifi c socio-economic damages ginia, which opened the era of slavery, ages infl icted on peoples and nations. against enslaved Africans,” said How- credible representatives of reparations, caused by the enslavement and genera- one of the most sordid chapters in U.S. Hopefully, this will enrich the public ard. “To get us to full repair, policies pro- civil rights, and human rights, labor, tions of racially exclusive/discrimina- history. dialogue on this vital issue,” added Dan- grams and practices must be developed faith, educational, civic and fraternal or- tory policies and practices post-emanci- “In general, the recent statements by iels. to produce the following outcomes: ces- ganizations and institutions. pation. presidential candidates are a positive de- NAARC was established in April sation and guarantees of non-repetition, The current reparations conversation, velopment,” said Ron Daniels, Conve- 2015 at a National/International Repara- restitution, compensation, satisfaction, Reparations Continued on page 3 2019 Mississippi Power Up Share this issue with a friend Spelling Bee by mailing it to: winner, runner- Inside up announced Page 4 Page 19 LOCAL 2 • THE MISSISSIPPI LINK MARCH 21 - 27, 2019 www.mississippilink.com JSU student Stacey Lanthrip named MCM February Volunteer of the Month The Mississippi Link Newswire MCM is one of the approved sites MCM was during Dr. Seuss’ Silly Jackson State University (JSU) at which JSU students can volunteer Birthday Celebration when a little student Stacey Lanthrip has been within the community. Students are girl walked up to me while I was named the Mississippi Children’s required to complete 120 hours of wearing my Dr.