Reparations

Apsken at aol.com Apsken at aol.com
Wed Jan 13 11:38:16 PST 1999


Charles Brown wrote:

<< Some African American activists have an effort to get reparations for unpaid labor during U.S. and colonial slavery. Congressperson John Conyers has introduced a bill. >>

Yes, and if I recall correctly, the modern impetus for reparations was lanched in two initiatives: 1. by James Forman's demand presented at Riverside Church, and 2. by the Republic of New Africa's program. (Though neither made a public fuss, these in fact were rival demands.) Somewhat later, a journalist whose name now slips my mind wrote a book supporting reparations.

Recalling these events makes me wonder again why Rakesh professes a political kinship with Jim Forman, since this was a cause advanced by the young Jim, before his alleged epistemological break. (That's an intentional jibe; it is Louis Althusser's term for Marx's transition from dialectitian and humanist to crude politician, LA's contrivance to reject all of Marx's writings he disagrees with as unMarxist. In a similar way, Rakesh attempts to split Jim Forman's career into two, so that he can embrace Jim's life's work selectively.)

Ken Lawrence



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