BrownWatch News RSS 
Entries from July 1, 2004 - August 1, 2004
Namibia Tribe Marks Genocide, Demands Reparations
Hundreds of Herero tribespeople gathered in
Botswana on Saturday to pay homage to ancestors killed by German
soldiers in Namibia who almost wiped out their people a century ago.
Tribal leaders used Saturday's commemoration to press their demands for
$4 billion in compensation from Germany's government and companies
which they say benefited from slavery and exploitation under German
rule of what is now Namibia. [more]
TheSpook
U.S. Apology First Step Only - Tribal Leaders
An
apology would be "the highest mark in history for native Americans,"
said Buchanan from the northern state of Michigan. "As you know, (we)
take the spoken word very very seriously. When we're lied to it's
probably one of the worst things on earth. You take what someone says
and you trust, but when you get burnt over and over again an apology
like that does mean a lot." Many of the country's four million
indigenous people -- often referred to as American Indians -- say
Washington never lived up to the promises it made in hundreds of
treaties it made with their ancestors as it colonised the territory
that became the United States. [more]
Apology to Native Americans is fine but justice is better
Congress is now considering an official apology to "all Native
Peoples on behalf of the United States." The merits of such an apology
are the very chapters that make up the history of the United States.
The proposed, official U.S. apology cites "broken treaties" and "bloody
confrontations and massacres." It tells of official condemnation of
native religions and the removal of children from their parents and
families. [more]
Pine Bluff City Council Endorses Reparations
The Pine Bluff City Council voted Tuesday
to allow 1st Ward Alderwoman Irene Holcomb to sign a resolution
endorsing reparations for African-Americans. The resolution endorsed a
U.S. House of Representatives bill that would create a panel to study
the possibility of reparations for African-Americans. The resolution
was sponsored by 4th Ward Alderman Jackie Kirby. [more]
Houston City Councilwoman Urges Support of Reparations bill
Houston City Councilwoman says slavery's effects are long-lasting:
Urges Support of Reparations bill
She said she wants people to ask the mayor to support House Bill 40, known as the reparations bill, that would create a study of slavery's effects on African-Americans in the United States"People think this bill would pay every African-American descendent. No, it's a study, collecting the data to do a study," she said. "I want you to jump on the bandwagon." [more]
Urges Support of Reparations bill
She said she wants people to ask the mayor to support House Bill 40, known as the reparations bill, that would create a study of slavery's effects on African-Americans in the United States"People think this bill would pay every African-American descendent. No, it's a study, collecting the data to do a study," she said. "I want you to jump on the bandwagon." [more]