Reparations – BlackPressUSA

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Democrats reintroduced the idea of reparations with a resolution that offers trillions of federal dollars in reparations to Black Americans to repair the damage of the enslavement of Africans in America for 250 years
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By April Ryan

“The President doesn’t have a public position on the issue,” said a senior White House official regarding the most recent debate on reparations or a reparations study. The question arises as Maryland’s latest controversy over reparations versus a reparations study continues. Governor Wes Moore has vetoed any bill that proposes studying reparations in the state. Maryland’s Legislative Black Caucus wants a two-year commission to study reparations. Maryland State Senator Ron Watson supports Governor Moore, saying, “The vestiges of slavery are well known and have been well documented. And if anyone reads the recommendations of past reports, one would see that this governor has been silently focused on resolving these inequities.” Over the last 25 years, Moore emphasized, five reparations-related studies were conducted, including the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the State Commission to Coordinate the Study, Commemoration, and Impact of the History and Legacy of Slavery in Maryland. Moore’s firm “no” emphasizes that it’s time for “action,” not another study.
On Friday, Maryland’s first Black governor spoke extensively about his veto decision at the NAACP national board meeting in Baltimore City, where the organization is headquartered. Sources close to the meeting say the governor was “clear” in his explanation. In Washington, D.C., reparations also dominated conversations last Thursday on Capitol Hill. Democrats reintroduced the idea of reparations with a resolution that offers trillions of federal dollars in reparations to Black Americans to repair the damage of the enslavement of Africans in America for 250 years, followed by Jim Crow and the ongoing effects of other federally supported discriminatory policies. Historically, there have been instances of reparations in this country—such as for Japanese Americans interned during World War II. $38 million was awarded in total, with each victim receiving a $20,000 payout. However, Black Americans have not received anything comparable for the enslavement of Africans in America, during which enslavers profited off free labor.
In 2021, Evanston, Illinois, created a reparations plan for its Black residents. Additionally, Georgetown University created a new fund that awards $400,000 annually to community-based projects benefiting the descendants of the men, women, and children enslaved on Jesuit plantations in Maryland. A senior White House Official said that when it comes to reparations, President Trump “is creating an economy that’s gonna work for all Americans. And if the Democrats really want to uplift the Black community, they would support the President’s One Big, Beautiful bill that would bring about record tax cuts to this economy, which would benefit Black Americans.” The President’s bill would remove undocumented immigrants from Medicaid, give Social Security recipients a reprieve, and eliminate taxes on overtime pay and tips.
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White House Correspondent April Ryan has a unique vantage point as the only Black reporter covering urban issues from the White House – a position she has held for over 28 years, since the Clinton era. She is the longest-serving Black White House correspondent in history. Her position as a White House Correspondent has afforded her unusual insight into the racial sensitivities, issues, and attendant political struggles of our nation’s past presidents.
April is the Washington D.C. Bureau Chief for BlackPressUSA.com.
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The former Atlanta mayor plans to expand Medicaid, fight harmful tariffs, and build a coalition across race and class, saying, “I’m gonna work to earn your support.”
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By April Ryan

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE – It is official: Former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is running for governor of the state of Georgia on the Democratic ticket.
At 6 a.m. this morning, Bottoms made her decision official. The 55-year-old mother, wife, politician, and lawyer served as the city of Atlanta’s 60th mayor and now runs on the Democratic ticket to be governor of the state of Georgia. Bottoms was also on the shortlist for consideration as Joe Biden’s vice-presidential pick. A few years later, President Biden courted her for the position of Public Liaison in the Biden administration.
In the lead-up to this decision and announcement, Lance Bottoms talked with Maryland Governor Wes Moore about her run. She has enlisted his campaign manager, Ned Miller, for her gubernatorial efforts.
The former mayor of Atlanta says, “300 thousand people are in this state who don’t have access to health care because we have not expanded Medicaid.” She also focuses on tariffs that have impacted “600 thousand people in Georgia who have jobs directly related to the port of Savannah; that impacts their bottom line.”
Agrobusiness, better known as farming, is the No. 1 industry in that southern state. “They are having to absorb the costs associated with the tariffs Trump is implementing,” added Lance Bottoms. If she wins this race, she will emphasize how she can “best deliver as governor to make it easier for you to make a living.”
Keisha Lance Bottoms is not the first Black woman to run for the Georgia governor’s seat. In 2018, Stacey Abrams ran a gubernatorial campaign. Abrams won the primary but lost the general election. For Bottoms, there are lessons learned, “You take a look at those elections, you take the lessons, you see what went right, and you also see what you can do better and what you can build upon.”
During her conversation with Black Press USA, she was direct in her plans not to take the Black vote for granted. “We can’t take anybody for granted. I’ve never taken any of my supporters for granted. I’m gonna work to earn the support of Black people, white people, Asian people, Hispanic people, however you identify, I’m gonna work to earn your support in this election.”
“What African Americans want is the same thing that other people want: they wanna know what will our elected officials do for us. How will our communities be stronger? How will they be better, and can we look to you in our time of need to make sure that we have elected officials who were thinking about us and fighting for us.” The former lawyer acknowledged, “That transcends race.”
By the way, Keisha Lance Bottoms is the executive producer of a Netflix show, She The People, which follows a fictional character, a Black woman elected Lieutenant Governor in Mississippi. “The timing was not what I orchestrated. I think it’s great timing,” boasted Lance Bottoms.
BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The Urban League head also offered that some companies spread the support by contributing to HBCUs and civil rights organizations. The report also captures, in an Urban League written statement, how institutions, advocates, and the business community have mobilized since George Floyd’s death to advance policing reform and racial justice
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By April Ryan
“Companies have not necessarily been transparent” in the corporate data collection process about their commitments following the police-involved death of 46-year-old George Floyd, says Marc Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League. The highly publicized Floyd death almost five years ago garnered worldwide attention and protests in search of justice on May 25, 2020, deadly case. Corporations saw the massive outpouring and offered support then. However, Morial summarizes the findings: “We use publicly available data. We use commitments that people have made.” When it comes to corporate commitment to the Black community, it is a mixed bag, “I think even some that have remained committed have made cosmetic changes, have changed names of programs. They’ve dropped a program here and there. But some have maintained most of what they do,” added Morial who spoke to the audience of the Substack show The Tea with April. The Urban League head also offered that some companies spread the support by contributing to HBCUs and civil rights organizations. The report also captures, in an Urban League written statement, how institutions, advocates, and the business community have mobilized since George Floyd’s death to advance policing reform and racial justice. However, the report also traces the political and cultural backlash. It shows that some progress has reversed.
One of the most recent real-time reversals is the current request by Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, pushing for a presidential pardon of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. He was the first officer convicted of the death of George Floyd for kneeling on his neck at the time of his death. President Trump can only pardon federal sentences. Keith Ellison, the Attorney General of Minnesota, says it’s just “a rumor” right now. However, if a Chauvin pardon were to happen, President Trump could only pardon Chauvin of the federal prison sentence. He is currently serving 20.5 years. When it comes to the state of Minnesota, there are still 22 years left on Chauvin’s state prison sentence. Ellison feels “it would be worse” for Chauvin to be pardoned. Chauvin would be transferred to a state prison to serve his 22-year sentence. Chauvin would be expected to be segregated from the general population for 23 hours daily. Ellison went on to tell Black Press USA that if a pardon does happen, “it’s a slap in the face to the Floyd family” and the multiple cultures of people around the world that called for justice for George Floyd’s death. Ellison fears that if there is indeed outrage in the streets over a pardon for Chauvin, President Trump will try to use Martial Law and the Insurrection Act against those in the streets. Damon Hewitt, President and Executive Director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law tells Black Press USA President Trump’s anticipated actions against protesters is “the legal process equivalent to wiping out Black Lives Matter Plaza.” Hewitt went on to say, “It’s another way of saying Black lives do not matter.”
BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The NAACP Legal Defense Fund is taking a victory lap for a Supreme Court win against Alabama’s discriminatory redistricting practices that targeted Black voters there.
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The NAACP Legal Defense Fund is taking a victory lap for a Supreme Court win against Alabama’s discriminatory redistricting practices that targeted Black voters there. Attorney Deuel Ross for the Legal Defense Fund says, “The Supreme Court ruled that Alabama had violated the Voting Rights Act by chopping up that Black population and declining to create two majority Black Districts.” Ross emphasized to BlackPressUSA that Alabama’s Black Belt is hundreds of years old with a “very large Black population.” Ross, who argued the case in the trial court and the United States Supreme Court, successfully proved that “Alabama had both intentionally discriminated against Black voters” by chopping up the Black Belt, a majority Black population that “runs straight through Alabama.”
This victory comes after recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions have undermined voting rights laws. “If any case was going to show that the Voting Rights Act was still needed, it was our case,” offered Ross. One of the first major blows to the 1965 Voting Rights Act was in 2013. The Supreme Court decision then gutted the pre-clearance portion of the act. The ruling was made in the Shelby V. Holder case, throwing out the pre-clearance portions of the law. That law section was created to prevent discriminatory election practices in “certain southern states” like Alabama. Within that law was a portion called pre-clearance, where the southern states that were found to be practicing discriminatory election practices against Black voters had to get clearance from the Justice Department before they made any changes to the election process or rules.

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As members of Congress looked on, Mayor Baraka was taken into custody by ICE—an act that has galvanized supporters and reignited debate over federal immigration tactics.
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Social media is still abuzz after the optics of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka’s arrest at the Delaney Hall immigration facility in Newark, New Jersey, Friday.
Rachel Noerdlinger, communications strategist for the Ras Baraka gubernatorial campaign, posted on Instagram, “One way or another, we’re going to get democracy back.”
On Instagram, many people have expressed how appealing and “infuriating” it was to watch the viral moment of congressional leaders locking arms and holding down the mayor of Newark, New Jersey. The attempts to stave off an arrest were unsuccessful.
New Jersey congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman said she and the congressional leaders working to protect the mayor from arrest were “roughed up.” They were there to view the new facility.
According to reports in The New York Times, congressional leaders were differentiated from the mayor. “Congressmen are different, congresswomen are different,” a Homeland Security Investigations agent told the mayor. We also hear the agent sternly add, “That is the last warning.” You will be placed under arrest.”
Mr. Baraka was forcefully taken into ICE custody and charged with trespassing. He was transported and held at another Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Newark for five hours before his release.
Greg Meeks, New York representative and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said, “He is the Mayor of Newark doing his job along with members of Congress. The rest of the democratic world is wondering what has happened to the United States.”
Democrats inside and outside the state of New Jersey believe this focus on Mayor Baraka’s arrest has raised attention to ICE behavior. “A Black mayor is standing in full solidarity with South American migrants who have rights not just in this country but as human beings,” added Noerdlinger.
Yesterday’s viral moment also raised attention to Ras Baraka and his political prowess, including his run for governor of New Jersey. Noerdlinger emphasizes, “Ras Baraka became the face of the opposition to Donald Trump’s inhumane policies the second federal law enforcement slapped those handcuffs on his wrists.”

The iconic bronze bust of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., once a focal point in the Oval Office during the Obama and Biden years, has been relocated.
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The bronze bust of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., which has been in the White House since the second term of the Bill Clinton administration, has been moved out of the Oval Office. A senior White House official says the bust now sits in President Donald Trump’s private dining room, just off the Oval Office.
When asked for proof of the position of the art, the official said they did not take pictures inside the private residential areas of the White House or West Wing.
Previously, the Biden and Obama administrations prominently placed the famous bust next to the fireplace in the Oval Office. The artwork was frequently captured in videos and pictures during meetings with those presidents and other leaders.
This bust is just one of many pieces of artwork around 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., which is not only the president’s home but also a living museum. The bust has been on a long-term loan from the Smithsonian to the White House since 2000. It was the first image of an African American on public display at the White House. The bust was created by African-American artist Charles Alston in 1970, two years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
That bronze bust of Dr. King has resided in various areas of the White House, from the library on the lower floor to the Oval Office in the West Wing. The King bust has never been positioned on the State Floor of the White House because Martin Luther King Jr. was a civilian.
BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — In a March 31st article published by the North Carolina Black Alliance, the Smithsonian leader revisits history during an HBCU stop at Shaw University; Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch said, “I will probably get fired at some point,” Bunch said. “But I think the goal would be to, sort of, fight the fight as long as you can.”
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By April Ryan
Hands off Our History plans more protests like the Saturday Washington DC rally, where several organizations banded together to draw attention to attempts to remove artifacts from the National Museum of African-American History and Culture. “Black people built this country, and we will not allow anyone to erase us from the American story because Black History is American History,” says Melanie Campbell, president/CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. Campbell told Black Press USA that Saturday “was the beginning of our resistance movement to fight to demand our Black history be respected.” In a March 31st article published by the North Carolina Black Alliance, the Smithsonian leader revisits history during an HBCU stop at Shaw University; Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch said, “I will probably get fired at some point,” Bunch said. “But I think the goal would be to, sort of, fight the fight as long as you can.” That fight is in the planning stages with leaders like Marc Morial of the National Urban League, Shavon Arline Bradley National Council of Negro Women, and Professor Kimberle Crenshaw of the African American Policy Forum, who were also part of the weekend demonstration for Hands Off Our History.
Referring back to the March 31st published story, “The Smithsonian, with me at the leadership, is considered the best example of DEI leadership — you know, a woke leader,” Secretary Lonnie Bunch said. “So they’ll come after the Smithsonian. I get it. I think that the most important thing for me is to help the staff continue to do the work they need to do because the challenge is, with all that’s going on, people get paralyzed.” A threat of budget cuts can also cripple the museum, according to Bunch. “The reality is nobody’s immune. We plan every day for significant budget cuts,” Bunch said. “I’ve done scenarios with budget cuts as much as 40%, which means you have to reimagine the Smithsonian.” This reporter asked the Smithsonian spokesperson, Linda St. Thomas, about the story from the North Carolina Black Alliance. She said, “I have nothing to add. The Secretary speaks for himself.”

Shavon Arline Bradley, the President of the National Council of Negro Women, is sounding the alarm with concerns over the house once owned by Mary McLeod Bethune that is now owned by the federal agency, the National Park Service. Bradley says, “We have to be concerned about the National Council of Negro Women’s Council House because you need more activity to show more engagement.” The concern is that the federal government won’t see the property as viable if there is not enough foot traffic and tourists there. “so I’m safe to say we should be concerned if we do not see more visitation to the council house,” added Arline Bradley.
The building is Mary McLeod Bethune’s final home, where she met with then-First Lady Eleanor Rosevelt and other high-ranking officials to raise awareness and action on Black issues such as equity, the economy, community development, and education. When the building was sold to the National Park Service in 1994, the organization thought the federal government would preserve the historic building and “ensure protection and the upkeep.” NCNW Members have asked to repurchase the building. Arline-Bradley says she doesn’t know “if it is that simple.” Bradley says, “Protests, marches, and a financial plan are part of the efforts to save Black historic museums and history. Meanwhile, Melanie Campbell reiterates, “Black people built this country, and we will not allow anyone to erase us from the American story because Black History is America’s History.”

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