African Internationalism and the Struggle for Reparations...from the halls of academia to the hands of the people

In 1982, the African People’s Socialist Party formed the African National Reparations Organization (ANRO).  ANRO was the first mass organization created to forward the reparations struggle and make reparations a household topic.  ANRO’s reach was wide and even garnered the support of people like Michael Jackson who signed an ANRO certificate demanding reparations. ANRO held twelve successive reparations tribunals.  The most recent reparations tribunal was in 2003.

The Party and ANRO succeeded. The reparations struggle moved from being solely a legislative and legal conversation.  The Reparations struggle has been taken up by the masses of African people in the US, and other parts of the African world.

Still, amidst these significant advances in the reparations struggle, Reparations activists have been targeted by the United States government for their work.  On July 29, 2022, the Uhuru Movement was attacked by the US government for their reparations work amidst slanderous claims that attribute the movement’s 40-plus years of leadership in the struggle for reparations to quote malign russian influence unquote.  WEB Du Bois, Paul Robeson and others suffered the same accusations. 

The same city governments of St. Petersburg, Florida and St. Louis, Missouri that have made news in the past years for their support for reparations plans also had their local police forces participate in these attacks.

 In today’s episode, we explore current conversations on Reparations amongst African Internationalist educators with excerpts from the

panel discussion “Reparations: Examining The Necessity of Reparations and Efforts To Heal A Political Genocide” as part of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists 2023 Annual Meeting.  

In this panel discussion, Dr. Matsemela Odom is joined Dr. Tiffany Caesar of San Francisco State University and Dr. Martin Boston of Sacramento State University. Both are previous guest on Black Power Talks.

Dr. Boston is the co-editor of the Third World Thematics Special Issue The Movement Resonated Deep in my Soul: New Perspectives and Pathways to International Research of South African Social Movements Past and Present.  Dr. Matsemela and Dr. Caesar are contributors to this special volume. 

Black Power Talks is produced by WBPU 96.3 FM "Black Power 96" in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Solyana Bekele, bringing an African Internationalist perspective to the important issues of our world.