Caucasians United for Reparations and Emancipation

"I am a 44-year-old Caucasian female that was primarily raised on the West and East coast respectively. I now live in the south...Texas...and feel reduced...silenced by the open racism at every turn... Being raised as a White in this society has created in this little American a place where I am deaf, dumb and blind to the actual social truth. I can not possibly begin to know what it is to percieve myself and my ancestors through the eyes and ears of a society based on active distinction between types of people. No one raised as a White person will ever know. Can our inability to fully perceive the subtle giant of our 'privilege' be considered racism? It does in me.... I can say that by challenging my socialization I began to see the edges of my own limited thought.... Although this astounding realization was terrible, it was worth the discovery. I can only work with what I know... Racism to me is the projection of the human experience based on lifelong assumptions - taught or acquired through socially accepted behaviors - that there are "classes of people"... I challenge all White people that already love and respect our fellow African Americans to take a closer look. I suspect that the oppression that exists in every aspect of the African-American experience - legal, economic, perceived worth at the individual, family and national levels - have an equal and opposite manifestation in the White community. We are in this together. We are in so much pain and confusion....together. As in all dysfunctional families, no one is exempt. The disease is equally shared by all the members, each having his/her own part. I hope that by my own terrible realizations, that we can seek to begin to pull off layers of old socialized racism we didnÕt know we had," writes OÕDelle Hall on the CURE website. Hall is an activist for social justice and peace and reparations for Blacks. She is joined by many other Caucasians who have come together to give a voice to an overlooked advocate of Reparations: the White activist.

Caucasians United for Reparations and Emancipation (CURE), founded and incorporated in 1992, gives a voice to White activists for reparations. Founded by Ida Hakim, CURE was formed largely on the recommendation from Black repara-tions leader Mr. Silis Muhammad. Ms. Hakim had written to Mr. Muhammad asking what White people could do to make amends for the unspeakable acts that were forced upon enslaved Africans. Mr. Muhammad re-sponded that White people could support the movement for reparations for slavery and its lingering effects, and support him in his work to bring the arguments for reparations to the United Nations. After receiving Mr. Muhammad's instruction, Ms. Hakim began to locate white people who were connected in some way with the Black community, and soon CURE was formed.

One of its primary goals is to back Black-led initiatives for reparations and to work within White communities to win support for the movement. "CURE is compromised of white Americans who have a passionate conviction that during the enslavement - and afterwards - our people committed a horrendous crime against people of African descent, and that we owe reparations. We also know that slavery and the lingering effects of slavery are so far reaching that there will never be a way we can fully make up for it. As Whites, we do not see ourselves as deciding in any way what justice would look like," writes Donna Lamb, CURE member.

Many CURE members see themselves as continuing the work of the Abolitionists and are fighting not only to change how this society feels about reparations, but the very basis on which society is functioning. Members recognize that the Black Holocaust has not yet ended and that they have a duty and obligation to do whatever they can to ensure its death. CURE members are of different ages, from different backgrounds, and hold varied political and religious views, but they have all come together to call for both reparations and emancipation.

At a reparations rally in Washington DC, CURE founder Ida Hakim led the organization and encouraged members to voice their remorse about what Whites did. "The reparations movement is creating a spiritual revolution. Our race of people, especially here in America, seems to have a very peculiar illness. Whites committed unspeakably savage and inhumane acts against Black people during slavery, and these acts were justified with a belief in white superiority. Reparations forces us to examine whether we still feel this way deep within, and it offers us an opportunity to right ourselves while we work to right the wrong," she told another activist during the rally.

Why Reparations?

Because it is just. Because it is right. Because it has created such an enormous divide between Blacks and Whites in this country. Because this country was built on the labor, sweat and blood of slaves who were forced into a land, religion, culture and system that was not theirs. Perhaps these people say it best:

"How unified and elevated can a people be when they have been thoroughly alienated from their own natural language and culture? Today, although 40 million African-Americans earn $400 billion or more per year, millions of us live in slums, millions of us are addicted to drugs, millions of us are mal-educated and depressed, and, as a people we do not own one major airline, one major automobile producer or one major grocery chain. Sometimes our people wonder about why it is that relatively newly arrived brown and yellow immigrant groups have been able to make much more progress than Blacks in certain areas of business (even though we have been here for centuries and even though we were allegedly freed in 1865). One of the pivotal reasons is that these groups (e.g. Chinese, Vietnamese, Arabs) are still in possession of their mother tongues and still see their primary allegiance as something that is due not to America, but to their own nations and cultures. How can we as a people regain true freedom, justice and equality? How can we once again become a powerful and independent people? The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said: Accept your own and be yourself! Today Mr. Silis Muhammad is spearheading the legal battle for Reparations for all Black descendants of slaves in America. Inside of that he has emphasized that the focus of Reparations is our restoration as a people. We will only achieve enduring progress when everything which was unjustly stolen from us is regained: our land, our government, our religion, our language and our culture. Hence, Reparations means much more than just money." Malik Al-Arkam, Boston

"What about White people in the United States: what should we be thinking and doing in relation to this effort? First, we should be willing to submit to the truth. We have arrogance as a people, so much so that we feel comfortable with the fact that our language, culture and religion have been forced upon others. Some of us may actually believe that our civilization is superior and should be dominant. Standing in a position of power we seem to want to forget the vile deeds that gave our civilization dominance today. I assert that as long as we accept ill-gotten wealth, power and position as rightfully ours, we have no individual human dignity and our civilization is not a civilization at all. Think about it. In the United States, what have we been if not inhumane to African Americans? Today when the lingering effects of slavery are brought to our attention, the U.S. Govern-ment and the masses of White people still refuse to ack-nowledge responsibility even to the degree of apologizing. This is a savage, arrogant, shameful, inhumane response. Gratefully, increasing numbers are standing against the stream. We who have the heart to try and change the present condition are supporting the movement for recognition, restoration and reparations for African Americans. We know we have to make reparation for our own sake." Ida Hakim-Lawrence, Atlanta

"And today, America is an independent nation isn't she? Flies her flag. Walks around the world holding herself as the world police. Doesn't she? But you haven't even policed your own inner shores, America. You are the biggest criminal in the history of the world - to steal a people from a land and to rape them, to take their language, to take their culture, to take their religion, and leave them in a state of civil death. You are the biggest criminal the world has ever known. So we who were brought here as slaves want to live again as a People. Some of us, one day, want to live as a Nation. Because I one day want my son to aspire to be a Senator, to be a Congressman, to possibly be the President of his own Nation. What about when Shabazz is building cars in his own Nation? What about when you pull out money and it's a Black man on the money? I want us to live again." Ajani Mukarram, Chicago

" For 250 years we robbed millions of enslaved Africans of the wealth their labor created. The wealth that was rightfully theirs, which they should have been able to pass down to their descendants, went instead into our pockets to be passed down generation after generation to our heirs, doubling and tripling in value all the way. That is the root cause of the huge economic disparity between Blacks and whites that exists in this nation today. We also committed indescribable mental, physical, and spiritual brutality against these enslaved Africans in order to coerce them into submitting to our exploitation. We robbed them of their identity as a people as we stripped from them their mother tongues, their traditional religions and original cultures, and forced upon them instead European language, religion and culture. We destabilized their social structures, relations between men and women, the family, and did everything we could to break their spirit, set one against another, and demoralize them as human beings. The heart-wrenching, far-reaching results of this, too, are very much with us now. What we did was truly a crime against humanity, and the massive damage it caused has to be repaired. In other words, reparations must be made!" Donna Lamb, New York City

Facing Opposition

Every activist of reparations must face heavy opposition to the movement, and CURE members are not exempt from criticism. Standard criticisms of reparations are constant opportunities to re-educate and abolish the misinformation that is so commonly held as truth. The objections are diverse and include the following:

1. Slavery happened a long time ago and we should just drop it; I had nothing to do with slavery and do not feel like I owe anyone anything

2. Whites fought and died in the Civil War so that slavery would end, and this settled any possible debt

3. Blacks need to use initiative instead of looking for a handout

4. Africans sold their own people into slavery, so it is their fault

CURE members are dedicated to voicing the truth. They welcome any chance to point out that the aftermath of slavery is horribly current until today; that draft riots showed that most Northern Americans fought the Civil War to save the Union, not to free the slaves; that standing up for your rights and demanding the return of what was stolen from you (which is what reparations is about) is self-empowerment, not begging; that regardless of what Africans were forced to do by European foreigners does not reduce or excuse in any way the crimes committed by White people and this country.

CURE Members are dedicated to their cause and are eloquent in their expressions.

Laura Belarbi, CURE member, writes: "Whites came out with all the benefits after slavery ended. Blacks continued to suffer and our American government supported unequal treatment by enforcing unequal laws.... Slavery benefitted Whites only. As a nation we benefitted from it. As a nation we committed crimes against humanity and built our country on it. As a nation it is time we admit it was wrong and find a way to repair the damage."

Larry Yates, CURE member, writes: "Reparations are not a response of guilt, or to something that happened long ago. They are a response to an ongoing condition that has changed over the years, but still exists now.... While I agree that reparations seem impossible now, I remember when millions of people (of all races) believed that legal racial segregation would last forever, at least in the South. Not long before that, it was accepted by everyone that all working class children would be working full time by the age of 13, often in highly dangerous jobs. It was also accepted that women were not mentally equipped to vote or own property. In the decades ahead, there will be radical change..."

Kevin Chestnut tells us: "Slavery reparations is a social justice issue. Advancing in justice in this area advances justice for ALL people. It is quite clear that there is huge resistance in our society to reparations - or to even discuss it - so effort is needed to clear the way for the public examination of the facts. Sensitizing the public may not be essential to win some of the battles in court, but this step will certainly help to minimize the social disruption and loss of life when favorable judgements come through. Working towards racial harmony is, of course, desirable. However, reparations is primarily about a stricken population getting recompensated for a huge injustice done to it, in terms of compensation for forced labor, sufficient amelioration of the gross harm done in twisting and violating their social fabric, and to provide fair access to the basic social supports needed to live in dignity (housing, food, education, protection), with the opportunity for self-determination. The just redistribution of assets and their access is the prior immediate concern - working towards harmony happens along the way and afterwards, but this should not hold up any compensation. When a justice issue involves a minority-population claimant, it is always helpful - to all sides - to hear overt support from those in the majority culture, to have allies across the human spectrum. And ordinary citizens DO have influence over judges. One of the greatest heartaches in America is the issue of racial division and fearfulness. There has been very little honest, caring and respectful dialogue in this area for the common person, and as the gap in wealth continues to widen in the US, the racial strife and turmoil will continue to grow. This is a good and very timely place to put our social-change energies. It goes to the root of much of our society's distress."

I was able to connect with CURE's founder, Ida Hakim, and she graciously granted us a moment of her time and energy to answer a few questions.

QUESTION: What has been the response from the Black community to CURE?
Hakim: Almost unanimously positive. There was disbelief sometimes that CURE was intending to do good, as whites have a long history of interfering with Black movements. One of the reasons that we were looked upon favorably is that the leader who inspired the formation of CURE is highly regarded, and not known as being a sell-out to whites.

QUESTION: What has been the response from the White community to CURE?
Hakim: Initially there was very little positive response from the White community. Today we have much more of a positive, receptive response. Yet a large number of responses have been laced with anger and arguments against reparations.

QUESTION: How successful has CURE been in opening the eyes of white people?
Hakim: CURE has been a very keen and clear voice. ÊWe allow White people to speak their mind, and we respond truthfully and with consideration. If it is possible to open the eyes of White America, CURE is one of the best organizations to help bring it about.

QUESTION: What are some ways people can get involved?
Hakim: We invite participation through our website, and in other ways depending upon the person and the community in which they live. Persons should contact Ida Hakim at Hakimida@aol.com in order to get started.

For more information on this organization, visit their website at www.reparationsthecure.org. But don't stop there. Enlist your support. Become an activist and inspire real change within this society. Stand up to the powers that be and make sure that they know that we demand justice and change.