The Exposure of Slavery Legacy

The U.S. government has a despicable history of down playing and outright dismissing the issue of reparations. To grant compensation to millions of descendants of African slaves would expose the institutionalized racism that African Americans and other people of color still suffer today.

The disproportionate number of  African Americans populating U.S. prisons is just one glaring example of the legacy of slavery.

Former Congressional Black Caucus member John Conyers  Michigan back in 1989 introduced bill HR 40, called Commission to study Reparation Proposals for African American Act.Conyer said that
African slaves were not compensated for their labor. More unclear, however , is what the effects and remnants of this relationship have had on African Americans and our nation from the time of emancipation through today. I chose the number of bill, 40 as a symbol of the 40 acres and a mule that the United States initially promised freed slaves.

Conyers cited a number of objectives of the bill including setting up a commission that would then make recommendations to Congress on appropriate remedies to redress the harm inflected on living freed slaves.

Malcolm X also raised the question of reparations in a speech on Nov.23, 1964, in Paris. If you are the son of a man who had a wealthy estate and you inherit your father's estate, he said you have to pay off the debts that your father incurred before he died. The only reason that the present generation
of  white Americans are in a position of economic strength is because their fathers worked our fathers for over 400 years with no pay.

The reparations struggle intensified with the military defeat of the Confederacy at the hands of the Union Army at the end of the Civil War. The victorious Northern government promised the newly freed slaves in the South 40 acres and a mule in effect acknowledging that brutal slaves labor had not only greatly enriched the coffers of the former slaves master but also the emerging U.S. capitalist economy.

This just compensation for the freed people never came to fruition due to the counter revolution that destroyed Reconstruction. In the Compromised of 1877 , the Union Army abandoned the freed  slaves ,who had tried to bring about real social equality in the South by establishing their own institutions for political empowerment and elevation of their living and educational standards. For 10 years, the Union Army had played the role` of a buffer between this progressive , democratic process and the former confederate forces, who regrouped during Reconstruction.

The counter revolution then evolved into a bloody terrorist campaign that drove the freed slaves to accept semi- slavery conditions. Under sharecropping which still exists today, the former slaves went back to tilling the land of their former owners. They weren't owned outright anymore, but had to work on the plantation for slave wages.

In 1896 , the U.S. Supreme Court legally sanction segregation as separate but equal. amazing                                                   

Pigs at the trough

New Report Names Nearly 4,000 Companies Profiting Off of Private Prison Industry "Today, more than half of the $80 billion spent annually on incarceration by government agencies is used to pay the thousands of vendors that serve the criminal legal system." By Eoin Higgins May 03, 2019 "Information Clearing House" -  A new report provides information on which corporations are profiting from the private prison industry. The report (pdf), which was released by criminal justice advocacy group Worth Rises, is based on a database run by the organization that lists a total 3,900 companies in 12 sectors that make money off of the prison industrial complex. The scope of the income taken in by these companies, the report says, is in the tens of billions. Today, more than half of the $80 billion spent annually on incarceration by government agencies is used to pay the thousands of vendors that serve the criminal legal system. They are healthcare providers, food suppliers, and commissary merchants, among others. And many have devised strategies to extract billions more from the directly impacted communities supporting their incarcerated loved ones.  The database was first published last year, with 3,100 companies. Tuesday's update adds another 800 corporations to the list. Bianca Tylek, the executive director for Worth Rises, said in a statement that the report will make it harder for prison profiteers to operate without scrutiny. "Before this report, many of the companies involved in the prison industrial complex flew below the radar, often intentionally to avoid the headline risk that comes with profiting off mass incarceration today," said Tylek. "This data brings these companies to light and equips advocates with the information needed to challenge them." The report presents the data mostly in raw form as a research service. The download link is in the report. Adding more corporations to the list is part of a push to expose the predatory practices of the for-profit prison industry, Tylek said. "This year's edition expands on our original report with the addition of more than 800 companies," said Tylek. "In publishing this report, we continue to expose the multi-billion-dollar industry built off the vulnerable communities—disproportionately black, brown, and cash poor—targeted by the criminal legal system."

Stop the cover-up of contaminated Benton Harbor by Rev Pinkney - Peoples Tribune

I am the current President and CEO of the Black Autonomy Network Community Organization better known as BANCO.I also Pastor of God's Household of faith and community and state activist, who fight for the people.

Last year BANCO partnered with Freshwater Future to complete water testing for residents in Benton Harbor for lead and other metals after the city fell out of compliance with the Lead and Copper Rule.The Michigan Department of Environment Quality Grand Rapid District Office and wrote Mayor Marcus Muhammad and the City Manager Darwin Watson a letter stating. The major finding below indicate a number of  areas needing immediate attention by the city, many of which have the potential to impact public health by allowing or introducing contamination to the water supply


This is of utmost important. A review of the financial information finds the city presently lacks an adequate financial mechanism to conduct necessary staff to properly maintain and operate the water system. We strongly advise the city Manager and the Mayor to work with qualified financial consultant to identify the revenue necessary to support operation and maintenance and to implement effective revenue collection methodologies. Investment from the city's rate payers is essential for resolving the below significant deficiencies and for ensuring the long term vitality of the water system.

Neither the other remaining elected officials of Benton Harbor, nor the citizens were provided a copy of the letter from the Department of Environment Quality.

Banco went out to get more more testing which confirmed that there is a major lead and copper problem in the city of Benton Harbor's water. This resulted in more testing and distribution of water filters for all the residents of Benton Harbor.

We must confront the Benton Harbor city Manager and Benton Harbor Mayor and force them to tell the truth about the water. Clean water is a human right.

I am available to speak about issues. I have engaged young in voting activism across the country. I have organized workshops on various issues including social justice and environment issues and medical and mental health issues in justice system. I am the recipient of many awards, including the state of Michigan Outstanding Citizen Award. Please contact me at 269 -925-0001.