Blessed Love Members of the Group, I was doing some research on the
web and linked with this the article, InI are most definetly planning
on attending! Maybe members of the group who are planning on going
can also plan on linking with each other there??

Millions For Reparations:

Questions We Should Be Prepared To Answer

By Dr. Conrad W. Worrill
TBWT Contributor

We must build upon the momentum of our organizing work that led to
our successful participation in the United Nations World Conference
Against Racism.

Therefore, the Durban 400, led by the December 12th Movement and the
National Black United Front (NBUF), is calling on African people in
America to get prepared over the coming months to participate in the
Millions For Reparations Mass Demonstration, March, and Protest Rally
Millions For Reparations Mass Demonstration, March, and Protest Rally
demanding reparations from the United States Government in its
Capital City, Washington, D.C. on August 17, 2002.

Against this backdrop, as we travel throughout the country, many
questions continue to be raised concerning the legitimacy of African
peoples demands for reparations in this country, Africa, the
Caribbean, Central and South America. Let us in our organizing work
for Millions For Reparations Mass Demonstration, March, and Protest
Rally, prepare ourselves in answering these questions.

At the First Pan African Conference on Reparations held in Abuja,
Nigeria, April 27-29, 1993, The Group of Eminent Persons on
Reparations was established. One of the first actions of this group
was to concisely answer many of the question raised about African
peoples demands for reparations.

As we continually repeat, in these articles, "Reparations, which
comes from the word repair, is a movement which seeks to identify and
redress those wrongs, so that the countries and people that suffered
will enjoy full freedom (and independence) to continue their own
development on more equal terms."

These are some of the questions that are most frequently asked about
African peoples demands for reparations that the Group of Eminent
Persons on Reparations answered.

Question: Why are we asking so late?

Answer: This is not late for the following reasons: There is no
statute of limitations, which limits claims for murder and genocide,
such as was involved in slavery,

Further, when slavery was abolished in the 1830's, it was succeeded
by colonialism. This did not abolish exploitation of the colonies
(and exploitation of African people in the America's), it was merely
a transformation from one set of subjugations to another. Colonialism
ended in Africa only 30 years ago and racism, and racial
discrimination continues in the United States. As colonies, Africans
could not speak for themselves and were not free to do so. African
people in America have been faced with similar challenges.

Question: From whom are we asking for Reparations?

Answer: All those countries and peoples who we can prove unjustly
benefited from carrying on slavery and other forms of unjust
exploitation will be asked to make reparations to those who suffered
and continue to suffer as a result of their actions.

Question: Is there any legal basis to support the present demands?

Answer: The demand for African Reparations is based on morality and
equity, but it is also supported in international law. There is a
principle in law known as unjust enrichment: if one party becomes
enriched as a result of a wrong done to another party, the law
compels the former to make an adjustment to the latter. There is, in
various conventions, such as the Geneva Convention, of the Human
Rights Charter of the United Nations, clearly laid down prohibitions
against the denial of human rights. This is what Malcolm X was
articulating in the 1960's.

This is not a matter that necessarily has to be taken before ordinary
courts of law. The conscience of the world is a peoples' tribunal,
and it certainly helps our experts who are pursuing various kinds of
research relative to reparations.

This is one of the reasons that the December 12th Movement and NBUF
led a delegation (the Durban 400) to participate in the United
Nations World Conference Against Racism. We joined forces with
African people from around the world in support of the resolution
that the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade was a Crime Against Humanity;
thus, African People are Owed Reparations Everywhere!

Question: Should the present generations be held responsible for the
wrong doings of their ancestors?

Answer: The African Reparations Movement is not out to penalize the
present generations who are descendents of slave-owners, slave-
traders, and slave-merchants, etc. What is being placed before the
world is the fact that certain countries today (including the United
States), and certain sections of the present generation, are in a
better position, economically, politically, and socially than the
claimants, as a result of the unjust enrichment enjoyed by their
ancestors at the expense of the claimants.

We encourage everyone to get ready to participate in the Millions For
Reparations Mass Demonstration, March, and Protest Rally on August
17, 2002 in Washington, D.C.

(Dr. Worrill is the National Chairman of the National Black United
Front / NBUF located at 12817 S. Ashland Ave., Flr. 1, Calumet Park,
Ill. 60827, 708-389-9929, Fax 708-389-9819, E-Mail:
nbufchi@allways.net , Web page: nbufront.org)