National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N'COBRA)
The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N'COBRA) is a collective organization advocating for reparations for African Americans in the United States. Founded in response to the historical injustices faced by Black Americans, N'COBRA emphasizes the unfulfilled promise of "forty acres and a mule" made during emancipation, which was not codified into law. The coalition highlights the systemic disadvantages African Americans encountered, including lack of property and education, exacerbated by the segregationist policies of Jim Crow that hindered access to home ownership and wealth accumulation. N'COBRA actively supports HR 40, a legislative proposal aimed at establishing a commission to study and develop reparations proposals, similar to reparations previously granted to other marginalized groups in the U.S. The bill has been championed by various congressional representatives over the years, most notably John Conyers and currently Sheila Jackson Lee. As of 2024, efforts for reparations continue without distribution, reflecting ongoing discussions about racial equity and justice in America. N'COBRA remains committed to advocating for reparative measures to address historical injustices and foster economic justice for African Americans.
National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N'COBRA)
The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA) is a coalition of organizations across the United States that support reparations for African Americans. African Americans were supposed to receive “forty acres and a mule” from the US government upon emancipation in reparation for the time they spent in slavery, but this proposal was never actually made law. The newly freed African Americans lacked property, capital, education, and job experience, giving them a severely disadvantaged start. In addition, not long after slavery was made illegal, a system of segregation known as Jim Crow took effect. Segregation blocked equal access to home ownership, which has historically been the main source of capital for most Americans, and this government-sanctioned inequality can be seen as the root cause of the wealth gap between Black and White Americans in modern times, according to Melvin Oliver and Thomas Shapiro in Black Wealth/White Wealth (1995).
N’COBRA supports and lobbies for HR 40, a congressional bill introduced by John Conyers, a Democratic representative from Michigan who introduced the bill from 1989 until 2017 when he retired. HE 40 demands reparations for African Americans not unlike those received by American Indians for land seized by the government and by Japanese Americans for time spent in internment camps during World War II. After Conyers' death, Representative Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas became the bill's sponsor. As of 2024, reparations were still not distributed and N'COBRA was still working toward change.
Bibliography
“About Us.” National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America, www.officialncobraonline.org/about. Accessed 4 Dec. 2024.
Brennan, Fernne, and John Packer, eds. Colonialism, Slavery, Reparations and Trade : Remedying the Past? Routledge, 2012.
Coates, Ta-Nehisi. "The Case for Reparations." TheAtlantic, June 2014, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/. Accessed 4 Dec. 2024.
Feagin, Joe R. Racist America: Roots, Current Realities, and Future Reparations. 3rd ed. Routledge, 2014.
McCarthy, Thomas. "Repairing Past Injustice: Remarks on the Politics of Reparations for Slavery in the United States." Global Dialogue, vol. 14, no. 2, 2012, pp. 111–26.
“Repair Can’t Wait. Create Reparations Commission Now.” Human Rights Watch, 2 June 2022, www.hrw.org/ReparationsNow. Accessed 4 Dec. 2024.
Wemmers, Jo-Anne M. Reparation for Victims of Crimes against Humanity: The Healing Role of Reparation. Routledge, 2014.