Building Foundations For Reparations
Last fall and earlier this year, our church hosted a couple of opportunities to meet and hear from members of the Justice League of Greater Lansing (JLGL) whose mission is to increase wealth equity for African Americans in the Greater Lansing Area. JLGL is accomplishing this mission by building relationships and facilitating reparations between houses of worship and collaborative partners. Through an Endowment Fund supported by payments from faith-based individual donors as well as corporate and community-based organizations, grants are being awarded in three major areas: education scholarships, homeownership and business startups.
A group of people from our church who are interested in supporting JLGL’s mission met together in late March to form the UU Reparations Team. An organizing principle of the Team is aligned with the proposed UUA Eighth Principle, which will be voted on in June at General Assembly; “working to build a diverse, multicultural Beloved Community through actions that accountably dismantle racism.” Team members have begun the work needed to enable UU Lansing to eventually make payment toward JLGL’s Endowment Fund to help “repair the breach.”
To learn more about this effort, here are three documentary films that share stories of some of the historical and present-day circumstances that cause wealth inequities. (The first two are available on YouTube; third on Netflix):
“They Even Took the Dirt” – A thriving Black community in Lansing is destroyed during the construction of I-496. (1h 4m)
“The Barber of Little Rock” –Arlo Washington, an Arkansas barber, is working to make economic justice a reality in his community. (34m)
“Descendant” – Descendants of enslaved Africans seek justice and healing after the discovery of a sunken slave ship in Africatown, Alabama. (1h 49m)
To learn more directly from JLGL, you can sign up to attend one of their monthly General Team Meetings at the Justice League of Greater Lansing by clicking on ‘Join the Work.’
If you would like to become involved or have questions regarding the UU Reparations Team, contact Marcus Cheatham or Aspen Bernath-Plaisted.