First of all welcome everyone to the reparation information thought series a periodic strategic webinar featuring reparations experts racial Justice thought leaders and youth engaged in critical discussion reflection and Analysis on issues pertinent to the movement for Repertory Justice in the United States and abroad it is co-hosted by the reparation education project and
The national black cultural information trust reparation education project is uh directed by myself nikii tiifa the national black cultural information trust it’s directed by Jessica and Mitchell say it I woor she got on me last time because I wasn’t pronouncing it correct um we’re very very honored that the uh thought
Series that we have H today we’re gonna have a fireside chat we’re g to get you know informal we’re going to get personal we’re going to get Lucy goosey because we have a favorite person that we are um featuring in this fireside chat she’s none other than Robin Ru Simmons we just
Came off of a phenomenal convening that we’ll be talking about after we share her uh bio but I just want to say that it’s just a pleasure to be sharing this webinar space with what I call history in the making so jam um Jessica and Mitchell is
Who we also call Jam if you can introduce our esteemed guest for this fireside chat yes definitely Robin Ru Simmons is the founder and executive director of first repair a not not for-profit organization that informed local reparations nationally she serves as a chairperson of the city of evon’s
Reparations committee Ru Simmons is the former fifth award Alderman of the city of Evon Illinois where she led in collaboration with others the passage of the nation’s first municipally funded reparations legislation for black residents which began dispersements in January 2022 Ru Simmons was born and raised in
The largely segregated fifth W of eon a city of 75,000 on the shores of Lake Michigan on the northern border of Chicago she laid the foundation for her life’s work in 1998 when she became a residential real estate broker troubled by the wealth disparities and concentrated poverty she witnessed
Locally and saw in other urban communities she wanted to help young adults begin to build wealth through home ownership as an entrepreneur she launched and operated multiple businesses including a bookstore in the fifth award that also offered free after school programming and a construction company in Evon that employed black
Trades people developing dozens of affordable houses funded by the Illinois neighborhood stabilization program she continues to manage a handful of residential and Commercial properties in Evon so welcome welcome W welcome Robin ruse Simmons thank you for the warm welcome I am as excited as you are
Sister nikichi and jam for uh to be here with you today coming off of this convening I can’t wait to get into it I love that it’s informal and um fun Loosey Goosey as you said I’m I’m looking forward to seeing what that’s about so I want to start off with this
If I can I um um we titled this uh fireside chat Robin Ruth Simmons the Rosa Parks of the reparations uh movement and early early on I it might have been at the first convening in Evon uh that I heard that term and I understand that it came from uh an
Ancestor who is now an ancestor who was a starch reparation is none other than our dear brother from Chicago brother Conrad warell and I began to think I said you know he’s right I mean Rosa pars sat down on that bus actually it was this week in 1955 it was December
1st 1955 and it’s really interesting because you always have your convenience around this same time period this ancestral uh uh vibration from Rosa Parks is really um uh um um searing up you know within you but she started uh a movement now I will say some folk came
To me and say nikichi how can Robin just came on the scene how can you call her Rosa Park well you know what there were a lot of people before Rosa Parks there were but it was Rosa Parks and everything about her that touched the imagination and spirit of
The masses of the people that led to the the the civil rights movement and essentially Robin that’s what you’ve done uh in Evon so what do you think about that talk to us a little bit about uh this I you always were a famous person but you are I I said at that
First EV Community you were going down in history um you said that you said that at that first convening and you’re right it did come from um our great ancestor Dr Conrad roel I had the privilege of meeting him um at a symposium that he had along with the en Cobra Chicago en
Cobra chapter and um I’m so grateful for him and so many others that have invested in me and shared all of the knowledge um that I’ve been able to apply in my leadership um and I thought it was a lot when I heard it cam Howard brought that
Message to the uh Evanson Town Hall which was incredible it was you know several hundred people and um national leaders and cam delivered that message uh from Dr roel and in that moment I didn’t fully understand it but the more the um local movement expands and grows
And in Evon in 2019 there was Evon and now we’ll talk about later there are over 200 um initiatives 70 almost 80 of them were presid in Evanston over last week um I get it I also am fully aware that it is not me alone that I’m not
Innovative didn’t have a novel idea and I’m also fully aware that I am only possible to lead in this way because of the work of so many others including Dr Conrad and sister Rosa Parks and so many others and so I am reminded all the time
By my mentor judge LEL Jee Baptist that um our work is part of a Continuum it is cumulative he reminds us all the time that we are building on uh the work and Leadership of those before us and so I’m privileged I consider it an honor and privilege
To be awakened in this moment to call the question of reparations in my city and to be received by so many other leaders and communities to um to continue leading locally while we make our national demand so before I turn it over to jam
Um for a question I I just want to say one more thing about the Rosa Parks um um lineage shall I say most folk don’t know she was a reparation most folk don’t know that she worked in the office of congressman John Conor the John Conor
Who uh uh uh spearheaded the uh F First Federal reparations bill in uh Congress in 19 uh 889 most folk don’t know that it was because of Ros of hearts that Amari oad Deli who was in prisoned in Jackson Mississippi the reason why he did not was not
Murdered while in prison most folk don’t even know what I’m talking about but what I’m I’m saying this to say he was the one who uh gave the spark for the founding of enova National Coalition of black reparations In America which spearheaded the modern era of the reparations movement but it was Rosa
Parts who made sure that she that that he lived okay because the call went out to John Conor’s office that there was these people from Detroit who were in Mississippi C in prison part of the Republic of new Africa and that call went to Rosa Parks because she was
Working in this office and she made the phone call to the Hines County Jail that basically saved their lives so it’s just interesting these dots that uh connect all the way um through so um I I I love the the lineage we’re gonna call it f
Like to use that term that’s right and you’re just carrying it on I want to add something about the dates how significant they are and the ancestors and I remember jamoke um last week doing his libation and saying that the ancestors were whispering in our ears
And I want to say that everything we must we do must be intentional it must be strategic thoughtful considering the ancestors and even my commitment to getting substantial completion of our reparations in Evon in 2019 was that 400 year of black resilience here in America was very important to me that I along
With the community accomplished that in honor of our ancestors the same thing Chicago the first week of December not the best place to come in the United States based on the weather right I’m sure everyone wish it was in LA or Miami but the ancestors really I think are
Fueling us and keeping us strong and um thoughtful so just I encourage everyone to be really thoughtful in every move that you make within the movement right thank you so much for that I the thing that I’m always interested in is you know when something big happens people always see the
Aftermath and flock to the aftermath but I’m really interested in the mechanics of how you get things to work and what was one of the hardest things in the background to get you to the point of getting this accompl accomplish what are some of the things people don’t think
About that you had to go through you and your team and um the council what what are some of the Hoops y’all had to go through to get this uh accomplished well going back to 2019 I would say uh just capacity uh as Municipal leaders most people think that
There is all this resource and a big budget and a staff and as local leaders uh elected leaders you generally don’t have a staff or a budget and are given a very small stifle un stien unlivable wage um to do the work so organizing organizing while also working full-time
And taking care of all of my other Council duties um but we have a incredibly uh committed community that has prioritized racial Justice and Equity so just uh changing the narrative and showing how Equity had not been enough how Equity is not reparations and how reparations is the response and the
Legislative response that we need to accomplish the things that we say that we value in Evon so just changing the narrative around Equity being important public policy ordinary public policy but it not being reparations and communicating not only the public but also the elected and some of us at the
Symposium met Professor Al Tillery he was the leader that came in and educated through closed session our elected city council um to be more informed on black discrimination in our city hyper locally as well as Federal uh discriminations for example the uh discrimination in the roll out of the GI bill so public
Education and changing the narrative around uh distinguishing the difference between reparations and uh Equity I think was the biggest hurdle to overcome but we were fortunate to have attorney nikichi tiifa as part of the Nar team and many others Professor Justin Hansford cam Howard Dr Ron Daniels you know along list judge Lionel
Jee Baptist Dr Iva kurs so many um invested in what they saw Evanston attempting to do to make sure that it did uh it did it was accomplished so um Robin you talked about 2019 and that first um uh convening well you just came off of a slam dunk third phenomenal convening
Symposium of uh for state and local reparations um leaders um you mentioned um Dr Tillery I was mesmerized by his presentation and surprised with some of the results that he talked about can you talk a little bit about that those results about the the the the percentages and all like that and terms
Of um um uh folk who agree with reparations in um Evanson the demographics um of that if you can just share um some of that as well as just some of your general Impressions from this third phenomenal convening several hundred people um of of state and local reparations leaders from across the
Country absolutely so I’ll start with the survey um because there’s a lot of discussion a lot of criticism um a lot of uh responsibility on on the behalf of Evanson other communities looking to Evanston as a model which I think we should be inspiration but this is work
To be done specific to the community um so I requested along with um one of our partners the Louis Sebring family a survey a scientific survey by Dr Al tillary he has a center at Northwestern University the center for the study of um democracy and he used science social science to pull our
Community and gather the sentiments we cannot measure the uh wealth Gap yet it’s too early we just began dispersing but he measured the sentiments hearts and Minds value change and we learned that after implementing reparations there was a lot of skepticism folks weren’t sure weren’t in support it was
During Co different had different priorities but after years now at this point of public education policy change implemented policy change hearing from now 116 recipients of reparations and how that’s changed their wealth trajectory as well as their belief in government um 70% of our black of our White Community
70% of our white community and we are predominantly white City it’s important to note Evon is a small small City 75,000 predominantly white and predominantly affluent and after years of public education I must lift up our Interfaith Community for playing a very important role our synagogues and temples and houses of
Worship 70% of the white Community is in support of reparations as public policy every demographic in our city had a doubl digigit percentage increase in their trust with their local government because of the commitment to reparations um we saw the black community in support by I believe it’s
63% of course I want it to be 100% there is something to note in the timing of the survey it was before we expanded our reparations benefit to include cash as an option and so we will be back in the community um with new surveys seeing how
Cash being available as an option for reparations change the um support or the approval of reparations in the black community we do believe that will change um as everyone knows it’s been widely reported that the initial reparation benefits were uh limited to building wealth through home equity which is
Incredible and still even with cash being an option we have many people choosing that as their option for reparations uh but we through many legal memos from the state and federal level and other consultants and experts we uh have moved forward with confidence that we can give cash benefits as an option
And we’ve been doing that starting this year um so about the Symposium the Symposium it was incredible I’m still feeling the love social media is on fire in the responses what I love most is the intergenerational thing that happen that I not we’re not
Seeing it enough and so if you go to our Facebook account first first repair on Facebook you’ll see young folks you’ll see hip hop you’ll see the language the culture really um sharing their commitment and their interpretation of reparations and that is I think the biggest win because I’ve come into the
Movement as one of the younger people and folks I’m a grand mother okay I am not young at all and to see true young Millennials and younger in the movement was exciting but also just the community I’ve heard that it’s a boot camp I heard it’s a family reunion I’ve heard that it
Is a symposium is what it is as a a huge uh sort of intellectual component to it um you know I have heard so much great feedback and we had um it closed at 226 so I reported at the conference that there were 20 we did close registration
At 200 with many many more trying to get in but we did take an additional 26 on site so we had 226 participants we had 33 speakers we had 80 unique reparations initiatives so that’s Municipal State we had institutional like dloo led by Robin proudy we had Detroit and Asheville and
Amers and Chicago and you know San Francisco the list goes on I’d be here um for a long time but it was a huge huge success we had we celebrated 50 Years of Hip Hop as our social we have a social every year and we had alas
Muhammed you want to look this brother up um he was our he was our um our artivist yes and he brought the reparations hip hop which was great we also had an incred an incredible um violinist uh when Indy wasn’t she incredible had a pist Corey so we
Brought in the Arts I think arts and culture are an area that we can use more to amplify the message of reparations around music we’ve seen it done very well through documentary and film Erica Alexander’s film is great um but I would love to see more in music and poetry and
Arts uh public art and so on so we were able to experience that we also prioritize Wellness which we’re learning to do more so than we have in the past and we had a wellness room where you could go and get a chair massage and we were giving out essential oils and
Things like that everything open with you know Libations it was just incredible the speakers the knowledge we had um a resource room where you could get sister Niki’s reparations on fire I don’t know if you had black lawyer in there as well you did it was just it was just incredible
We are going to be reporting on it formally soon so if you’re not subscribed to First repair emails please do and you’ll get a full conference report that is so awesome I I wanted to go back in time a little bit um because you were saying like this is the this is
The third annual yeah but what was it like hosting the first like what gave you the premonition to say we need a national convening on this well jam it was the organic demand for um local reparations thought and models and I since the work in Evanson I
Hear from leaders every day from all across the nation and it made sense to get everyone in one space so that we could share our best practices share our thought leaders share our practitioners and folks that are providing technical assistance so what this really is is a
Living tool kit we call it a symposium um the final session is the living tool kit which both Jam thank you so much and kichi for your presentations but it is a way for us to for not just Evanston and me to share but the others to come in
And share their models for example tosa Oklahoma under the leadership of councilwoman Vanessa Hall Harper and Christy Williams and all the folks in Tula do a great job in organizing um public education and Community engagement and so that was one of the sessions it was their Beyond apology
Series and their black history Saturday that they do um so that was the motivation to just get everybody in a spot and um learn and share together that’s the real values of the Symposium is learning and sharing and so that first year uh in 2021 it was it was much
Smaller it was held at my church uh which gives you an example of how small it was and we uh group there were less than 50 of us I think about 43 the following year we had in the 70 range and again this year it’s grown and so we
Have a decision to make really do we um fight for more resources to have more um attendees I think so I think as much as there is theand we want to respond to it and that’s something that we’ll look at uh next year but this year we had um
Many that were sponsored we had about 65 of the guests whose Hotel airfare were all sponsored there were no conference fees and all meals included and it’s pretty um pretty expensive and and we don’t want to limit it going forward so we’re going to try to figure that out I
Think how we do that is with Partnerships with you all for example so so let me go on a slightly different track um if I can um I I know we know that you’re um doing the local work and Advising States and and other jurisdictions but you’ve been on the
Global front as well and I know you had to have have visited elmina dungeon I’m not going to call it Castle the door of no return because no one can go to Ghana and not go there you know so I’m just curious what did you feel like I don’t
Know if that was your first time in a CR or not but whether it was or not what did you feel like standing at that door of no be turn that last edifice that our ancestors stood on before before being um um you know forced into the the slave
Ships um you don’t I still don’t have the words um but I’ll tell you this before I was able to go to a C the summer before after getting my African ancestry DNA I learned that my foremother um was from what is now Guinea basau and from the tribe of
Balanta so I was able to travel there just after my uh ter was up on the city council and visit the village the tribe in which I share ancestry and go to the equivalent door of no return in Guinea basau and so I had my first experience
There uh right on the shores uh was able to actually get in the water um and it it changed my life it changed my understanding of the work that we’re doing it changed my conviction it changed my values um it changed the way I interpret really everything to have
That spiritual moment and it’s a spiritual moment I didn’t there was no new knowledge that came in it was like a spiritual deposit into my being every piece of me that um evolved my my thought and deepened my commitment to the global black community um I hope
That everyone is able to have that experience and um I I can’t I can’t say I can’t say enough or more about what it’s done for my life and how it has um improved even my leadership thank you for sharing that perspective um we’re going to half the half on the
Hour um Nik you think it’s okay to go on to Q&A or do you have any other questions I have one question before we go to Q&A if that’s okay um you were giving me some advice before we opened up the zoom uh room you know and it was very important advice in
Terms of how we need to take care of our El and learn to say no and things like that I’m just curious what keeps your engine running okay what keeps you going and how do you deal with that balance between the demands of work and family
And self- care of yourself how do you weld all that together because you seem to do it quite beautifully yeah okay I’m just kind of curious how do I appreciate it it came with uh some lessons it came with complete burnout and um physical sickness and um mental exhaustion and
Self-care and also clinical therapy I’ll be real transparent with you and I evolved out of that space um prioritizing boundaries which I had set none I had never said the word no before um and I realized through the help of some loved ones that um I am no good for
The movement if I am not well and I am not my best and so we work really hard and what I’ve realized is that sometimes we’re in a Sprint like we’re in a season of grind right but you have to pause and rest and so at first prair for example
We take the last two weeks of December off um when the team is beat up and burned out we pause and may have a spa day for example um I personally you know my self-care includes live music and aroma therapy and Time by large bodies of water and Forest bathing which has
Nothing to do with being naked in a park okay because someone says what is that um but just time in nature um and you can even do that in the inner city just find a forest preserve or a park just connect with nature trees and water and
So on um and then people that I feel safe around that bring me joy that make me laugh that nurture me and I nurture them nurture them back that’s going to be my family and my closest friends and loved ones um that’s what I do and so
You should we should all know when we’re getting there when we’re getting like you know exhausted and we burn out and we whether your response to that might be you’re irritable or you’re tired you can’t start yawning or you’re physically ill pause take the time and space that
You need to pause so that you could show up better and well and um unfortunate we share a partner in Liberation Ventures who is a funer that prioritizes that and I have so much appreciation for for them in doing that yes indeed thank you so
Very much for that and I’m trying to to to step into that that path so um jam just go and start with the Q&A sure I’m gonna go up a bit um so kabib asked what should be the strategy for confronting States seeking passage of legislation prohibiting reparations and for context
For everyone uh I believe it’s a Florida Senator that is trying to Florida taxes ban legislation uh specifically for descendants of slaves for reparations so um that’s currently what’s happening yeah you’re right so it was just actually December 1st of them not mistaken the the tech the Florida um
Assemblymen made the introduction but it was uh June 23rd of this year that a Texas Congressman did the same thing so there’s currently house bill I believe it’s 4321 you have to look it up but introduced a uh no government bailout anti-reality us from doing the local
Work that we’re doing and it would for example our communities wouldn’t receive covid dollars possibly um or arpa funds uh possibly cdbg funds these are funds that our communities rely on uh for Life health and safety matters all human services related um and so the strategy
Is to educate the community I think the strategy for almost everything is public education if folks are organized and educated around what reparations is and not buying into the narrative that it is some sort of um penalty to the White Community or it’s going to completely um
Create a race riot look at Evanson for an example of how it actually has United a community and how it is um a benefit to the entire Community reparations is a public benefit in fact if you look at the cost of segregation report it’s a older report from n from
2019 it shows how if the city of Chicago addressed its racial segregation and anti-blackness how it would increase all livability standards across the entire city increasing the Chicago GDP by four billion dollars more college degrees a million dollars more household income for black families and so on and so on
Um so I believe the way to respond to that is more public education and organizing thank you um another question K Hubbert asks in Congress after reps sign on to hr40 what if anything do they let me see what if anything do I’m not sure what the the sentence is
Asking but it seems like how do we move this work forward from out here it seems like oh what do they do to move it forward it seems like they do little or nothing to inform or organize voters well I agree um not enough is happening uh we know that congresswoman Sheila
Jackson Lee is an incredible voice for reparations and shows up when we’re organizing whether it’s in Cobra or Nar or first repair all across the nation she’s doing her work but not enough is happening especially if we had was it 2117 uh co-sponsors and yes votes in the
House a senate companion bill and no floor vote I mean there is an indication that not enough is happening they should be pushing on their house leaders to at least get a a floor of vote so we can show um that Milestone and work towards an executive order knowing that passing
The Senate um is is is unlikely so not enough is the answer and that’s something that we can do we can be informed by what they’re not doing There’s an opportunity for us to organize when we’re talking to our Congressional leaders we need to be lifting up hr40 we
Need to be making the demand for a floor vote and at this point for an executive order um for hr40 because not enough is happening so I see a question I will add that I think the local activity uh is something that we can point to when we are making this Demand
With our Congress people we can look to wherever their district is and show them there’s here’s two dozen initiatives in your District that are making the demand for reparation um and that should go up to a congressional um action um EJ Scott is asking um this is kind of adjacent reparations adjacent I
Guess he says that’s a realtor he would like your perspective um he says we know or it might be she excuse me I’m not sure we know that black homes are historically devalued when appraised has there been any changes Corrections or advancements in making appraisals more
Equitable I do know that there is some activity around um addressing that there were there was um a lot of uh journalism that happened around the disparities around um homeowner home appraisals and I can’t give you an update but here’s my recommendation that you follow up with naab uh which is the national
Um Association for real estate brokers it is the nation’s longest serving black real estate trade Association and they fight for housing democracy for the black community um there are member chapters all across the nation so depending on where you are there’s going to be a local chapter and through their
Leadership you can stay updated on what’s happening with naab they are always presenters at the national black caucus where they give state of the black housing uh updates and that would be a partner um that you can take some direction from and partner with in advocating for um addressing the appraisal
Industry all all of the housing you know real Realtors Mortgage Banking appraisals and so on so jam before you go to the next question I know you’re trying to formulate what question let let me ask another question if I may um Robin something we didn’t really address
Earlier um it appears to me that you had like the perfect set of circumstances kind of coming together in Evon that made it uh much more likely for you to be successful you had to short front Legacy uh center with our dear brother um Dino um Robertson I think his name uh
Is you had um fellow um uh alter persons I forgot the name Nam a white woman for one who was just phenomenal I forgot her name and then Peter what was her name again an rainy and Rainey that’s right and Rainey and Peter and then you had the faith
Community they’re very strong you had a very supportive um uh what we call it in DC Corporation Council but the um legal folk right like Nate come and so it was like a perfect and then we had you rob Simmons you know the Catalyst that brought it all together every jurisdiction doesn’t have
That set of um um circumstances fused together so how what advice can you give to um jurisdictions that might not have been as greatly endowed as um Evanson was in terms of the right Partners there at the right time moving in the right direction you know so I do know what
You’re saying and I when I go into cities there are many cities I have to tell them you’re not primed to call the question it will set you back further than it will advance the cause the more work has to be done and I will say that
We’re fortunate to have a archist who’s been archiving black history for 25 years in Evon with 400 linear square feet I had colleagues on City Council Auntie Anne is how I refer to her a white woman a a a elderly white woman an must be in her mid 70s or late 70s for
Sure um Peter braithway another brother on Council incredible we had Corporation councel Nick Cummings a brother that was committed and came to Evanson because he wanted to be a part of this work um so yes we did have a unique cast of leaders but every Community has their Dino every
Community has their strong legal mind every Community has some form of an Interfaith Coalition so it’s back to that Community Education because we weren’t doing reparations work at all we were doing Equity work we were doing ordinary public policy we hadn’t thought about reparations as a local legislation
Ever although we did pass a resolution in 2002 led by judge lion oene Baptist but it was to support hr40 So together we had the right Spirit we had the right humility you know the right intentions to work together all be educated together I was educated along
With my community to make it happen but part of the um toolkit that I share and the workshop that I share all Across the Nation shows you how to identify each of these Partners in your community and how to relate to them inform them introduce them to nikichi and jam and have them
Have um you know whether it’s virtual or in person town halls and these types of things to educate their Community it is possible in every it may not be possible at the next city council meeting in every Community but it is possible in every Community because the
Infrastructure is there we just have to get the people educated and then one thing I want to say is I felt like I had an army okay when I met the in Cobra Chicago chapter you couldn’t tell me anything because they were showing up they had their signs and they had the pan
Ban and everything it was going down I’m like y’all don’t listen we need to respond to this situation this a situation here so I say all that to say your grassroot ORS that are in town let them know what you’re doing so they can show up at public comment they could
Show up to meetings they can use their socials and the way that they use organizing grassroot techniques for getting the message out um make sure that you are engaging them and remember in Cobra has chapters all across the nation also so you may want to find out
Through um Kennis and there’s a new um male co-chair you may want to get in touch with um in Cobra and find out what member chapters are active where because they could be your partner as the Chicago chapter of En Cobra was from me in
2019 so jam do we have any more Q&A questions you want to um propose to um Robin yes um this one kind of goes back to what we were discussing earlier um how can reparation efforts work in tandem with other black liberation and healing efforts um for example environmental justice violence
Prevention home ownership Etc U they’re all a reparations matter I mean we if we are looking at a comprehensive reparations uh goal right we’re looking at five components to Full Repair then environmental justice Falls in there police reform fall La in there and so it’s not uh they’re in tandem they
Complement one another and they are a reparations cause and so one thing that I love I’m seeing develop is housing and democracy is getting that this is a housing democracy is a reparations matter and we saw that with the presentation from uh Taneka Johnson from the folded map project who was an artist
Turned housing Advocate turned reparations leader and this same thing with me I I have to be really honest I wasn’t fighting for reparations I supported rep John Conor and hr40 and you know but I was not a reparation until I had 20 years of Public Service fighting for black
Empowerment and Liberation and two years on the city council seeing what’s possible we can actually pass a reparative Justice legislation we can name it reparations and we can give reparations by way of cash and other benefits I evolv to that and I think that we need to show environmental
Justice workers and um you know um police reform and everyone that’s working on a matter that impacts the upliftment of black folks how reparations is the legislative response there’s no other way we’re going to get there other than reparations and on that note we have a question um how can you counteract the
Negative attitude some may have towards black people receiving reparations some saying black folks are Financial financially responsible for reparations some saying the US has too much debt to support a federal reparations deal etc also could free college be part of the reparations agreement so yes to free college it’s it’s recommended probably
In every city that we’re in it was a recommendation for Evanston the thing we have to remember is that when we’re putting together our reparations proposals we need to be careful that we do it within the purview of the institution that we’re passing the reparation so in the case of free college Northwestern
University is here Northwestern needs to be committing to reparations the city can’t um enforce that um is the response to that last question um the negative narrative what was the question about the how how do you respond to like uh oh we are we have too much debt for a
Federal reparations plan or we’re not we we’re going to be financially responsible for our own reparations plan that kind of negativity okay well I’ll say this there are many many ways that we can point to how debt is too much debt is not the response to the
Emergency of covid or whatever else we came up with the money for the immigration crisis we came up with the money for dozens of and I can’t wait to Professor Cornell Brooks from Harvard releases a study that shows all the ways the United States government pays reparations to harmed communities in
This nation just not the black community the 911 um panel I forget what the formal name of it jam you probably know 911 uh victims and and their families received reparations uh there’s a long list of the way the government figures out a way
To fin it and fund it and it’s not a matter of fiscal irresponsibility but when it comes to the black community somehow it’s unimaginable and unattainable and it’s just not the case we have to continue putting that in the face well what about this response to our border issue what about this
Immediate and appropriate response to the um pandemic why can’t we use some of those strategies and techniques and that level of commitment for the black community and more public public education has to happen because it’s not happening because we’re still living in a predominantly you know white supremist
Sort of leadership in this nation and until those hearts and minds are changed um you know we’ll still see hr40 uh in the same position that it is in right now uh since 1989 until we do that so that’s why I love both of your organization so much because we cannot
Get enough education out there Jam I love your Fresh Approach on your Instagrams I love just when your face pops up the way that you’re educating us and nikichi I I don’t know a person with more enthusiasm and energy and power than you and so I want to thank you both
Nikichi for many many years of service Jam for your Innovative way that you keep us educated your comprehensive look at reparations your inclusive and United um sort of Grace that you have it’s just so fresh and I love it so thank you so much um going back to
The comprehensive part of it I think that’s that is what we have to focus on with the public education like you were saying um a big part of and I talked about this at the Symposium a big part of trying to deny us our claim is disconnecting us from the era of
Enslavement and then acting like all these vestages of child SL are not right in our face right um so I think that definitely has to be a component of the public education um this yes this next question though um I think is very interesting I have been to the national
Museum of African-American history and culture so many times because I’m in the DMV sometimes I’ll pop in there for lunch just because they have really good food um but this person said I recently attended the national museum of African-American history and culture in September After experiencing the exhibit and the
Emotional toll associated with black American history and Trauma in this country along with several ethnicities my assumption is that every person who walked through that museum would support reparation if ped After exiting the museum would that be of value to the cause of reparations to surve people at
The Museum absolutely it’s another it’s another type ofed ucation and I think hey I think that’s a great idea whoever gave that question you know partner with the museum and ask for polling I don’t know how that works but I don’t think we should turn down any ideas that will
Advance the cause of reparations I know that the Congressional Black Caucus I think was last year Jam I’m sure you know the details of this uh poll and the number one priority for their constituents was reparations yeah it was over voting rights it was over right um um other things reparations was number
One absolutely right and then but then what do we do with it so what did the Congressional Black Caucus do with that information yeah let me tell you something ironically I and I’m not sure maybe you all received it too someone forwarded um this in a thread you know how you get
Those campaign emails that say this particular issue is important donate there was one for CBC that was like are you in support of reparations for black Americans donate now like I I I can’t verify if it was really from the CBC but it looked real and someone forwarded and
Said this is interesting so maybe they are fundraising and and plan to do something really big next year going going back to the national museum of African-American history and culture you see back in the day we back in the day we would have been out there on the
Street right in front of the museum doing our own poll doing our own survey those are the things that we used to do that Grassroots activism not waiting for the museum to come up with their pristine um study or whatever whatever we would have our clipboard out there
And we would be doing that I don’t know why we’ve lost that type of um Spirit but we need to get back to it because we can very easily um you know do do things like that without even the sanction um of the museum or Congress or anything
Along those lines and you know what I would recommend I would recommend that you educate us we don’t have we don’t have we don’t know what we don’t know and I think there should be like organizing school I know when I decided to run for public office I knew I wasn’t
Educated on how to do that so I went to campaign training and all this organizing and all these things so that I could learn and I think we have a lot of of the passion but don’t understand we don’t know the models we don’t know and so I think there’s a a great
Opportunity for us to be educated on because I learn so much every day and I have a real privilege to have access to you and all the others that I Nam before and I learn and I apply what I learn and and I think more of us need to be
Educated on these types of um actions and tactics that we we don’t know see I went right to default to have the museum do it you’re right we should be out there doing it and but then also the Congressional Black Caucus should do something that they get polling results
That say this is the number one priority at least it should be prioritized at the CBC conference you know as a sort of key um session or you know I know the congresswoman has her Brain Trust I understand there were multiple reparations panels maybe at CBC that
Could be someplace else I’m not sure but there should be more of a priority if that’s the number one issue of its constituents yeah I think there is a major issue with you know in the nonprofit world we would call it institutional knowledge you know that transfer of generational knowledge to be
Able to maintain a a initiative or program or whatever you’re working on and I think you know I think that the Symposium you have is actually helping with that that that um voice that we have sometimes in that vein um yeah I know we’re getting down to a
Close let me just say something I’m just looking at the screen uh right now believe it or not this is an intergenerational screen with the three of us I mean I know they say you know what they say don’t crack uh but we are all in different age zones three
Separate age zones I’m a baby boomer what are you Robin I’m a um ex you’re a ex and you’re a IAL right I mean I’m just saying you wouldn’t believe got but um but but this is what it’s all about transmitting information the fusion back and forth between uh the generations I
Learned from the younger Generations younger Generations learn from me that’s what’s important and I think that is what’s going to help to fuel the the movement I just had one more question for Jam for for for Robin I’m sorry if I and jam I don’t know if there’s any
Other biting questions from the um uh before the the for the Q&A before we close up but let me just ask this question okay so Robin you know you was the star in The Big Payback so you movie you both the parts of the movement okay
EV what is next for Robin r s now you don’t have to tell I mean you don’t have to spell it because I don’t know I I you know I you know what I think you may not remember I mentioned something about you know it’s say a federal um Congress person Senate
Type of uh scenario in the F in the future for you but I’m just asking what do you want to share with us if anything as to what’s next for Robin R Simmons yeah so thank you for the question I get a lot of requests for uh Congressional
Run and that’s not something that is um in my near future I will say that I um want to finish writing I started a book project that I tabled because the demand for local reparation support was so great and I tabled the book I would like
To be able to finish that book um I’ve also started um early work for a documentary that is the intersection of Hip Hop and raperations um I’m excited to be able to um complete that project and then we’re opening a resource center a physical location here in Evanston that will take
A lot of time in programming so one thing that we did use a symposium was to be informed by those attendees on what would be of value to see in this space archives you know lecture series um toolkits and so on and this physical space and so those are the three High
Priorities um writing uh this documentary and this Resource Center I I don’t have I’m not considering a political run anytime in the near future but I have stopped saying no absolutely not I have healed from my time in local government and I have stopped saying no
But right now I would love love love to be able to finish the book and I’m I’m not a writer so it’s a it’s a stretch it it’s a stretch I’m stretching myself I’m really stretching and growing to be able to do this and I’m committed to getting it done in 2024 all
Right I say so I need help sister nikichi call me anytime it’s all good so we do have we have so many questions yeah I feel like this is always like this like we start off slow and the next thing you know at the end it’s like 30 questions um so I think
This I’m just going to ask this one last question because this person asked multiple questions I want to be able to get to at least one of them but um and you spoke to some of this earlier and this was raised at the Symposium how critical is and this is from Mark Buford
How critical is a Grassroots mobilization needed to push the reparation agenda do fraternities sororities and other National orgs have a role to play it’s everything and so Mark Buford I love that my father’s name is Buford so and therefore my son’s name is Buford but um it’s everything I think
That is what is missing I really do I think the grassroot mass movement building and I know that there is a young sister that is working on that specifically um but that is the key that is missing right now there are legislators that are committed they’re doing their jobs they’re getting these
Uh reparations legislations pass but many of them are passing without any teeth or substance uh because there’s there’s no budgets there is you know there’s no plans and there’s no tangibles that’s coming out of it and it is the grassroot Comm Community definitely the divine nine and
There was a a a leader there Dr Sheila Flemings out of the Atlanta area and she called out the divine nine she’s a Delta and she called out all of the Greek Community with a demand to uh organize and mobile Miz around reparations so yes
It is everything and I believe it is the key missing component is enough people in the streets organizing numbers petitions public comment letters of support nikichi has the yard signs everywhere these types of things I think are definitely missing and not just the divine nine the NAACP has branches all across the
Nation well funded well organized professional staff the NAACP is another um I know that our local branch of NAACP and Evanson is doing amazing work but aren’t there hundreds of NAACP branches same thing with the Urban League aren’t there hundreds same thing with um clergy coalitions and Interfaith Community
Groups and this types of thing these are the uh the leaders that we need to emerge more so than we’ve seen to get us to uh Full Repair thank you so much Robin we’re going to close it out there I’m just going to answer one of the questions are
There any reparation education tools for teachers uh to build with youth Advocates you can go to 21st century that has narc nar’s information you can go to en Cobra’s website that has recent information and archived information just that you uh know there’s a wealth of History
Available online for you to to take hold of and for everybody that ask questions tonight I did try my very best to copy and paste most of these questions so they can be answered in future information thought Series so sorry we couldn’t get to everyone’s questions but
We just want to give a big big big thank you so much to Robin Ruth Simmons coming off the hills of your third National Symposium Gathering all the reparations at across the country hundreds coming together for this massive love and brain swell that we’re going to need to move
The reparations movement forward nikichi you have any final words tonight yes I was just finally I want to say that um we record all of our reparation information thoughts Series so the video of this will totally and completely be available you can watch it over and over share with your family
Friends co-workers neighbors organizations and the like and it it they it lives on the nikichi tiifa YouTube channel and hopefully anywhere else anybody wants to live so not only this reparation information thought series um um um webinar for all the webinars that we’ve done over the past uh year are there and available
Back to you Jim to just close us out bin we love you love you love you all right thank you so much everyone and you’ll be hearing from us soon from the reparation information thought series have a good night thank youe
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