United States Congress

House of Representatives (HR) Bill # 40

Introduced and authored by Congressman John Conyers, Detroit, Michigan

Considered to be the "father" of the Reparations movements...due to his Congressional bill

Note: H.R. 40 is reeintroduced in the 116th Congress (2019-2020) by Sheila Jackson Lee,
a Democrat representing the 18th Congressional District of Texas, is a senior member of the House Committees on Judiciary, Homeland Security and the Budget. She is a Ranking Member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations.

H.R.40
Title: To acknowledge the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery in the United States and the 13 American colonies between 1619 and 1865 and to establish a commission to examine the institution of slavery, subsequently de jure and de facto racial and economic discrimination against African-Americans, and the impact of these forces on living African-Americans, to make recommendations to the Congress on appropriate remedies, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Rep Conyers, John, Jr. [MI-14] (introduced 1/6/1999) Cosponsors (48)

Latest Major Action: 2/25/1999 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution.

SUMMARY AS OF:
1/6/1999--Introduced.

Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act - Establishes the Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African-Americans to examine slavery and discrimination in the colonies and the United States from 1619 to the present and recommend appropriate remedies.

Authorizes appropriations.

Should the US Congress House of Representatives take on the “Floor” the John Conyers Reparations bill HR # 40 that discusses the validity of Reparations, and discover that indeed it is a credible matter that Americans should and must deal with, the following hurdles or obstacles must be considered!

They are:

* Black Eligibility

Who is eligible to receive Reparations, in other words, who was, are,  is considered a Black person?  What is the definition of Black?  What are the criteria’s? Etc.  Shade of skin, texture   of hair, degree of physical “Negroid” or African features are only some of the questions raised.

~ Even to what degree of a mixture of non-Black blood or genes would disqualify a candidate...the "one-drop" principle???

 For obvious reasons, this defining of “Black” and who is Black will literally be an impossible task to achieve in the USA today.

If Reparations is to be paid to Blacks in America, what about the relatives in West Africa who suffered the loss of their loved ones or  kin to the Transatlantic Slave Trade? 

Do they also get Reparations of some sort?  If so, from whom?

* What Slaves?

As with most of these queries, generally most American Black US citizens decend from West African slaves, while only a very few are of the Freemen classes.  This challenge must be equitably met.

* What Is The Reparations?

What do Blacks want for Reparations…land, money (how much), tax freedom, free education, healing, etc? 

Just as many and varied are Black peoples in America so are the definitions and demands for Reparations payments.

* Who Will Negotiate It

Which individuals or what Black agencies will negotiate Reparation with the responsible US authorities? 

* Closure

Should the previous hurdles or obstacles be miraculously cleared, will the negotiating team be willing to sign a document with US authorities as well as those of international bodies such as the UN and World Courts etc., that future generations of Black people will never again raise the issue of slavery, Jim Crow-ism, racism and subsequent calls for further Reparations? 

For obvious reason, this hurdle will never be cleared.

Reparations and Hayes

The Hayes version of Reparations is not necessarily a monetary or geo-physically payment of wrongs done to West African Americanized chattel slaves and their children, but rather something that chould have occurred forty (40) years ago…healing of the American races.

Also, the Hayes version of Reparations from the Bible is not something that occurs between White and Black Americans alone, but rather, it is mechanism of civility for all peoples, religions, circumstances, regions and times.  See Generational Responsibility: ‘Repentance For Sins of the Forefathers” by Ted Hayes circa 1978. And/or GOD Is The Author of Reparations and The GEN

Reparations in not a weapon of retribution, but rather a healing implement for all nations-ethnicities.

In the US Civil Rights era of 1964,65 – 68,69, Americans had a wonderful opportunity to heal from generations of wounds, first and foremost healing between the Black and White races. 

The healing of the “wounds” was denied by the antics of certain African American leaders who counted it more advantageous to their own agendas to continue blaming the US government, the “police”, White peoples, corporations and ethnic entities, instead of leading Americans to the “Balms of Gilead” and the healing “wings” of the rising Sun of Justice.

Naturally, there tends to be revulsion at the sound of the word “Reparations”, because the way in which it is presently used, it strike fear and even anger!

The Hayes version eliminates fear, guilt and shame.  It dispels hatred and vengeful calls for retribution and/or “pay-back”.  It demands Grace, Mercy, forgiveness and the restoration of “paths to dwell in”…that is, repairing torn relationships and heals the generations.  (Isaiah 58:12)

Personal Responsibility and Hayes Version

The Hayes version of Reparations is discovered and taught in the Bible – The Holy Hebrew Scriptures and leads to:

• a discovery and understanding of what occurred between our two White and Black peoples in America;
• a discovery of the fact that slavery was/is an integral part of the various peoples of African, and that the Atlantic Slave Trade was initiated by the peoples of the West African region themselves, and Arab and Black African Muslims.
• discovery of the fact that it was Portuguese and Spaniards that were first introduced to the African market in human beings.

Also see The HEAL America Campaign

The “Guilty-ones”

The Hayes version calls for acknowledgment of the responsible and culpable entities in the following chronological order, they are: the nations, tribes, Clans of West Africa; Mecca of the Muslims; the Roman Catholic Church; the Portugal, Spain; England, Europe, and finally the United States of America.

Black Antiquity and The Hayes Reparations

Viewing the role of Black peoples (Hametic, Asiatic Cushian, Etiops) in the Scriptures upon which the whole of the Western world is built, there is strong evidence that Reparations in its entirety lays with them first.

Reparations:  Kryptonite To The Democratic